Luka was looking at the ceiling. His stomach was sore, and the pain was a welcome, but rather an ineffective distraction. The other distraction he had sought out was also ineffective.
A snap an inch from his face brought him back to Earth.
"Are you listening to anything I'm saying?" Eva accused sullenly.
"Yes, no. Kind of,"
Eva groaned. "Okay, you are clearly not here because you want to talk about anything to do with me. Whatever is going on just spit it out,"
Seeking some clarity away from Daisy, Luka had gone to the warehouse. There had been annoyingly little to do there, so he had ended up sparing with one of the better hand-to-hand fighters, Alex. Luka had been distracted, and took a serious punch to the gut, leaving him embarrassingly gasping for breath and Alex apologizing. Escaping to shower, Luka had brought himself to an unfulfilling climax that somehow left him even more frustrated.
Changing strategies, Luka ended up at his baby sister's apartment, where she had reliably started jabbering on about her university classes. But Eva had never enjoyed people half-listening and was unimpressed with Luka's sullen state.
"I don't want to talk about it," Luka grumbled.
"So, you don't want to talk about other stuff or the thing you're clearly thinking about. Right," Eva pushed herself out of the colorful velvet couch. She pulled a bottle of sparkling water out of the fridge and began pouring two glasses.
Luka opened and closed his mouth. Eva placed the glass of water in front of him and watched him struggle.
"I met this girl," he said finally, hesitantly.
Eva blinked. "Like a... like a girl, girl?"
"Maybe, fuck. I'm not sure," Luka put his face in his hands.
"Why aren't you sure?"
Luka pondered this. Eva, being his sister, had seen her fair share of brutality in their family's line of work. But it seemed like admitting he had kidnapped Daisy as bait for her boyfriend, then proceeded to lose control with her, was not something he should tell Daisy.
Luka was cunning and brutal, yes. But he wasn't totally lacking in morality. He had enough sense to be ashamed of how he lost himself in her, of how, if he was honest with himself, he knew she was not locked in his bedroom because he thought she had information on Ethan. But he couldn't stop. Even now, he craved her. It was a growing obsession and a dangerous one for both of them. Dangerous for Daisy because of obvious reasons, and dangerous for Luka because he was weak around her. He forgot himself when she was close.
"Things are ...complicated," He gritted his teeth.
Eva smirked. "Because of Sylvia?"
Luka's head snapped up. "No, why would it be complicated because of Sylvia?"
"Don't be daft Luka. We both know why,"
For the first time in days, Luka thought of Sylvia. She was an associate that helped manage his father's finances. She was also a collector and a good one at that. Tall, blonde, and thin, everyone tended to underestimate her. It gave her an edge over them. She was manipulative and cruel, and seemingly perfect for Luka. They had hooked up several times - the girl was a good fuck with a wickedly talented mouth, he had to admit. But it had only ever been a few hookups. What made it complicated was the Sylvia was incredibly smart and incredibly power-hungry - similar to Luka. She saw Luka as the key to power in the city. Unfortunately, Luka's father saw Sylvia for exactly what she was - and he agreed she would be the perfect woman at Luka's side in the family business.
He wasn't ever crazy about the idea, but he hadn't ever been outwardly resistant to it. He even admitted that it was probably the right business move. But Luka had put off going through with it, keeping his relationship with Sylvia minimal. And now, the girl trapped in his bedroom who hated his guts had ground the whole thing to an epic halt.
Luka leaned forward and fixed Eva with an intense scare. "Swear to me Eva, you won't mention Daisy to anyone- not Dad or Sylvia or Declan, or even mom. At least for now,"
"Daisy? What a sweet name," Eva smiled mockingly. "Can I meet her?"
"No. Eva, do you swear?"
"I swear, but I want to meet her - eventually."
Luka cringed. To be honest, he had no idea if eventually would ever come. He had very little plans with Daisy past what he was thinking of doing to her when he got home.
"Eventually," Luka said, unsure if he was lying.
"Why's it complicated?"
Luka sighed. "I can't seem to figure her out. I met her on a collection,"
"Why were you on a collection?" Eva narrowed her eyes.
Luka could not tell Eva he had been going after Ethan. "It was... personal,"
"Personal?"
"Yes, personal. Private, Eva,"
Eva rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Continue,"
"I don't know what it is about her," Luka pictured Daisy, her defiant, secretive eyes. Full of hatred, full of lust. "I can't seem to focus when I'm around her,"
"Sounds... intense," Eva eyed her brother. She had not been expecting this thread of conversation when he should up at her door. "But why are you here? I don't understand. Do you need advice or something?"
"No, um... I don't know. I just wanted to clear my head a bit,"
"Figure out what you're going to do next?"
"Something like that," Luka cringed.
"Is that what you want advice on?"
Luka knew her advice would be some restaurant for a traditional date. "Not really... I just. I'm not sure, should I pursue this?"
Eva narrowed her eyes. "Why wouldn't you, if you like her?"
Luka looked for an excuse. "Because... Sylvia?"
Eva barked out a laugh. "Fuck Sylvia,"
"Don't let dad hear you say that." Luka grinned.
"Mom doesn't like her either! She once said you need someone softer,"
"Softer, eh?" Luka pondered this. Daisy was certainly softer than Sylvia, but he wouldn't have used that adjective to describe her. His mind wandered to her. He imagined creamy thighs, the soft petals between Daisy's legs, what she smelled like.
Eva snapped her fingers in front of Luka's face. "Oi! Stop daydreaming. If you wanna distract yourself from the girl then let's order a pizza, play Mario kart or something,"
Before he could lose himself completely to her childish distractions, Luka flipped open his phone, texting Winston a few directions on Daisy.
***
Daisy spent the evening wandering around her beautiful cell. For a while, she hesitated to explore much because it seemed to be an invasion of Luka's privacy. She eventually realized how ridiculous that was given that Luka had gone through her phone, stripped her multiple times, and assaulted her.
She found little interesting stuff. His closet was pristine - meticulously organized and filled with extremely nice clothes for every occasion. The bedside table was fairly standard - she found condoms, hand cream, some sleeping pills, and painkillers. The bathroom was also incredibly neat, with simple, expensive, bottles of shampoo and cologne and shaving materials. She eyed a razor for a few minutes but sighed and put it back. She wasn't willing to kill Luka in his sleep, no matter how angry she was.
At one point there was a knock on the door and Daisy, like a coward, hid in the bathroom. She heard the bedroom door open and close, and when she peeked out, she saw three things waiting for her. The first was a tray of food - salmon, salad, rice pilaf, a glass of white wine, and a carafe of water. The second was a large paper bag, and it was full of clothes. The clothes were beautiful - structured jeans and silk pajamas, simple, elegant dresses and skirts. Nice underwear too - not lingerie, but still expensive, tiny lacy things. She frowned at them. Why was he giving her clothes? The final thing was a bag of toiletries. He had given her nice stuff - shampoo and perfume she normally couldn't afford, and she was annoyed that she liked them.
Daisy paced back and forth staring at the gifts until the sun was long set. She wanted to put them away, but doing so seemed complacent in her kidnapping, and she was not willing to settle into the concrete prison with a beautiful view.
