“How, how could she, fucking family, how could she?” Riley was angry. 

His movements were tense and nervous; he walked quickly. It was obvious that he knew where he was going and didn’t wonder which street to turn on. He walked without thinking. 

“I need to talk to him. I truly need to talk to him and explain. I must explain, fix this, make him see—fuck! What do I even say? And where is she? Where did she go after this?” Riley’s voice was tearful in tone, angry but also desperate.

His thoughts were switching between being furious at his family and what he had learned they did—his mother did, to be precise… and Taj. How would Riley explain? 

They didn’t talk much after he, Riley, offended him. Of course, he offended him. Who wouldn’t be offended if someone offered money for—not sure exactly for what?

Riley already knew what else he could say. He could ask about lessons, paid lessons; let him earn as he was a teacher. He was a fucking teacher; he was paid to teach. 

But fucking he, Riley, he had to offend him.

Of course, and Rowan, at least she was alive. Expelled, beaten, but alive, somewhere. This was why he needed to talk to him. He needed him to help find Rowan, find her, and fix it all. 

Taj.

Riley got to know him thanks to Rowan; without her, they would never ever have met. Riley was incognito at TU University, hiding his family’s background and the fact that he was Riley Clar, the Clar, from the family that owned the company. He truly didn’t want students to know. Riley wanted to genuinely study, meet people, and fucking live for a moment. 

He liked Rowan; they talked and laughed. She was a bit older—two or three years—so she already had interesting friends at the University. One of them, she said, was a special teacher. A doctorate but earning money teaching fighting. And what the teacher taught was, among others, street fighting and arena-style defense and attack. He wanted to see it, and this was how they met. 

Fuck, it was so recent, but Riley couldn’t get him out of his head. His eyes. His face. Bewitching. Riley knew that he was fucking crazy about him. And now, he was at Taj’s door to beg for help after everything that happened. 

Riley was also scared. If his family knew his feelings, they might capture Taj instead of Rowan and hurt him. Hurt him! 

When Taj opened the door, Riley took a breath; his thoughts became blurred. Taj was without a shirt. His Crystal was very visible, inside his chest, near his heart, centered. Spoiling his beauty and at the same time improving his appearance, making it all rugged. Taj looked like a statue, again, bewitching—Riley couldn’t put it differently. 

“I was practicing,” Taj explained. “Come in.” 

Taj left the door open and went inside. When he got back, he was fully dressed, his Crystal hidden. Hair tied loosely, ponytail crooked. And his eyes—with a deep look, face not to decipher emotions. 

Riley went in, carefully closing the door behind him. He felt like entering a demon’s cave. He briefly looked around. Fuck, Taj was poor. Should he offer him… not today. There was something else to talk about. 

“I tried to look for her,” Riley said and started to pace around the room. 

Taj sat in an armchair. Casually, he was not tense. He said nothing. 

“I’m not stupid, but I didn’t know it was my mother who did something like that, as it happened before…” Riley was nervous and angry at the same time.

“What exactly?” Taj asked, his voice calm.

“Whenever I had a friend, or I talked to someone more times, these people changed. I mean, I thought she was giving money to these people so they would stop meeting with me. But I never thought she could do something like this, fucking stupid mother. Like, forgive me, ancestors, but what mother does that kind of stuff?” Riley paced around faster. 

“That, meaning?” Taj asked again.

“It is so horrible, so embarrassing for the whole family. My family, my grandfather, we are not like this at all!” Riley almost screamed. 

He knew he was avoiding explaining what his mother did. He stopped walking around and looked at Taj. Then Riley sat near him, on the ground, looked at him again, and decided to spit it out.

“My mother beat Rowan, my friend, my friend! My mother beat her because she wanted her to leave me alone. And my mother expelled her!” Riley’s voice broke down; he finally said it aloud. 

There was silence between them. 

Riley wasn’t sure what to do, but he felt better after he said it all, so he decided to say more.

“I do not know where Rowan is; I am not sure; I don’t know what to do,” he started trembling. “Help me, Taj, you will surely be able to tell me what to do; you are Rowan’s friend. Help me find her; I have money, I can do anything, I will do anything!” Riley felt he had tears in his eyes.

Taj was silent for a moment but then reached Riley with his hand and started to calm him down by stroking his hair. 

“I know about it,” Taj said. He stopped his hand.

Fuck, the touch… Riley felt it very vividly; some of his recent visions flashed in his thoughts, and it made him feel nervous again. At the same time, Riley started to wonder if there would be something more, but Taj didn’t touch him again. 

After a moment, he commented on what Riley had said.

“Rowan is well. She left the City, and she probably will not come back any time soon.” Taj stated.

Hearing this, Riley felt some kind of relief, as if one problem was smaller… and Taj allowed him to come here Was Taj not angry at him anymore because of what Riley had said? 

“What should you do about your family? You must think for yourself. I cannot tell you what you should do; it is your family,” Taj said and added. “I didn’t know you were Clar.”

Fuck! Riley felt panic. It was it; his fucking surname was the concern. But in what way? What bothered Taj? What could he, Riley, do about it? He didn’t want Taj to disappear from his life, as in the past it had happened with other people he knew. Not Taj, not him. 

He didn’t say out loud what was swirling in his head. 

Taj was also silent. 

Riley noticed that for a moment Taj was looking somewhere, then his face changed, but Riley wasn’t sure what it was.

“I cannot help you with your family; you must solve it yourself. Rowan surely mentioned you before, you should know. I despise cartels and these businesses, which include your company. It happens you are the future owner; you are from the Clar family. In a way, I despise you—not you as a person, but you as a figure. Do you understand what I am saying?” Taj asked.

Riley let his head down and didn’t say a word.

“But,” Taj added and paused. 

Riley raised his head, as he found a spark of hope in this one word.

“There could be a solution. But you need to do exactly what I say from now on,” Taj said.