floratic:

MUTT’S  FINE .  ❞  as  long  as  i’m  able  to  evade  you  from  the  truth .    ❝ jonah , 18 .  ran  away  from  a  boring  suburban  home .  had  everything  in  my  life ,  but  was  finding   everything  a  little  too  dull .  needed  excitement ,  an  adventure .  stole  a  couple  hundred  bucks  from  dad’s  bank  account , &  stole  away  from  there .  now  i’m  here .  ❞   he  keeps  a  minute  of  pause ,  as  if  to  test  victor’s  reaction  to  the  false - spun  tale .  then ,  reaching  towards  the  right  sleeve  of  his  arm , he  tugs  the  fabric  upwards  to  reveal  the  fading  but  ever - present  scars  of  burn - marks  &  slash  marks  that  runs  along  from  forearm  to  upwards .      ❝ tyler . 17 .  never  knew  my  parents ,  grew  up  in   the  streets .  been city - hopping  all  my  life ,  came  across  too  many  thugs ,  they  gave  me  scars  to  remember them  by . only  arrived  here  a  week  ago ,  searching  for  a  temporary  hide - out .  see ,  stole  a  bit  of  some  precious  drug  stash  from  a  gang , &  now  they’re  coming  after  my  head . too  bad  i  won’t  have  them  by  the  time  they  find me .  been  planning  to  sell  it  off  to  your  friend  here .  ❞   

there’s  another  long  stretch  of  silence , &  he  allows  the  sleeve  to  fall  back  down  to  cover  his  am  again .  a  feral  dog  circling  around  its  prey ,  he  takes  a  moment  to  consider  the  risks  benefits  of  this  man , but  only  walks  around  him  in  a  slow ,  steadfast  manner  before  stopping  in  front  of  victor  again .     ❝ daniel . 19 . killed  a  few  bodies  down  in  another  town , &  now  i’m  running  from  the  feds . figured  hiding  in  the  city  would  make  it  harder  for  them  to  track  me  down , so  i’ve  been  holed  up  here  ever  since .  thought  i  killed  a  few  no - names ,  but  turns  out  one  of  them  is  the  town  mayor’s  daughter ,  &  now  he  wants  to  see  my  head  on  a  silver  platter .  but  i’m  still  debating  whether  it  would  be  easier  to  continue  running  from  him ,  or  to  kill  him  first .  ❞    finally ,  he  stops ,  inhaling  a  deep  breath  as  he  closes  his  eyes.  when  he  opens  them  again , there’s  a  stone - cold  look  of  defiance  &  challenge  against  the  man  in  front  of  him  &  he  backs  away  a  couple  steps ,  hiding  his  hands  inside  the  pockets  of  his  jacket .     ❝ so  then ,  there’s three  versions .  you  choose  the  most  plausible  one .  ❞    

of  course ,  none  of  them  were  the  complete  truth .  but  each  had  bits  of  the  truth  embedded  into  them ,  as  he  had  learned  from  alex  once —- if  you  want  to  fool  anyone ,  always  tell  the  half - truth ,  tell  lies  with  the  truth  hiding  in  between  your  words .  whether  victor  could  figure  him  out , he  was  uncertain ,  but  he  was  certain  of  the  fact  that  before  victor  could  figure  out  the  pieces  together ,  elliot  would  have  long  fled  from  isaac’s  apartment.  it  was  never  safe  to  stay  in  one  place  for  too long ,  whether  it  was  in  some  hidden  lair  of  a  junkie  or  not .  isaac  probably  dealt  with  the  underground businesses ,  as  well  as  drugs , so  it  would  only  be  a  matter  of  time  the  man  would  be  busted out  one  day . on  that  day ,  elliot  would  be  gone .  already ,  he’d  drawn  out  a  map  of  roads  ways  to  get  himself  cutting  across  the  states ,  until  he  arrived  to  a  place  far  detached  from  his  home .  los  angeles ,  he  had  been  reminding  himself .  or  a  place  that  no  one  would  know ,  somewhere  in  the  heart  of  a  distant  &  quiet  state  down  in  the  south .  

how  he’d  get  there ,  he  would  figure out  along  the  way .  there  were  a  couple  hundred  dollars  that  he’d  managed  to  steal  away  from  his  house  before  he  made  his  run ,  &  he  would  have  to  use  them  wisely  if  he  planned  on  to  make  it  through  the  next  few  months .  that  also  only  gave  him  the  next  few  months  to  erase  himself  from  alexandra  completely ,  to  become   something  else  other  than  elliot .  to  forget  alexandria , his  home ,  mary  anne ,  adaline , alex , &  parrish .   

