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Caleb had underestiard For weeks he had observed her, and for weeks she had played the would-be chameleon She hadalking in her own neighborhood At first, he’d thought it was si before he’d becoinal assess flirty skirts and bright colored shirts through the fence of her school After that, he pegged her as woman who understood how is She knew she lived in a ly
It was iirls in her position, in this kind of situation To her parents she hter they didn’t need to worry about, because she didn’t wear provocative outfits to entice the young horny boys In her neighborhood, she was the invisible girl, no one of interest But inside, she was still her – whoever she was And whoever she was, she appealed to hie
It had felt unavoidable at the ti her She was the only one that juh he didn’t co their strange encounter, he’d known he had to have her She had made an impression on him; she would make an iard, choosing so Instead, the mystery had drawn him nearer and now he found himself only further confused, further drawn in It suddenly seeift was ainst the counter, the edge digging into his spine One hand gripped the edge of the counter, the other holding the bottle, quickly cooling as veins of water cascaded down his arirl, and in turn, hieance, he could not fail Rafiq Vladek Rostrovich had to die In this, Rafiq and he had never disagreed Upon how to execute each step, that was so the liquid in hislives was soood at, this was no different, of course Or was it? He drained the bottle, tasting little, but wantingthe water rush out
The girl was genuinely terrified of him, that e Under his tutelage, she would become whatever she needed to be in order to survive She would accept the hand she was dealt and ood there was in the bad, for however long it’d last She would fight hiiven, but he would convince her despite herself
He finished his bottle which had done nothing for hiain, cracked open another Repeat Another taste, another gulp, the thirst just growing
New thoughts distracted hiirl when this was all said and done? He stood still, listening to the house, listening for signs of the girl but there was nothing, no cla, just a girl, plotting her time He walked to the table and noiselessly pulled out a chair Another long pull of beer, his gaze passed around the rooirl who’d never trust him? Caleb drank, set his bottle down on the table then sat deeper in his seat, head back and breathing in through his nose, eyes closed
Caleb knew nothing about caring for a wo term He’d heard a lot about love in the last twelve years, but he never felt the things people talked about He ran his fingertips up and down the neck of the bottle absentmindedly The only person he felt any type of affection for was Rafiq, but he doubted it could be called love Caleb understood Rafiq, understood his anger and his need for revenge He trusted Rafiq with his life Without that ive him purpose, Caleb would have been lost and for that he respected hi, trust and respect equate to love? Caleb didn’t know Rafiq had taught hies, to seduce a woht, and to kill, but never to love
He leaned back again, drank, and then set the bottle in a different spot He stared at the ring of water on the sged his other hand through it, creating two long translucent trails They traveled along the surface of the table slick and solitary before colliding into one another when his fingers cao, Rafiq iven Rafiq two sons Caleb had never met them, nor would he and he’d never expected it He understood fully his role with Rafiq While afforded great respect and appropriate affection as someone Rafiq had raised intosituation for him, the boundaries clearly defined and consistent early on What he as an equal partner in the settling of old scores It suited hi of that other life of Rafiq’s, of family He could scarcely res Caleb couldn’t ree, what his nah he sorown up so he could avoid it This se whenever he was forced to visit America for one reason or another What if he had a ht he was dead? It was his secret horror to fathoht of him Because whoever her stolen boy had been, he was most certainly dead, and Caleb wanted hiain, rested in his hand, still cool to the touch He got up as quietly as he’d sat, and silentlyto the soft glug-glug of the water going down the drain Then took a soft towel and wiped away any evidence of his presence It wasn’t the forgetting Caleb didn’t like, it was the re
He needed a shower and a lot more beers He’d miss beer when it was time to return to dry, spiritless, Pakistan, it was an excellent aid in the forgetting process He just hoped the bar in this piece of shit toas still open
Once inside his room, Caleb removed his clothes and walked into the bathroo the temperature of the water, he let the room steam up before he finally stepped inside to put his face under the jets The water washed over his nakedness, scalding hiht pain He would never admit it, but from time to time, he needed to feel pain as ain, Caleb envisioned the girl, face down on thethe back of her body from shoulder to ankle It was perverse the way this particular ie affected him It made hiht it, Caleb thought of the past and of Rafiq
Vladek had not always been rich and powerful Once upon a time, the seedy Russian had been athat would sell – drugs, guns, people, it didn’t hout Russia, India, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Africa, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and one fateful day, Pakistan
Muha man then, a captain in the Pakistan Arainst Saddam Hussein dubbed by the Americans as Desert Storm ell under way and Rafiq had been called to assist the coalition forces on the ground
Rafiq, whose father had just passed, preferred to reements for his adier was thirsty for rank and nothing elevated rank like a war Rafiq’s absence was unavoidable and ulti his two year absence that Vladek set his eyes on Rafiq’s sister, A’noud By the time Rafiq returned with the happy news that he had earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, his mother had already been
Assu responsibility, Rafiq devoted what resources were available to hi the identity of his mother’sto ascertain if his sister ht still be alive
It took Rafiq three years to hear the na Rafiq’s mother, he’d taken A’noud, but apparently, he’d tired of her after a short while He had retired her to a brothel, established by him in Tehran
Rafiq went to Tehran, but like hisbefore he had arrived to rescue her With his hope of finding her alive scattered like ashes in the wind, his fervor for vengeance only grew He was going to burn the brothel to the ground, kill every patron and save the proprietor for last If he was later court- to take
But then, he heard a sound, so unspeakably horrible it gave voice to his own suffering He followed the screa: huddled in blood and filth, darkness pulled tight around his sry form was a boy in desperate need of a doctor A boy the proprietor called kéleb – dog
Pained, disgusted, and nized the look in the kéleb’s eyes They were eyes that knew the anguish of being unspeakably wronged They longed for a death that could not come too soon Rafiq offered to purchase the boy from the proprietor arned him the boy was likely near death and he would not offer a refund Rafiq accepted the ter in linen so he could take hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">