APHRODITE
The sun was steadily rising in the sky, giving the horizon color that could only be seen in the early hours of the morning. And before it could rise to its high point, before the rays would make us squint and cringe from its heat and light, Ari gently shook me awake, turning me onto my back from my position sprawled out on the blankets that had been our bed for the night on the desert sand. Clutching one of the blankets to my bare chest and staring at him with eyes still full of sleep and my blonde hair standing on end, I wished I could tell him to go away so that I could fall back into slumber for just a few more minutes.
"It's best if we walk the remaining miles before the sun gets too hot. And we needa reach our destination before a certain hour." He said.
"It's so early. You guys kept me up all night."
"If you didn't complain last night then your words to me now mean nothing." Already dressed in his dirty t-shirt, pants and boots because he had nothing else to wear, Ari ignored my eye roll and handed me the clothes he could find. "Come on, we have a long walk."
I slipped on my bra, jean shorts and black tank top. My panties were ripped by Ari last night so I would have to do without them. "Where are we going?" I looked over at Scott, who was sweating under the heat from packing things.
"We have a past associate who lives near here. We wanna reach him before he leaves for the day. He's generously gonna provide us with a home."
I lifted an eyebrow. "How the fuck could you possibly know someone that lives in India? And does he know that?"
Ari narrowed his furious eyes at me. "Of course not."
It took us a few minutes to pack everything we brought. But once it was done, we were immediately on our way.
After the first couple of hours of once again hiking in the desert, the first annoying waves of exhaustion began to creep up on me. Never in my life had I travelled on foot over such rough terrains. But that hadn't been the problem, I mused as I trekked on a few feet behind the cousins. The problem was that I barely got any sleep last night and hadn't been able to rest very much after the long first day of travel. But I was finally back where I belonged, finally back with the only people that could keep me grounded in reality. And because it had been so long since being with them, the urges of reuniting physically had been too strong to ignore.
It was well into the night before all of us had lessened those urges.
I wished for coffee. I wished for shade and a bed. But still I walked on. Still I continued in the heat of the desert because this was now my new life.
◇◇◇
I heard a few screams and pleas. I heard a few pieces of furniture being tossed, glass being broken, voices being raised. Waiting outside in the sun and oddly thinking nothing of the commotion from inside the house, I stood behind an old, broken down truck and stared at my feet as I waited for Ari and Scott.
It had taken us three hours to reach the house they mentioned. Built and paid for on a nice piece of well-kept land in a secluded part of India, the one-story modern structure shined in the sun. With its sharp angles and giant clean windows, the house was owned by a local business tycoon's son, whom Scott and Ari worked with in the past. When I asked what exactly they were hired for, Ari told me that a long time ago, the man used to live in New Orleans and he and Scott were paid to protect the son from ferocious competitors out for blood. That protection involved eliminating each and every one of those competitors one by one. And unfortunately for the son, they once saved his life. For years he had owed them something.
