84 - Doors

"I'm not going to be just another star in your night sky. Make me your moon, or make me your darkness."

-V(me)

. . .

ZAVIER

I stroked her head as she laid on my chest. We were in her art studio with me sitting on a leather couch with her in my arms. I looked around the studio. It was pretty and so messy that Xerxes lost his head every time he saw it. There were three giant veiled canvases which she had ordered us to not look at.

It was a good place. It had Olivia written all over it, so I loved it.

I mean my hands up and down her back, feeling the swell of her ass under my hand and restricted myself from spanking her. Her ass was too tempting sometimes.

After a few moments, I laid on the couch with her on my chest, feeling exhaustion wash over me as my eyes dropped and I slept.

. . .

"Georgia," I said, looking over the fifteen people in front of me in the office. Olivia was sleeping already and Ashton and Xerxes were in the basement.

"There were, as you predicted, signs of struggle in Georgia's apartment. She somehow managed to get there without getting caught but it's obvious she was kidnapped." Edward Creed, another cousin who I didn't entirely hate, said.

"Alexi."

"His Rose is working in the bookstore. She hasn't seen him." July, Edward's wife, said. "Alexi is gone. He probably left as soon as Rose was taken."

I hummed. "Daniver." "Gone."

"Alarick?" I looked at Dante who was sitting on a chair by the window.

"He's hiding out of the city," he said, sipping his drink. "My men are closing in."

I hummed. "Alright."

Soon enough, everyone left and I was alone in my office.

I sat down on my chair with a sigh. My head felt heavy. Too fucking heavy. I looked down at the healed cuts on my arm, they were barely visible now.

I closed my eyes and the fire flashed in my head. It was like I could almost feel it, feel the burn of the handle which I had desperately tried to twist to get to her.

And then there was Olivia, burning in the same fire, crying out for me to help her, to keep her safe. And I was trying to open the damn doors.

And they were laughing. Igor and father.

You can't save her. She'll die like your mother.

I will save her.

You can't.

The office door opened and Olivia strolled inside with a large ice cream tub in her small hands and a wide smile on her face.

She grinned at me, showing me the tub and I felt my panic melting away. "It's mint!"

I smiled. "I hate that flavor."

She sighed. "We can't be friends anymore." I chuckled. "Come here, little brat."

She walked towards me. She was barefoot and dressed in a yellow night dress, her hair down in its natural waves and her glasses sitting on her nose. Her glasses made her look nerdy. I loved them.

I pulled her little body on my lap. She put the tub on my table after gently pushing the laptop aside and opened it.

I twisted a strand of her hair around my finger, loving how soft it was as she stuffed her face with ice cream and then hit her head with the heel of her palm as she got a brain freeze.

I chuckled. "Slow down, love. No one is taking it away."

"Giovanni likes the same ice cream. He ate half of the tubs." She grumbled while taking another bite of her ice cream.

I hummed. "Are you two friends now?"

She shrugged. "He's cool. He eats too much of my stuff, though." "I'll make him stop."

"Don't! Then he won't come here. It's nice to see more people in the mansion."

"Kitten." I kissed her neck. "He doesn't come here for the food."

"I..." She threaded her fingers together on her lap, suddenly hesitant. "I don't have many friends."

And the one she had might be a traitorous bitch. "I'm your friend."

She hummed, snuggling into my chest. "You are more than that, as are Ashton and Xerxes. I never had friends before Georgia. She was nice to me and now she might be..." She sniffled, biking the tears away.

"She'll be okay," I kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, Kitten."

She hummed, fingers playing with the button of my shirt. "It's weird." "What?"

"How...natural it feels to be here with you three."

"That's because..." My lips pressed to her jaw. "I fuck you too good, kitten." "Zavier!" A lovelly blush came on her cheeks.

I chuckled. "It feels natural to me too, baby. You fit in our world." "I do?"

I hummed, my thumb brushing on her cheekbone. "Yes."

She smiled. I kissed that smile. "That mint ice cream is ruining the taste of your lips."

She frowned. "You don't want to kiss me?"

I shook my head. "Your lips can taste like Ashton's cooking and then, too, I'd love to taste them."

She smiled again and I kissed that smile, again.

. . .

I stared at the dark double door in front of me.

There doors used to bring dread to me. Father would summon us out of nowhere and have us wait here, in front of his door, sometimes for hours, sometimes mere minutes. I'd look at these doors with tear filled eyes, Xerxes muttering to me to no cry and Ashton's book shaking in his trembling hands.

I took in a deep breath, setting my chin on Olivia's head as she muttered things about the painting which was hung beside the door. "...Cool but the colors make me wanna cry..." Her voice drifted in and out of my panicked mind and then slowly, it brought me back to the present in which no one was there behind those doors who could hurt me or my brothers and Olivia was in my arms, muttering about me suffocating her in my arms while trying to wiggle away.

I blinked slowly and let go of her. She turned and looked up at me, a frown on her face. "Are you okay?"

I was about to nod but paused while looking into her eyes, they looked black in the dark and bright brown in the sunlight.

I shook my head. "No."

She wrapped her arms around my waist. "What's wrong, Zavier?" I dug my face into her neck, not answering.

. . .