Eros West

The forceful slam of the door reverberates in my head, but I don't move. I don't even bother to open my eyes because I already know who it is. I already know who's entered my room to give me a lecture on my immoralities, of which I'm more than sure he also indulged in at my age, if not younger. The shriek of the redhead beside me is immediate; she squirms, trying to cover her nakedness, screaming like an i***t, as if it were the first time more than one man in the same room has seen her naked. "She's a w***e. What's her problem?" “Eros!” she shrieks my name again to get me up. “Eros, wake up. There’s an intruder standing here with his arms crossed, watching us!” “He’s not an intruder, w***e. He’s my father.” I finally decide to get up to greet the man who never tires of brightening my weekends with his unexpected visits. I take my time, turning onto my back, placing my arms behind my head, and staring directly into his eyes. Those dark eyes, despite the years they've accumulated, still know how to intimidate quite well. His impassive gaze is fearsome; it would make anyone tremble. But not me. He’s my father; I love him, I respect him, I’d give my life for him, and woe to anyone who dares to touch him. But I’ve long since passed the stage where I was terrified of crossing the line. I crossed it years ago, and now I just endure his moral lectures. At the end of the day, I’m his eldest son, the one who carries the family legacy, “the heir to the ruthless man of New York.” My place should have gone to Hera, being older than me by a few seconds, but because she’s a woman, she was raised as the queen of the house, completely pampered, living in her perfectly constructed fantasy world thanks to her father and brothers. Unlike me, Zeus knew how to be the standard my father always wanted for me. An impeccable, perfect, admirable standard. I am the complete opposite: immoral, feared, highly questionable. And let’s not even mention Apollo, who became a complete rebel since his adolescence, living only to grab me by the balls and piss me off with his crap. But putting all that aside, the four of us are the pride of the man who still stares at me, waiting for me to react. The platinum strands show that the years have passed, but like fine wine, my father doesn’t look old; on the contrary, I’m sure the w***e beside me is now ogling him because she’s stopped screaming and is now laughing mischievously. “Poor her if my mother sees her laughing like that.” But her inappropriate gaze doesn’t move me. As long as the man in front of me doesn’t divert his dark gaze to her for even a second, I’m fine with it. And I know he won’t; he never has since I can remember. Unlike me, my father, Ares West, is completely devoted and faithful to my mother, something I admire and applaud on my knees but would never do in my life. “Life is too short not to enjoy its pleasures.” “Are you going to tell your w***e to leave, or should I have her thrown out?” “Excuse me?!” she demands, her face contorted. “I demand that—” “Shut up,” he orders without looking at her, and she falls silent, turning to look at me. “Were you planning to demand an apology from my father?” I raise an eyebrow, and she opens her mouth. “He’s right; you’re a w***e. Who did I pay a wad of cash to last night to come with me and f**k?” I see indignation in her eyes, rage on her reddened face, the urge to tell me to go to hell, but she knows that if she does, it will be the last thing she does. “Get out,” I order sharply. She hesitates; I see the shame in her despite being a w***e. Her eyes dart from my father to mine, and when I see her raise her hand to strike, I’m quicker and catch it in midair, pulling her close to my chest, enjoying the panic in her eyes. “Are you going to hit the hand that feeds you, you worthless w***e?” I hiss through clenched teeth, and she shakes her head. “That’s what I thought. Now, get out of my house, and don’t forget to pick up your rags from my floor.” I release her and place my hands behind my head again, watching as she leaves the bed naked and begins to gather her things with her head bowed. I don’t understand her annoyance; she’s a w***e. Did she expect to be treated with reverence? That brings a slight smile to my face. I would never do that with any woman. Last night, she agreed to come home with me after sucking me off in the club’s private room. I didn’t need to warn her about the kind of man I am; she knew it very well, and now she’s pretending to be offended? “What a clueless whore.” The door slams again, causing my head to throb due to the damn headache I have. Besides being a w***e, she’s also dramatic. I turn my gaze back to my father, who is still staring at me intensely. I get up from the bed to sit on its edge, running my hands through my hair, preparing for his lecture, his reprimand. “Are you aware that Natalia waited for you last night at dinner?” “I didn’t promise her I’d attend.” “Your mother is angry with you, Eros,” he says sharply. “I’ll go apologize to her for my absence tomorrow, but only to her.” “And what about Natalia?” he asks. That makes me laugh sarcastically. “What about her? Nothing. I don’t give a damn what happens with her.” “I didn’t ask her to organize a dinner for our anniversary.” “She’s your fiancée, son,” he says, trying to contain himself. “She’s the damned fiancée you left waiting while you screwed that w***e. What the hell is wrong with you, Eros?!” “The same crap that was wrong with you when you arranged my engagement to her!” I retort, completely fed up with this. “You didn’t consider my opinion! You didn’t care if I wanted to get engaged or not! You just pointed to Natalia’s picture among many to choose her as my wife!” Standing in the middle of the room, I run my hands over my face, frustrated by this conversation. I curse under my breath, place my hands on my hips, and look at him, trying not to escalate this further. “I’ve always obeyed you; I’ve always done what you’ve asked. Since you handed me the conglomerate, I’ve tripled the family fortune.” I take two steps forward, looking at him with the same sharp gaze he gives me. “I’ve followed every damn order you’ve given me, and this is how you repay me? By forcing