Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“Remember how we met as a kid?”
…..
“Yeah?”
“That wasn’t the whole story and Victor’s somehow involved in it,” Lukas confessed, making her brows raise in interest.
“Alright, go on,” Rhea drew closer to him, pulling her legs up so her knee was touching his body.
“Victor and I, we have been inseparable since birth,” Lukas began, wetting his lips as he went on, “Even when his mother Carmine hated Daniel’s ass for causing their brother’s death, the little punk didn’t let it come between us. His mother tried everything possible to separate us because she felt I would be nothing but a bad influence on him, fat big thanks to my father. Moreover, aunt Carmine wanted out of the family business, Albine’s death had shattered something inside of her. Sadly, Victor was as resilient as a cockroach.
“So when she couldn’t stop her son from seeing me, aunty simply gave up. Instead, she remained in the organization all just to keep an eye on her only son. Not that Daniel cared, no, to him, it was a blessing. If Victor was the key to making his sister stay, why wouldn’t he approve of it? He needed someone on his side. I guess even monsters have soft spots for their sisters.” He muttered softly.
Rhea slightly frowned, she didn’t like his use of the word, “monster” because she had a feeling that he wasn’t just referring to his father – Lukas tactically included himself as one.
He continued, “I didn’t have any friends growing up nor would my relatives associate with me. They were all scared of my father and it was for a good reason. Daniel didn’t want any unnecessary attachment to weaken me. To him, all of my relatives were his enemies, competing for the throne and I was his perfect weapon, his legacy. I had only my mother, Chloe, and Victor.
“Unfortunately, Victor was not ignorant of how Daniel treated my mother, and by chance, he came to know of my plans to escape that hell hole with my mother and he wanted in on the plan too. However, I was naturally much smarter than Victor and I knew there was no way he could go with me. He had a perfect family that loved him, I could not take him with me. But then, Victor was quite annoying and headstrong as a kid. The night that I escaped from my Daniel, he knew about my plans and tailed me. Sadly, for him, while I successfully escaped, he wasn’t so lucky.” Lukas told him
The breath hung in Rhea’s throat and she was curious as hell when she asked, “What happened?”
“Victor got into the wrong hands. The great Daniel isn’t exactly loved by everyone and has a talent for attracting trouble. I was the target of the kidnap, Daniel’s son, the apple of his eye. And while I ignorantly escaped, Victor took my place. It turned out that the man who kidnapped Victor was a bit crazy in the head and had a great vendetta against Daniel. When he found out that he had the wrong boy, he decided to play around with Victor. “
Rhea gasped,” Don’t tell me he – “
“No, he didn’t,” Lukas cleared her fears of assault, “It was much worse.”
Lukas swallowed deeply, feeling uneasy about visiting a chapter of his life he had closed a while ago. He said, “He made Victor dress up as a clown while he tortured him. Victor was merely a kid then, however, he wasn’t allowed to express any other kind of expression aside from happiness while he was being abused. The madman claimed he was freeing him from the confines of pain and agony, but all he did was break a young kid.
“By the time my family tracked Victor down, he was a mess, bloody and haunted. He had to go through a lot of therapies, and surgeries to repair what had been broken. But then, even if the outside was fixed, what about the inside?” Lukas asked, staring her deep in the eyes.
Rhea felt uneasy about the story, however, she could imagine how hard it was for Lukas, knowing he blamed himself for what happened. She reached out and began to run her hand through his hair soothingly while he continued.
“Victor eventually recovered and everyone was happy, or so we thought until he had his first episode. It was at a party and one of the guests dressed up as a clown, unintentionally triggering him. That was when we found out.
“Hypomania,” Lukas revealed about his sickness, “That was what the doctor called it. I doubt Victor even fully understands his diagnosis or cares enough to do research. The doctors said he had some sort of ‘reaction to trauma’ that would cause unstable moods occasionally. And knowing who Victor is, he probably stopped listening when the doctor started explaining the symptoms. He knows they want him to take medication and recommended therapy. “
Horny Rabbits
There was nothing but silence between Rhea and Lukas after he had finished explaining Victor’s condition. Although Rhea continuously massaged his scalp, Lukas could tell from the furrow on her face that she was worried.
