SCOTT
I remembered telling myself a long time ago that she could never thrive in this world. The life Ari and I lead was something she knew nothing about, something maybe she wasn't fully grasping when she wanted to ask me certain things. For a life like ours, you had to either be born into it or trained. And in our case, it was practically both of those conditions. And while Aphrodite had been raised in abuse and violence, she only forced herself to escape from her hell and do whatever it took to stay away from it. Ari and I grew up on the streets, had been dealing drugs since we were teenagers and learned how to fight and use guns at such a young age.
But while I knew those things about her, I knew more. I knew she had a temper that could be harnessed and used to her advantage. I knew she had an intelligent mind that could work in our favor. And I knew, deep down inside her, that she had strength. A strength that went beyond what was inside her, a physical strength I had seen before. Inside her womanly body was a force that could be fueled and used, that aggression that could be turned into power.
You either had to be born into this world or trained. I continued to stare at her and began to see something else.
"Aphrodite." I started and waited until her eyes met mine again. "You would leave that world for ours? You would leave the comforts of society for those of what the world would call a fucking criminal? I won't say you don't know what you're asking me, because I know you do. But to exist in our world, you gotta be molded into something else. You gotta learn how to survive when the world is against you." She went to look away again, but I took her jaw and held her steady so she knew what she would be in for. What we would mean for her. "You would leave your simple, safe life, the life you tried so hard to build for yourself, for the life of criminals, gangsters, killers? Sienna left me to die in that prison, but you came to me?"
She contemplated as she looked me in the eyes. "I will." She murmured and leaned a little bit closer to me. "If you ask me to. Both of you." Then she turned to Ari.
I could smile, could be impressed that she just switched the whole decision onto us. But the only thing I did feel was that I had misjudged. Maybe she really didn't know what she was asking of me. Maybe I had to clarify a little more. "You gotta understand completely, shawty. We'll go back to America, but not soon. And during that time you'll have to be broken down and built back up to what we need you to be. And then there are... other conditions you'll have to understand."
Aphrodite leaned back to rest on her elbows. "Tell me."
I stood back and nodded to Ari who spoke up for me.
"We run an oriented operation. The men that work for us only work with us. Our woman..." Ari continued, "Will be our woman."
Aphrodite lifted an eyebrow at Ari. "That only works if it goes both ways."
I tilted my head some at her. "You assume we're gonna sleep with multiple women?"
Her head snapped back to me. "All I know is that I won't live the life Sienna did. I refuse to allow your old habits with her steer me around. You've been faithful to Sienna in your heart, but your body has been a different story. I want to make sure there won't be a repeat of that kind of relationship with me. And what goes for you goes for me too. And you..." She went back to look at Ari. "No more fucking around with women like Corrina."
Ari gave her a blank stare and then nodded.
"Understandable." I muttered and found that I could accept it. "Another thing you gotta understand is the physical aspect of this life. You ain't gonna survive how you are now. We need you to become something greater. You gotta be trained or you'll wish for death because you'll will be hunted, attacked, and at times targeted by those who are right within reach. You gotta know how to take a life and be able to do just that when the time comes. The dogs will be after you." I murmured, trying to get through to her because I oddly felt like I needed to. "For the rest of your damn life, you'll be unsafe and always on guard. Forever, Aphrodite."
"If you ask me." She repeated in a whisper.
Suddenly, I felt somewhat dizzy. Suddenly I realized that what I was asking of her, I never had with anyone else. So many conditions, and yet she was willing to meet them all. Only time would tell in the end, I knew. But I knew Aphrodite, and that she would meet every one of those conditions because she didn't have any other choice. It would be hard. It would be tiring for all of us because I didn't trust anyone else to teach her except us. She could fail miserably. She could give up. She could die.
I looked at her again, lying back on her elbows, staring at me with those pretty green eyes and long lashes. The corners of her mouth lifted and then she was smiling at me. Smiling at me in that way she did while we said our goodbyes right before we separated. She came back to free me. After I sent her away so many times, she was always coming back when I needed her. And, I discovered, I did need her.
Three lost souls whose miserable beginnings had forged us into what appeared to be polar opposites. My pull to Aphrodite narrowed the distance, and then had all but eradicated it. She saved me. As impossible as it should be, Aphrodite was my answer. I was hers.
"Will you stay with us?" I asked her slowly.
That smile stayed in place, her lips continuing to curve in the light of the fire. It may have been the world's most odd and unacceptable proposal, but it suited us. It suited us just fine because there was no other option.
Ari turned and pinned her down into the sand. "Stay with us, baby girl."
"Where else would I go?" She giggled.
I went over to them, reached out and took the blanket that covered her lap. Slowly, I slid it away and exposed her. "Say yes."
Aphrodite reached for Ari and held his shoulders as he flipped them around and made her straddle him. I sat next to them as she kissed him on the lips, then she stuck her hand out to caress my face. Once she was finished placing small kisses all over Ari's face, she climbed off him and straddled me to do the same to me. Ari started tearing off the clothes he had just wasted putting back on.
She had left everything she knew for us. She was giving up her safe life for our dangerous one. She pulled her bra off her chest, sighed and leaned down a little as I slipped my hand in her scalp and grasped her waves. "Yes." She whispered.
In the middle of nowhere in India, she gave herself completely to us. No other option.
Not anymore.
