The Protector 2

Chapter Two-3

“Me? You’re the biggest evil here, the animator. I’m only following your orders, that’s all,” I shrugged.

Even though she was only learning photography, Amina acted like a pro in the studio. She went through some kind of a metamorphosis the moment she shot the first pic. She knew exactly what she wanted. She was constantly providing us with detailed instructions, and her mere words carried raw eroticism in them. “Yes, Chad. Very good. Your left hand a little higher, and more tightly, yes. Pull her thigh closer to you. Lower your hand. Even more. Good. Press her against the wall with your hips. Sexy as s**t. Just like that, like that… grope her ponytail, stronger! That’s it. So hot. I want to see that you’re crazy about her, that you’ll swoon right on the spot if she can’t be yours. Yeah. That, I want that stare, exactly. Bring your fingers lower, Raven. Lower. Even lower. Now it’s good. Hook your finger into the elastic. As if you want to rip it off. That’s it. Beautiful. Grab it. Come on, Raven. Stronger! Let’s do another one where he’s biting your ankle. Wonderful.” Who the hell wouldn’t be aroused by this? s****l energy was fuzzing in the studio.

Amina’s imagination had no limits. The erotic poses she put us into were madly teasing and provoking, without entering the zone of tastelessness. It was attention-seeking and sensual, but not ordinary. She had an unbelievable feel for moods, wonderfully caught the most intense moments. I couldn’t wait to see the finished sequence.

After the shot, we were all dead tired. I felt as if my energy had been drained from me to the last drop. It didn’t escape my attention that Chad was sizing me with sharp eyes, and he circled around me strangely, as if trying to say something. Then Liam came, Amina’s boyfriend, and invited us all for a drink at a nearby pub. Liam was the nicest guy I had ever met. He was a few years older than us, but with his relaxed personality, he knocked everybody off their feet right away. Soon we were all laughing loudly at the pub, while the boys were ordering one beer or tequila after the other, at the counter. Chad told us after his second beer that his very serious relationship of several years had recently come to an end. The girl was apparently his fiancée, and they broke up in a rather horrible way, they had ugly fights. I hadn’t drunk enough to start telling them about my past and the reasons why I had left the States, so I just let the others talk. Regarding her past, Amina was also quite secretive, and even with me, she very rarely shared any details about her family. So I didn’t nag her with questions.

After Liam and Amina drove off in a taxi, the night ended with Chad walking me home. We were both tipsy, Chad a little more than me. As we got to my house and began to say goodbye, he simply grabbed my waist, leaned over and wantonly kissed me. I had the sensation that he wasn’t completely over his fiancée yet, and only used me as a kind of therapy, but in that moment I didn’t mind it. The wound on my heart had just healed, so the kiss seemed more than fair. We used one another, and enjoyed it. I wanted him, even though I had only known him for a few hours, and wasn’t in love with him at all. This was the first occasion I had allowed someone to get so close to me after such a short time. This terrain was very new to me, but I was ready to learn.

It was rare that Amina and I were both home at the same time, so spending the evening together because neither of us had anything to do, was exceptional. And this evening was exactly like that. We were watching an episode of Twilight on TV that was repeated for the hundredth time, but Amina was restless. She kept stirring and couldn’t sit still.

“Can we talk?” she turned to me unexpectedly, right in the middle of the film.

I looked at her, raising my eyebrows.

“Now?”

“I just… want to ask something,” she said, chewing on her lips with uncertainty.

I switched off the TV at once, and pulling my knees up, I turned towards her with my whole body. It was obvious that she was struggling about something.

“Go ahead. Just get it out. Is there a problem?”

“I don’t know. It’s not really a problem, just… I must talk to someone or else I will explode.”

I spread my arms and answered jokingly.

“You’re at the best place possible, dear. Don’t spare me!” When I saw that Amina wasn’t in a joking mood, I got more serious, positioned myself closer to her on the sofa, and squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’m listening.”

She cleared her throat, and forced a less than convincing smile on her face. Meanwhile, I prayed hard that she wouldn’t blurt out that she was pregnant.

“Okay,” she started with a sigh. “You know Liam, right?”

“Oh, yes,” I sighed, hearing Liam Parker’s name. The guy was adorable, I became convinced about that on the few brief occasions we met. “I’ve had the pleasure to meet him.”

Amina made a smile, indicating she was totally getting my point. Then, she took a deep breath, and the smile faded on her face. I became alarmed.

“Oh God, Amina. I hope you’re not trying to tell me that you’ve broken up with him? You haven’t left that dream guy, have you?”

“No, of course not,” she shook her head. “I love Liam. I’m crazy about him.”

“Thank God,” I exhaled with relief.

“It’s just that,” she lifted her finger insecurely, “there’s also… Dylan.” She articulated the name slowly, as if she was scared even just to take it. She paused, and looked at me with hesitation.

“Okay. Dylan,” I scratched my forehead. “Liam’s friend, if I remember correctly. I haven’t met him yet.”