“You have nothing to worry about,” He assured her.
Rhea sighed, “Hypomania is still a mental and behavioral disorder.” She pointed out
“It is still a less severe form of mania -“
“But it can easily escalate to mania,” Rhea sighed. She added, “Mimi is carrying his child and I’m hundred percent sure that she doesn’t know about this. Would she even be able to handle it?” She was concerned for his safety.
“As I told you, Rhea, Victor manages it well and it hardly has a significant impact on his day-to-day life patterns. The longest his symptoms lasted is two days and it is very mild nor does he use recreational drugs. If anything, he has mostly increased sexual energy and sex has always done the magic for him.”
“So my friend is merely a sex machine?” She scoffed,” I’m surprised he doesn’t have a trail of Baby Mamas already,” Her tone became serious, “Trust me when I tell you that Mimi is not exactly up for sharing. The moment Victor cheats on Mimi, even I can’t tell what would happen, so Victor better sort himself before this ends badly.”
“Victor loves Mimi,” Lukas told her, “Even you know that. He’s about to become a father, that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen my cousin be and I can promise you that Victor would rather die than let that happen.”
“I know that Lukas, but mistakes still happen. What Victor needs is treatment, hypomania is not just something one waves away as nothing. Aside from the clown thing, we don’t even know his other triggers. Look what happened yesterday,” She said.
…..
“Fine, I’ll talk to him about it,” Lukas ended the conversation and turned back to stare at the sky.
Rhea wiped her face with her palm, facing skywards as well. They had come here to relax and have a good time, not argue about this. She turned to stare at Lukas and his expression was tight, the atmosphere taut. She hated this.
It was natural for him to defend his cousin, Victor considering how close the both of them were, however, she was concerned about her friend, Mimi, too. He had to get treated and save her friend from the stress of his dramatic mood swings. Until then, Mimi was not safe.
Hypomania could easily switch to serious depression. And you can’t tell which one might happen, because the pattern isn’t predictable. Mimi had to know what she was dealing with. Not to mention that it was hereditary.
Unable to bear the silence anymore, Rhea rolled over to Lukas’s side. Without thinking, she leaned over his body to Lukas’s surprise, and lowered her head, kissing him.
Eyes wide, Lukas slowly closed them as he surrendered to the kiss. Her hair formed a curtain around their face and he clasped her face, dominating the kiss. Her lips were soft and heated upon his and they moved in sync like two perfect souls meant for each other.
A moan left her lips as he devoured her mouth, kissing her hungrily. His other hand traveled down to cup her bottom, pressing her against him as his tongue slipped into her mouth. They played a game of chase with their tongue and he squeezed her butt cheek, another moan leaving her mouth.
The both of them lost all sense of time and space as they made out passionately. The feverish urgency between them built up to the point that Lukas was grinding her against his body. He kissed her harder and deeper as the pleasure slowly reached the crescendo and they were about to –
“Hey!”
Rhea and Lukas broke apart at once, startled. They then turned at the angry face of a woman who had three kids with her – one on a walker, the other around the age of five and the last one looked eight.
“Don’t you see kids around!” The woman admonished them.
That was when Lukas and Rhea looked at their surroundings and found out that they were still in a public park. They got carried away in the moment.
“We are so sorry -” Lukas was still saying when the woman shouted,
“Next time, just go get a room, you horny rabbits!”
“Okay….” Rhea wondered how to go about it when the woman’s five-year-old son shouted,
“Horny rabbit!” He turned to his mother, asking innocently, “Mom, what is a horny rabbit?”
The look on the woman’s face was priceless and it took Rhea everything not to burst into laughter. It was so hilarious. The woman went red in the face and she fidgeted nervously as she wondered how to answer her curious child.
“It’s nothing, baby. It’s just rabbits,” She tried explaining to him.
“But you called them horny rabbits,” He argued.
Frustrated now, the woman grabbed his arms and pulled him along, “Come on, let’s go!”