Why the Straight One? | Book 1 | bxb

Excerpt 8

I hated leaving Alex, even for a minute, but with everything going on, I thought it was best to be around my brothers as well. It was dinner, and everyone, besides Alex, was seated at the table.

I was surprised to see Elliot there, seeing as he had been avoiding everyone as much as possible. It was strange to see him and Alan at the same table, but not even sharing a word or a glance. At least, Elliot never looked at him once. Alan was staring at him almost the whole meal, and I could see the pain in his eyes.

Raymond kept a close eye on him too, only looking away to talk to Cole a few times throughout the meal. Jay and Cam are with up as well, but I had a feeling, when they saw that I was down here, that they would rather have been eating it in Alex's room. Maybe next meal, if I wasn't there.

Not much was said during the meal, and Elliot kept his head bowed, barely touching the food in front of him. He probably wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Every loud sound brought his head up to look around the room for any sign of danger.

He needed help, that much was obvious. The problem was that I knew he didn't want to talk about anything. Maybe it was too soon to be pulling up everything, but he wasn't going to get better on his own.

I caught Raymond's eye, and understood the look there. It was on my mind too. I knew that in telling him about my past...I knew it would help, but knowing the right thing to do, and doing it, are two very different things.

For one, he probably doesn't want to talk to me since we've never been close, and secondly, it was hard. Harder then anyone would ever understand, to voluntarily talk about the lowest point of your life. But how was I to expect Elliot to talk when what happened to him had been so much worse, and was still happening only weeks before.

I tried not to watch him for too long. I think he felt eyes on him, and that made him nervous and uncomfortable. No wonder he didn't want to be around us.

I concentrated on my own dinner, and my thoughts of Alex, until I heard the sound of a chair being pulled back abruptly, and Elliot's angry voice.

"The fuck is wrong with you?"

It only took a second to take in the scene in front of me. The servant girl backing away from him, an empty bowl in her hand, the contents of which she must have spilled onto Elliot. I saw the look in his eyes. Fear, confusion, but most of all, anger. The pain from the hot soup seemed to have brought back memories of other pain he had experienced, and he was shaking with more then rage.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness! Please, let me get a rag or something to clean this up." She took a hesitant step forward, and Elliot lurched back, almost tripping on his chair as he did so.

"Elliot." Raymond's voice was gentle, but firm, and Elliot's eyes instantly snapped towards him. He looked like a hunted animal, made desperate by his fear and confusion.

"It was just an accident."

Elliot was breathing deeply, looking uncertainly at the frightened girl next to him. She glanced over at me, as her employer, not knowing how to react to this kind of anger.

"It's alright, Emma. Like Raymond said, it was just an accident. You may go." I smiled at her, and she looked relived at my dismissal.

The door closed quietly behind her, and still Elliot stood as if rooted to the spot. It was hard to know just what was going on in his mind. He still looked angry, and I didn't know how to deal with that. It's not like anyone could, or wanted to be, that stern with him. I wasn't going to be angry at him for the way he treated my servant. I needed him to trust, not resent or even fear me.