Jerome Valeska Imagines

Sugar Daddy Pt. 4

We arrived at the Hospital and when the door opened he grabbed my arm and pulled me in. He led me back to my room and threw me on the bed.

"You promised to keep your mouth shut," he hissed. I stood up defiantly.

"Well, if I hadn't seen dead bodies I would have!" I yelled. He growled and grit his teeth. He then started to laugh.

"Afraid of a little death, are we?" He chuckled. I sat back down and watched as he walked closer to me. "Let me teach you a lesson, doll. Mortality is fatal. Whether you like it or not, you're going to die some day. Maybe here, maybe working for me, we can't be too sure. But we can be sure that from the millisecond you were born, you started to die. Slowly, yes, but you're deteriorating every moment you're alive." He got in my face. "That's life."

"They tied me down," I said simply. He stopped grinning and gave me a confused look.

"What? Who did?"

"Your crazy henchmen. They spilled a pint of my blood and came back for a second. They took a third and fourth immediately after. As soon as they untied me I ran because I got scared. I heard someone coming and I hid in a room. That's how I found the bodies. I got extra scared and ran out of the building. I went into the city to get some help. Then I passed out," I explained. "I woke up in the hospital and the doctor said I had a Class 3 hemorrhage." I sat on the bed and his face softened as he sat next to me. He gave me a gentle look.

"Awe, doll, I had no idea. If I woulda known that I woulda never got mad at ya. I'm sorry they did that to ya." He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into him. "I'll kill 'em." I gave him a look and he chuckled. "Only kidding, sort of." We sat in silence, staring at a wall. "Why do you let your dad beat you?" He asked. I shrugged.

"It started when I was little. Mom was never around, he drank until he couldn't drink anymore and then passed out. I would fall asleep and wake up to him gone. Then he would come home from work and drink again. The beating wasn't a constant it just sort of happened. He just started hitting me and kicking me and I didn't know what to do. I let it happen and then I just got used to it," I said. He looked at me as I stared at my hands. He then he wrapped his other arm around me and for whatever reason I started to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he said. He wiped my tears and looked into my sad eyes. "It's gonna be okay now, I'm gonna protect you. I promise." I looked down, embarrassed I had started crying. "Look at me," he said softly, and I did. "You aren't going to have to worry about him anymore, got it?" He asked. I nodded and he pulled me in for a hug.

We sat there for a few minutes before a man came running in.

"Sir, the hospitals on fire!"

"On- fi- what?! How does that happen?!" He yelled. The guy started scrambling to tell a story, but he just yelled at him to get out and grab whatever equipment they could. He stood and pulled me up with him. "We'll have to stay at my place, no worries, I cleaned sometime last week." I grabbed the things i left behind and followed him as he ran out to a car.

He sat in the drivers side and you hopped in the passengers seat. As he drove away I watched the hospital burn and watched the flames increase in size.

He drove downtown and past a scuzzy part of the city before parking in a rustic looking neighborhood. He got out and grabbed my door and led me to a tall, brick building. As he walked me in I noticed that no one else was there. He took me to the stairs and we walked up to the top floor. He opened door 403 and we entered a large loft with three tall windows and a couch set against a white brick wall.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he said. You turned around to see there was an upstairs. "Those are bedrooms, storage rooms, torture rooms. Oh, and I think a bathroom." I nodded. He chuckled and gave me a look. "C'mon, babe, it's a joke! Laugh a little." I gave him a small smile and looked around. I found a kitchen and a downstairs bathroom. There was a large island in front of the kitchen and I sat down on a chair. "My casa is you casa," he said, not speaking the proper term (I'm in Spanish class ik how to say it but I feel it'd be funnier for him to say it wrong?). I nodded. He took my hand and led me upstairs and to a large bedroom. "This is my room, unfortunately I wasn't kidding about having storage rooms. This is the only furnished bedroom," he said, taking my things from me and tossing them on the bed. "You'll stay here. I can sleep on the couch until you leave." I looked him in the eyes.

"But it's your house, I can-"

"But you're the guest. Take the bed, I got the couch." I was about to argue again, but he gave me a stern look and I nodded. "Get settled, I'm gonna make some food." He left the room and I sat on the large bed. The room was a little plain, nothing on the walls, a few boxes everywhere. It looked like he just moved in. I laid back on the bed and turned on my side. Things got darker and soon I was asleep. I was shaken awake and sat up quickly.

"Hey, hey, it's just me. I got some dinner made for ya, come eat," he said, walking out of the room. I wiped at my eyes and went downstairs and sat on the right side of the table as he sat at the head. "Spaghetti a la mode," he told, using a weird accent. I looked at him weird. He scooped some food on my plate and I started to dig in.

We ate mostly in the quiet conversation of each other. It was calm and settled. He told stories about his crimes and adventures and it was interesting. We continued to eat and I spilled some sauce on myself and the table.

Without thinking I said, "Jerome, can you pass me a napkin?" And there was a clatter as he dropped his fork. There was a dead silence and all that was heard was the sirens from police cars off in the distance. He and I looked at each other and his face grew dark. He gave me a grim smile.

"Where did you learn my name?" He asked.

"I- I was in the hospital and a cop came in and he asked me a bunch of questions and he asked who took me there and I described you and he said you were Jerome Valeska and I got- I got scared, I-"

He slammed his fists on the table and quickly stood. He stared down at me and got closer.

"Why would you describe me to a cop?" He growled. I stumbled to answer and he stood straight. "Why, in gods green earth, would you sell me out to a cop?!" He screamed. "Come here, you little-" I got up and ran up the stairs as he chased me and I ran into his bedroom and sat against the door, pushing all my weight on it, praying to keep him out. "Open the door, doll. Let me in," he hissed. I felt myself start to cry. "Doll," he took a breath, "please let me in." He sounded calmer, less angry. So I opened the door and sat cross legged. I looked out the doorsill and saw him on all fours. He stared and me and crawled over to me. He reached a hand out to me and I flinched away from him. "Look what I did," he muttered. "I'm sorry, beautiful, I should be helping you. Instead I'm hurting you." I looked up at him and he gave me sad eyes. He slowly put his hand on my cheek and rubbed away my tears. I sniffed and he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I started crying more until I wore myself out.