Tyler was finally curious to see what secret Angel was hiding, nervous and shy.
Tyler arched his brow. "Well, are you going to show me?"
Angel nodded; a light pink blush appeared on his face, and he turned around and headed to his bed. Tyler was expecting something, maybe porn.
It must be porn; most people his age would have some kind of porn books, and they would hide them under their beds as if it was some kind of dirty secret that can't be exposed.
Tyler waited until Angel pulled out a small box from underneath his bed, and Tyler took it from his hands and opened the box.
Tyler raised his brow in surprise. "Oh, I see."
It was cash. It was like a lot of cash that Tyler wouldn't be able to see in his lifetime.
He asked in a serious voice, "How much is all of this?"
Angel smiled, "A million."
Tyler raised his eyes in surprise. "You serious? Where did you get this amount of money?"
Angel smirked cutely, "I worked for it. My dad hired me to work in his company; that's how I made it for the past ten years."
Tyler couldn't help feeling the money was suspicious. One, it was too much. Who the hell carries this much kind of money?
He asked with curiosity in his voice, "What kind of work did you do?"
Angel said with a mysterious smile, "Just normal work. I help him with files and stuff."
Tyler nodded and gave him back his money. "You shouldn't show it to other people. People can do stupid stuff if they want something badly."
Angel nodded obediently. "Of course, I only showed it to you. No one else knows."
Tyler nodded and went downstairs with Angel, where Adrian was standing in the kitchen playing on his phone while talking to a woman with red hair. Tyler figured it was the woman named Red, the one who takes care of Angel when Adrian isn't here.
The woman was gorgeous; she had a calm aura, deep black eyes, and freckles across her cheeks, she curved her lips into a smile upon seeing Tyler. "Hello, young man. You must be Tyler."
Tyler nodded with a faint smile, "Hi, that's me."
She smiled, "Well, young man. The food won't take too long; it will be a couple of hours before it's finished."
Tyler nodded and said thanks, then Angel spoke up, "Dad, can I show Tyler around?"
Adrian moved away from his phone and nodded with a calm smile, "Yes, but make sure to bring the guards with you."
Angel nodded, "Of course."
Tyler asked, confused, "The guards, why must we bring the guards?"
Adrian laughed like he asked a silly question, "Because I have rivals who are willing to do anything for their goals. They know my family is my weakness, so they will harm him, thinking they can bring me down."
Tyler nodded in understanding. "Did they ever do that?"
Adrian's face darkened at the question, making Tyler's heartbeat race with dread. "Yes, they kidnapped Angel when he was younger, but thankfully, I had a tracker on him; we found him in two weeks."
Tyler turned to Angel, who also had a dark expression on his face; his eyes were dull, and he shook his head. "Come on, Tyler. Let's not talk about something like that."
So, tough topic. Tyler thought.
Tyler was dragged outside when Angel grabbed his wrist, and Tyler saw Angel had a car, black and expensive like you see in the movies.
Tyler looked at the car in amazement. "Do you and your dad like cars?"
Angel laughed, "Yes."
"Come on, or I'll leave you behind!"
Tyler hurried to get in the car, and they drove out of the driveway.
Then Tyler remembered the guard. "Hey, didn't your dad say a guard is coming with us?"
Angel nodded. "Of course, since we're going to the mall, he will meet us there."
Tyler nodded. "But how does he know where we're going?"
Angel smiled. "A tracker is on me."
Tyler nodded. "You mean a phone tracker?"
Of course, he thought it was dumb asking that; where else could you track a person? Angel replied, "There's a tracker deeply embedded in my skin."
Tyler turned his head to Angel in surprise. "What? You got a tracker under your skin?"
Angel nodded. "Yeah, I've had it since I was kidnapped." He said it like that was all normal, as if it was nothing weird or wrong.
Tyler wanted to say something, but he remained silent; besides, it wasn't his place to say something in these family affairs, and Angel didn't seem bothered by it.
He and Angel arrived at the mall; the people around them were rich, wearing clean, nice clothes, and Tyler realized he wasn't wearing anything decent– more baggy clothes– but he wasn't embarrassed. That might be a little lie, but it wasn't something to be ashamed of.
He and Angel stepped out of the car where they entered the mall, everyone in their own world, and Angel asked with faint curiosity, "Is there anything you want to buy?"
Tyler nodded, "Yeah, I'd like to get some new clothes."
Angel nodded, "Sure, I know the good spot."
Angel grabbed his hands, catching him by surprise. He wasn't used to people grabbing his hands, and Angel acted like he was acting on a whim, or didn't realize he did it in the spur of the moment, leading him to a shop.
Tyler entered the store, where few people were inside, and Tyler looked around and saw clothes people his age wear: shorts, jeans, and shirts. One of the workers there looked at Tyler strangely, like he didn't belong, but upon seeing Angel, he didn't say anything.
Angel was one of the customers who came there a lot, but it was the first time he brought someone along, and Angel turned around to Tyler, "I think I know where they might have your size."
Angel led Tyler to the back of the room, where Tyler saw clothes that were closer to his size, and surprisingly, some of the clothes were suited to his taste. He grabbed a shirt but made sure to look at the price; he didn't want to buy anything expensive, but Angel spoke in his ear as if reading his mind, "Don't worry about the price; the money isn't an issue."
Tyler wanted to refuse, but seeing the look in Angel's eyes, he nodded, grabbed the shirt he liked, and went into the back where he could put on the shirt, but after a few minutes, he heard the door opening.
Tyler turned around to see Angel entering the private room. Tyler raised his brow in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Angel smiled, but there was a hint of a blush on his cheeks. Tyler raised his eyes in understanding. 'Don't tell me he has a crush on me?'
He recognized the look. Some girls in school would have those looks when confessing their love to a boy, or the opposite sex, but the signs in Angel were similar to those girls with crushes.
Tyler pretended to be oblivious, waiting for Angel to speak up. "I wanted to ask if you need some help; you took a while."
Tyler smiled while thinking, 'It didn't take that long; it's not even past five minutes,' but he thought it was kind of cute, and he smirked, "Is that so? My bad, I didn't realize I took too long. I need help with this shirt; I'm not used to shirts with ties."
Angel smiled sweetly, stepping forward, his hands stretched to touch the tie, while Tyler watched him with slight curiosity. The boy was really handsome; he had cute dimples on his cheeks and green eyes; however, he noticed something strange in the boy's gaze.
It was deep like an abyss, the kind you could fall into without finding yourself a raft.
Tyler shook his head, telling himself not to lust after his stepbrother.
"Thanks." He stepped away from the boy while asking, "Did you find anything you like to wear?"
Angel shook his head. "No, why don't you help me pick out an outfit?"
Tyler nodded, "Sure."
He asked, "What kind of clothes do you usually like to wear?"
Angel replied, "Anything."
Tyler nodded while looking at himself in the mirror, he thought the shirt looked good on him, he made a vow to repay back Angel the money that was spent on him, but when he looked at the price, he was stunned into silence.
Three hundred dollars for a fucking shirt- are you kidding me?
Tyler took off the shirt. "I don't like it."
Angel looked at him in confusion. "Are you sure? It really looks good on you."
Tyler nodded in annoyance. "I'm certain; I don't want it."
Tyler walked out of the bathroom, putting his normal shirt back on, while Angel followed him behind. Angel thought silently, 'I'm still buying this shirt.'