INSANE (Book one)

Chapter 14

Ares Knight

I was sweating like I had run a marathon. My inner shirt was wet with sweat. My eyes were drowsy as I tried as much as possible to focus on creating the project I was working on. My head was throbbing painful. But inside me, I was freezing cold. Momentarily, I began shivering with cold and I quickly pressed the button on my Telecom to call Dean.

"yo boss" he answered unprofessionally.

"hey. You think you got a minute?" I asked. Immediately, he knew I needed him in my office.

"I'll be there in a minute" he says. I released the button on the Telecom and slump back into my chair, goosebumps raising all over my body.

"oh Jesus! What is wrong with you dude? You're sweating like a Christmas goat!" Dean exclaimed when I came into the office. Before I could open my mouth to reply, he was over by my side. I looked up at him.

"I'm fine, man" I tried convincing him, but the loud cough I let out gave it all away. Dean looked at me with his hands in his pockets.

"I don't have 'stupid', written over my forehead, do I?" he says boredly. I sighed shakily.

"but there's a lot of work right here, Dean. I can't leave you with it!" I complained.

"you over work your system man. You're not a robot. You're suffering from fever. You need to go home and have some rest. I'll handle all the work until you recover" he assured, tapping my chair and indicating I should stand up.

"you know you're the only person I trust with my works right?" I said, slowly standing up.

"and I'll make sure I'll keep that trust" he says, dragging back the chair and walking me to the door.

"don't let the stocks go down. I'm working on Mark's project but don't let anyone know that I'm sick, it may attract the evil. There are some papers that has to do with The Dealers on my table. Lock them away in the safe and keep a close eye on Jasmine and my mother. Also-" Dean cuts me off when he pushed me out the door.

"I don't take orders from sick bosses, mate" he grinned. Before I could swear him off, he shuts the door in my face. I smiled and little, my legs wobbly.

"you'll pay for that when I recover" I shouted behind the closed door.

"go home Ares!" he yelled back.

**********

An unfamiliar red car greeted my blurried vision when I passed by the sidewalk in my Range Rover. Who's the visitor? I pulled up towards the metallic black gate of my house and punched in the code. It beeped and automatically, the gates opened. I drove in through the lawn and momentarily, I caught a glimpse of two figures. Maybe it was Bianca's son and her. I ignored the nagging feeling that I might not be right and picked up my phone from the cup holder. I pressed on the tracker icon on the screen and saw that my mom was heading to her bakery while Jasmine was stopping at Greenfield University, a private college in Florida. I smiled triumphantly to myself when I realized that they were all safe and sound before I got out of the car after parking it in the garage, still scrolling through my phone.

"that man surely knows his cars". I stopped dead at my tracks from the voice I've heard. My finger froze in its action. Was it the bad fever reacting?

Immediately, I snapped my head up and met a very unpleasant view to feed my eyes with.

"oh Ares, you're back so early babe". But her voice rang like a background music as I stared at the man beside her, no longer feeling the fever. It had been too long. Because I wasn't staring at the deep brown colour of the eyes of a former five year old I knew. Instead, it didn't have that soft shade, but brewing with anger and hatred. And it was the same look I received fourteen years ago.

His lips curled up into s******c smile when Leah tugged him towards me.

"Ares, this is Troy. Troy, Ares. Even though you already know him anyway" she laughed. Like I said, her voice was just a background sound. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He sure ate some guts the last time I saw him. Some nerve he has stepping onto my property.

"Ares, what a pleasure". His voice poised in my ears like acid. But he was darn good actor. Momentarily, he stuck out his hand for a handshake still with that sick smile. I finally teared my dark gaze away from his face to his hand. I stared at it for too long before I stared back at him. Only then did I had the nerve to push-pass him and walked to the door, anger boiling my cold blood. His presence alone gave a big blow to my stomach.

