The Devil's Honey

TWENTY-NINE

TWENTY-NINE
🍯Honey🍯

Rocky walks into the house with a dark-skinned woman around his age by his side who holds the hand of a little girl I can only assume is their daughter. This is his daughter and wife who are moving in due to everything that is going on.

I give the woman a small wave and smile at her, and she kindly returns the gesture.

"Honey, this is my wife Gianna and my daughter Summer." He introduces us.

"Summer is a season." Ayla points out beside me.

"My daddy and mummy like the summer." The little girl whispers, pushing up her glasses which seem to be a bit too big for her little head. Summer is the same age as Ayla, and I'm hoping that they'll get along because Ayla gets bored way too easily. "W-What's your name?"

Summer makes the first step forward and smiles at my little girl. I give Ayla a reassuring smile and wait for her to tell Summer her name.

"Ten dollars and I'll tell you."

"Ayla!" I hiss and she shrugs.

"Hey! You just said my name!" She throws her hands up and then eyes the teddy bear clutched in Summer's hands. "I like your teddy bear. I like pink." The nervous look on Summer's face dissolves, and she bounces excitedly on the balls of her feet.

"Really!" Ayla nods her head.

"Would you like to see my room? Mr Xavier bought me a big dollhouse." He did?

The two girls rush up the stairs and I walk over to where Rocky stands with his arm around Gianna's curvy waist.

"Thank you for letting us stay here." She speaks with a soft voice, leaning into Rocky's side. She's a very short lady — maybe around 5'1, so I find myself staring down at her. And Rocky is a huge man — a huge, tattooed man. My eyes widen and I decide to keep my thoughts to myself.

"You're more than welcome here. It's more Xavier's home than it is mine." I mention and Rocky scoffs.

"Honey, he bought this house for you. Your name is on this house, this is very much your house. Don't let him hear you say that." He grumbles with a small smirk, and a knowing look on his face.

"I still can't believe he settled down. He was very anti-relationship when we were younger. I swear every time Rocky, and I hung out as teenagers, Xavier would come along, and he used to glare daggers into our souls." She giggles. "I'm so happy that he's found you. He deserves it." Summer grabs a hold of my hand and squeezes gently.

"Talking of the man, where is he?" Rocky questions with furrowed brows. "Also, we need to discuss getting this chip out of Ayla's neck. We can't hold on any longer. We've got three days before things start going to shit."

"Last time I checked he was down in the gym hitting the life out of a punching bag," I inform him, and he gives Gianna one last kiss before taking himself in the direction of the gym. I turn back to Gianna. "Want some wine?" She grins and nods her head.

•••

"You were kidnapped?! So was I?! That's how I met Xavier." I gasp taking another sip of my red wine.

"Yeah. You think Xavier is the only one with enemies, but Rocky had a few of his own. If it wasn't for Xavier saving me, I wouldn't be alive." She smiles sadly and I grab a hold of her hand and squeeze it gently.

"How did you meet Rocky?"

"He nearly ran me over." I choke on my drink, wiping away the wine that has dribbled down my chin.