me to marry?” “You need to learn respect, Eros.” “I respect you! I respect you, Mom, even the addict Apollo!” “Don’t speak of your brother that way!” His voice booms through the room, making it clear that my last words have truly pissed him off. He points his index finger directly at me with a look that, right now, does make me hesitate. “Let this be the last time you refer to your brother that way, Eros. Call him an addict again, and I’ll cut your tongue out myself.” “Damn it.” “I didn’t mean it,” I lie. “Just like you didn’t mean to screw that w***e, right? Not to mention the others you’ve been screwing every damn day, without giving a damn about your fiancée.” “How am I supposed to care about someone who doesn’t interest me?” “Oh, but you still screw her too,” he says with disdain. That makes me laugh bitterly. She’s my fiancée; she likes d**k, how can I refuse? “Natalia is not a child, Dad. She knows perfectly well that I don’t love her, and she knows very well that if she’s with me, it’s because of you. So she could easily refuse, but she doesn’t. Does that make me the culprit?” “That makes you a son of a….” He stops himself when he sees me raise an eyebrow. He won’t say it; he would never disrespect Mom. “You will marry Natalia, make no mistake about it,” he declares. I don’t care about being naked in front of him; I don’t care that he sees my d**k hanging between my legs. I didn’t ask him to barge into my room knowing how he’d find me. This isn’t the first time he’s done this, which is why I didn’t hesitate to shorten the distance to look him in the eye. We’re the same height, we look so much alike that if it weren’t for the gray hairs painting his black hair and the small wrinkles around his eyes, people would think we’re brothers instead of father and son. “Do you think that just because things worked out with Mom, they’ll work out for me too?” “I hated your mother; I despised her so much that I hurt her a lot, but I learned to love her, Eros. You need to learn to love someone. You need to settle down. You’re thirty-five years old, you’re a successful, powerful man, you honor your surname, but you tarnish it with your immoralities,” he says with annoyance. “Do you think your mother is happy when she hears that her son is screwing around in clubs with more than one woman?” “I didn’t ask you to follow me.” “I do it to protect you, Eros…” he hisses. “From s*x workers who attend my other businesses?” I mock. “I don’t need protection from them, and if you’re referring to something else, do you think I’m an i***t?” “Never,” he responds, his chin held high. “You’re as cunning as I am; you even surpassed me. But you’re making a mistake and don’t realize that your own antics will be your downfall.” “My downfall is the woman you want to force me to marry,” I spit out angrily, then turn my back and walk toward my bathroom. “That is my downfall, and you, Mr. Ares West, are the main cause of it.” His sarcastic laugh makes me stop; I turn immediately, watching him walk leisurely toward the door of the room. “The devil knows more because he’s old than because he’s the devil, dear son,” he says smugly. “Natalia is just a lesson for you, but not your downfall. Karma itself will give you that later if you continue down this path.” “I won’t marry Natalia,” I declare. This causes his features to harden even more than they already are, but it doesn’t stop his stride until he reaches the door. “I’ll tell you this once; continue with this life and prepare to be stripped of everything you have, Eros West,” his threat is direct. “I don’t care that you’re my son; I don’t care if I get into trouble with your mother once again. If you dare to continue with your crap, prepare to live in misery.” I don’t respond; he knows I won’t. With that said, he walks out, and the door slams shut for the third time in my room. I feel my head heat up, the anger rising, and the first thing I grab is the lamp from the nightstand and smash it against the wall. “Damn it!” I scream, running my hands through my hair. “I knew it, damn it!” Enraged, I enter the bathroom to take a shower once and for all. I need to calm down, I need to be at peace and think with a cool head because if I go by what I’m feeling, I’d start a war with my own father. I don’t want that, but he’s not helping. Forcing me to marry just to teach me a lesson is very low on his part. A dirty move, in my opinion. I’ve been the son he always wanted me to be; he raised me to be what I am today. Why can’t he just let me live my life in peace? But no! The old bastard just wants me to be as perfect as Zeus, not make mistakes in my life, have a lovely wife by my side, and smile in every damn family photo. “I don’t want that. I don’t want it in my life; why can’t he understand?” I take care of the West conglomerate. I take care of my own businesses that have nothing to do with the family. I’ve followed every damn order he’s given me since I was ten years old, and he repays me by forcing me to marry Natalia? He can’t be serious. And if he thinks I’ll end up in ruin, he’s very wrong. He wants me to marry, fine, I’ll do it. I’ll sign the damn paper in his face, but he shouldn’t expect fidelity from me, and Natalia better not think she’ll have a happy life with me, much less that I’ll treat her with reverence. She and I will be married, but only on paper, because I won’t change my lifestyle for her, much less be the perfect husband she desires. Or the one my mother has been painting at every damn family dinner. With that in mind, I step into the shower. Tonight is my best friend’s birthday, so I don’t intend to miss celebrating it with him at my own club. Just for that, I decide to set aside the anger caused by his visit. Natalia won’t take long to show up at my door, indignantly demanding explanations I’m not obliged to give her. And I’m sure my mother will be another one who won’t hesitate to come here with every intention of telling me off. Unlike my father who yells and imposes, Mrs. West doesn’t need to do any of that. She, with her sweet smile and kind words, is a force to be reckoned with. “It’s better that I shower and get out of here quickly. I don’t mind yelling at my father, but it does hurt to yell at her.”