The moment I was in the house, I slammed the door shut with a lot of force that shook the pillars lining the corridor. I walked straight to the kitchen to take some medicine just to ease my sickness a little. I grabbed a glass cup and poured some water into it after I discarded my jacket on the island. I held the cup, my mind racing as I turned around to get the medicine the cupboard. But I saw what wrecked my emotions even more.

I closed my fingers around the cup tightly when Leah hugged Eros goodbye. His eyes flickered to me as he smirked and kissed her forehead. My lips trembled with anger and my mind zoomed off. My grip on the cup was so tight, it bursted into millions of pieces, shattering to the floor and cutting my hand. Blood dripped from my wound but the pain was numb because the pain in my heart and the anger I felt was much more powerful. Leah waved her hand at him and turned around to leave. And finally, he looked at nothing but me. He held his head high, his hands in his pockets like he owned the f*****g lawn. He shot me a smile through the kitchen window like he just won a lottery. A smile only I can understand:it has been long, brother. But this means war

I heard the front door close, but my eyes were still fixed on Eros's disappearing back. I didn't even notice Leah's presence in the kitchen. I was beyond pissed off.

"well that was just rude you know. I don't know what got you so pissed off but couldn't you at least have been a little nice?" she complained. A hiss left my lips and I started picking up the pieces of broken glass. My head was throbbing with pain, my mind swirling. The bad fever was slowly getting to me. I hadn't even washed off the blood from my cut and when Leah came closer to me, she gasped.

"oh God, what happened-" . I cut her off when I slammed her aginst the wall. It was a hard blow, but I was done playing calm. I was so not f*****g okay with what I just saw. Instantly, I pressed her against the wall, our chests grinding as I aggressively smashed my lips on hers. My hands found her neck and I squeezed it, as if erasing all his hand prints on her. I was kissing her with fury, forcefully making her understand she shouldn't with anyone else except me. She was mine and only mine, I won't share. She began to lose her so she forcefully pushed me off with all her strength. The look on her face showed me that she didn't like that one bit. It wasn't for her to like, it was for me to deal with that f*****g retard!

Just the thought of him made me scream, punching the wall next to her head. But this gesture reminds me of no one but him. What he does to my mother. I was becoming a monster.

"what the f**k is wrong with you?!" she shrieked, hitting my chest with her small fists. I pushed her to the wall again, my eyes glazing like hot tar.

"I'll tell what's wrong with me! What's wrong with me is that I come home gingerly to have you in my arms just to find that's sick son of a b***h, on my property, all over you!" I yelled in her face. She flinched a little at my outburst.

"all over me? Stop making it sound like I'm such a slutty wife going after other guys, Ares!"

"it's pretty hard to believe" I lashed out, unknowingly. Before I could take back my words, her mouth gaped open and she slaps me across the cheek, tears forming in her eyes.

"f**k you, Ares! I hate you!" she cried, running out of the kitchen and away from me. My face stings, not from the impact of the slap but from the guilt cutting through me. This is just great. One moment, she was kissing me goodbye as I leave for work and the next, we're tearing at each other's limbs. This is just to show you how much of a bad news Eros was. I hissed and with my bloodied hand, I grabbed my car keys and suit jacket and left the house.

**********

The ride up to the mountain shack in the outskirts of New Jersey took me only half an hour. Maybe because I was riding on 100 mph. I was infuriated. The mountain shack was where I usually go when I was sick. Ever since I was little, whenever I had a feeling that Hoyt was taking me back to the psychiatric, I'd run up here. But eventually because of Eros, Hoyt: my biological father finds out my hideout and drags me to the mental institution. I hated hospitals. I hated him. It was a dreading past. Might as well not talk about it right now. Hoyt, I pray he's burning in his grave and also in hell too - I thought as I fell down on the bed. I was cold, but I was sweating. I pulled the blankets over me and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't know if it was because of the shack, but the memories came rushing back.

you f*****g s**t! Your son is a f*****g disappointment! - those were his words........