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there’s  a  dull  ache  in  his  heart  at  the  thought ,  but  he   keeps  it  swallowed  &  hidden ,  the  fear  tucked  somewhere  deep  inside  his  heart  as  he  meets  victor’s  eyes  again .      ❝ &  you’re  right .  it  would  be  your  best  bet  to  push  a bullet  through  me  before  you  get  an  apology  from  me .  ❞    he  hadn’t  refused  victor’s  name - drop  of  calling  him  a  ‘ mutt ‘ .  after  all ,  it  was  what  he  was , – wasn’t  it ?  his  father  had  called  him  a  mutt  plenty of  times  before  the  insult  became  too  boring  for  him .  elliot  wasn’t   acting  out  against  it  much  anymore .  jasper  called  him  a  deranged  mutt ,  &  elliot  didn’t  deny  this  either .  even  alex  would  call  him  a  rabies - infected  mutt  at  every  chance  he  got ,  which  earned  barely  a  glance  or  a  shrug  from  elliot  each  time .  all  in  all ,  victor  had  a  piece  of  truth  here , if  anything . 

He can’t help but laugh when Elliot circles him like a predatory animal, recognizing such a power move to be one he kept close to his own list of behaviors, when he wanted to intimidate a client, or just fuck with someone on the street. He’s impressed with the way this boy acts, the endlessly fascinating facets of him. He wasn’t afraid of Victor, wouldn’t dare to tense up or show any sense of weakness, and that made him worth investing so much time in him. He was different.  

“Wow, seems like Isaac picked up quite the imaginative type! Such interesting webs you weave, mutt…” His eyes widen just the smallest amount when he’s shown the cuts, the scars from olden days and the ones more freshly embedded in his skin. Whoever this boy was, Jonah, Tyler, Daniel… He was an enigma, a feared hound, a combustible substance ready to be set ablaze at any moment. He was unlike any normal down-on-his-luck city rat, the kind he’d normally be taking advantage of, given his ruthless and horrifically unfair line of work.

He relies on context clues to help him decipher the code this kid has laid bare for him. For one, he catches Isaac perk up at the mention of a potential drug deal, but then quickly shake his head and turn away, feeling stupid for having been duped into believing something untrue when he supposedly knew this teenager better than Victor. Now he knew that little tidbit about a gang was a lie, at least. But the other information, who was to say what was true and what was not? Does he honestly really even care about that? He’s much more interested in seeing just how far he was going to push; he wanted to dare to even attempt to push him straight off the edge, if he even had a concept of edges.

“Well, this has all been fun and dandy, but I think it’s time you - Leave! I can get my money another day, sound cool?” Isaac was back again, attempting once more to shove Victor out of his apartment, this time physically, by pushing on his torso with all his might. Victor only stumbled backward a bit, but was for the most part a solid rock unable to be moved. Isaac eventually gave up, throwing his arms up and grunting loudly in frustration. “Fuck this! I’ll be in my room for a while, I gotta relax. You two really know how to raise my fucking blood pressure. Please, just, don’t kill each other out here, got it? Victor, leave my money by the door, and I hope the door hits your ass on the way out.”

And just like that, he’s gone from the general scene, slamming his bedroom door behind him so harshly the wall shakes a bit in his wake.

“Jesus, well, now that the big boys are left alone -” Victor mutters to himself, as he reaches into one of his pockets and retrieves a wallet that looks thickened by a few wads of large bills. “So, mutt, those were all entertaining tales you created. You should write a book one day, I’m sure it’d be excellent. Whatever your story may be, whether it’s murder or running from the police or simply just daddy hit you too much and you got pissy about it, I like you. You’re absolutely insane, you’ve definitely got some balls, and dammit if I don’t respect that, as well as think it is incredibly stupid. You’ve got guts, and I don’t feel like tearing them out of you… just yet. So, here’s what I’m thinking.”

He flips open his wallet, licking one of his fingers as he swishes through one stack of fifties, and once he stops at a reasonable number in his head, he holds out the sizable pile to Elliot. “Whoever you are, what I gleaned from your creative writing session is that you are running from something. Seeing as I’m in the business of helping those down on their luck, and you seem to be one of those people - a few hundreds are not going to be enough to sustain you, I’m sorry - how about I loan you the money? All you’d have to do in exchange is do a few favors for me today, and I’ll let you be on your way before the moon is in the sky. What do you say? Seems like a fair deal to me.

His eyes are blue electricity, crackling and sparking and oh so alive as he eyes Elliot, waiting for his next move. He knew there was a very good chance the boy would just say no and leave, but there was also the possibility of a yes, and that was the opportunity for one more recruit in his up-and-coming “business” venture.

“At the very least, it’ll be more than enough money to send to your sweetheart back home, if you’ve even got one with that snarling mug of yours. And if you’re not totally convinced, I can always call my other friend over to change your mind… He’s about your age, with blond hair, too. Imagine that. You two would probably get along just swell.”

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