ARISTOS
Hot days turned into hot weeks. Long weeks turned into long months. Spring had arrived in India and Aphrodite's training hadn't stopped. Training still went on because we demanded it of her.
Aphrodite worked every single day, save for the three days out of every month that we gave her to rest during a certain annoying monthly happening. From morning until evening, we trained her, exercised her, showed her the ways of our world because she needed to survive in it.
After her body started adjusting to the rigorous exercise we put her through each day, we moved her up to other areas. Two days in the week for nothing but exercise, three days for teaching her how to fight, and we were now slowly introducing her with one day devoted to weapons. The last day of the week was a combination of everything for the first half, and the last half consisting of lectures we gave her about survival, weapons, and drugs. I learned that Aphrodite had a useful quality of remembering and fully grasping what we taught her, and also was able to put her own intelligent spin on things. So far we'd been training her for three months. And, I thought, as Aphrodite sat at the wood table near the kitchen waiting for me to speak, it was time to trust her with certain things.
Things that would enlighten her, things that may have confused her.
But I wanted to hear her opinion. I wanted to know her thoughts when I told her more about myself, my cousin, and this life.
Scott and I stood in front of her as Aphrodite watched us. I cracked my knuckles as I kept her waiting. It would be an interesting conversation.
"Did you ever wonder what the true reality of our work is? You know bits and pieces, but we've never had this conversation before."
Aphrodite blinked up at me, her previous grin from finally not exercising any more slowly falling away in confusion. "Sure I did." She answered. "It's been a big topic of discussion in my mind."
"And did you ever have any predictions?"
She crossed her legs covered in sweatpants. "I had some pretty solid guesses from all the information I knew."
"Really? Tell me what you think of us as people and our line of work. You can be honest. I wanna know everything."
Aphrodite gave me a quick look, and then sat up straighter as she prepared to do just that. "First of all, Ari, it's easier to accept whatever reasons you have for living this lifestyle because of your demons. But, I think Scott has been a loner, even regardless of his relationship with Sienna." She looked over to him. "I can't see a big happy family waiting for you at home as you take on mobsters and kill people. And to do what you do, I know there's been a lot of pain inside you, definitely from long ago, some time right before you decided to become a gangster, and maybe there might be some more recent trauma as well. Something that changed you that led you to this kind of lifestyle. I have also assumed that you are very wealthy, more than you say."
Aphrodite picked up the ends of her blonde waves, absently twirling them through her fingers as she thought. "In the past, I also wondered if you are psychologically disturbed. Deep down is someone who needs to prove something, someone who can ignore all the hate and put his life on the line. Someone whose pain and heartbreak manifested into something dark and caused you to make choices based on the needs of the unforgiving. Something to prove and nothing to gain."
Scott and I stared at her and I was taken back at how smart she was. I'd always known she was intelligent but hadn't realized that she'd thought that much into things like that.
"I feel a little wounded that you think I'm psychologically disturbed." Scott shook his head. "You sure you're not talking about this fucker?" Scott pointed to me, and I glared at him.