“No, you haven’t met him yet. Dylan Stark, Liam’s childhood friend, and even more than that,” Amina sighed dreamily. “They practically see each other as brothers. Oh, by the way, they’re business partners, too. Dylan runs the restaurant where I work, and Liam is something like a silent partner in the business. He does the paperwork.”

“All right. I get it,” I nodded.

“I doubt that,” Amina mumbled under her nose.

“It’s strange that you’ve never mentioned him before.

“The thing is that Dylan is a little… oh God. Dylan is very different from Liam. It’s kind of complicated.” She threw herself on her back on top of the sofa. She dug her fingers into her hair, and turning her face to the ceiling, she moaned with agony.

I shook my head knowingly.

“Is this Dylan… hot?”

Amina tilted her head, and buried her face into her hands.

“He is. Oh my goddness. If only you knew!” she mumbled inarticulately between her fingers.

“Say no more. I get it,” I laughed out loud. “Here are these two gorgeous men, one is hotter than the other, they’re both crazy about you, and you can’t choose between them.”

“My God,” Amina moaned. “If only it was that simple!”

“I don’t understand,” I said, furrowing my brow.

“I love Liam,” she confessed, almost with despair, and blinked at me, in need for help.

“This is good news, isn’t it?” I asked back, tilting my head.

“And I love Dylan too.”

I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it. I scratched my chin, and pointed a finger to my friend, lost for words.

“Ehm, you mean…”

“I’m in love, Raven. With both of them. At the same time.”

“In love?”

“Like crazy,” she dropped her chin on her chest with frustration.

“Wow! That’s really… wow!” I stuttered while scratching the back of my neck.

Amina jumped up and began to walk in circles around the living room, massaging her scalp with her fingertips, like someone struggling with a migraine attack.

“I know it sounds horrible and I shouldn’t feel this way,” she broke out with passion.

“I never said that, Amina.”

“This thing is… not natural. Not normal. I’m not normal,” she bit on her lips with despair.

She stopped in front of me, and as she made beautiful gloomy eyes at me, she looked terribly lost.

“Don’t talk like that. That’s nonsense. There is a solution for everything,” I said in encouragement.

“I swear, the whole thing terrifies me too. My own feelings. But the strangest thing of all is that I don’t even want to choose between them. I want to be with them. Both of them! And I swear, it’s not just about s*x,” she added quietly, and cast her eyes down, blushing.

I blinked with shock, hardly believing that the blushing little rose is the same cool photographer chick who took those daringly sensual photos of us.

“Wait just a second,” I raised my hand, and stood up. I began to walk up and down, in front of the sofa. “Let me just see if I get it right. There are these two completely different, sexy and adorable guys, Liam and Dylan.” Amina nodded. “And you’re saying you love them both? At the same time?” I asked with genuine puzzlement. Amina nodded again, and her face turned red. “Equally?” I raised my eyebrows, at which Amina buried her face into her hands, and murmured something that sounded like a yes. I stopped and dug my fingers into my hair with concern. I wanted to say something reassuring, something wise and smart, but at that moment there was nothing I could say.

“f**k it. You’re deep in s**t!” was all I could come up with.

During the almost five years that I spent in London, I never once visited the States. Once in a while, I spoke to my aunt and uncle on the phone, but we never met in person. Sandro, however, crossed the ocean twice just to be with me. The second time he even brought Chris with him, and they spent a week in London during the winter holidays. The boys, other than becoming physically more developed, hadn’t changed much. Sandro was twenty-seven, Chris was twenty-four at the time, and that southern type of protective instinct was still raging inside them. For some reason they weren’t willing to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t a little girl anymore, and I was able to choose my friends without their assistance. Sandro was especially overmotivated when I introduced him to Chad. He scared the s**t out of the guy with questions like, “And tell me, what are your future intentions regarding my cousin?”

Chad and I weren’t an inseparable loving couple. His modelling career was on the rise, so he was often away, and sometimes we didn’t meet for weeks. We didn’t have a great influence on one another, anyway. When we both attended an afterparty, or went dancing at night with Chad’s friends, I often crossed a line. It was with Chad that I got drunk for the first time in my life, and I also tried smoking pot with him. All the partying and night life had a negative effect on my studies. Once I even had to retake a term exam, and of course, I wasn’t too proud of that, so I didn’t mention it to my family. Then I hit the absolute bottom when, after a whole night of partying, I woke up in a strange apartment, surrounded by people I didn’t know, and had no idea how I had got there. This experience sobered me up thoroughly, and helped me restrore my worldview. Like mad, I ran to the gynaecologist, got myself tested for all kinds of sexually transmitted deseases, but I was in luck. I felt empty and burnt out, missing the girl I once was. The motivated, well-balanced Raven Bertone, who had serious goals in life. After the incident, I seriously thought about how to go on, and realized that the modelling lifestyle wasn’t doing me good. I did my best to concentrate on university again, and took on less and less photo jobs. Since Chad was becoming more and more popular at that time, overwhelmed with work, our paths parted. We didn’t end our relationship on bad terms, we just grew apart, and neither of us did anything to improve the situation.