Her shower curtain in the bathroom was missing and the rings that held it were resting beside the sink. I thought that was a sign of a struggle until Oliver said she hated the color and kept talking about replacing it. The wet clothing on her floor, that one was harder because I had to admit to them what we did in the rain, and then the fact that she hadn’t taken her phone or purse. Cooper chalked it up to being surprised to see Brody and forgetting them.
Caine has been the most skeptical, his mind sees a crime scene regardless and it’s all because of those mysteries he reads. I have to go in there and tell them that their girl-our girl-is sleeping in Brody’s bed. Yeah, I didn’t miss it when he said it and it’s etched in my brain along with the smug look he wore while those words came out of his mouth.
“So?”
I look up and see Caine leaning against a tree on Oliver’s lawn while smoking a joint. He’s the one I’m the most nervous about relaying the information to, he can be unpredictable and I know he’s had it out for Brody for a while now.
“She’s there.” I pull my helmet off and hang it on the bike. “In his bed.”
Might as well rip the Band-Aid off.
“Huh.” He inhales and I watch as a plume of smoke escapes his mouth, twirling towards the sky. “You speak to her?”
“No.” I shake my head. “She was sleeping.”
He stretches out his arm, offering me the chance to let my mind relax and I can’t find any reason to refuse. I take a hit and release the acrid smoke in rings towards the sky.
“I don’t get how you’re accepting this so well.” He states. “You were always one to see the worst in everything.”
“Nah, that was Brody. I saw reality.” I nod.
“Still man, why does this feel all wrong?”
“Because you love her and you fear you’re losing her?” I offer.
Caine has abandonment issues and has never really bonded with anyone other than us because of it. His father-like the rest of ours-cheated on his mother and made her body his punching bag. While all our parents show a united front to the public, his father left them when he was young. It fucked him up, then Caine and his mother moved here, and his father started showing back up again. He needed an heir to take over the business he’d started and Caine was his only choice.
His hatred was buried down deep while he pretended to enjoy seeing his father again and he learned everything he could about the team his father had put together. Then, in a few short years Caine began recruiting his own with loyalty to him alone. Now, if there’s someone in need of dying, Caine is the man to make it happen.
“She’s not going anywhere.” It’s not a statement, it’s a threat.
“It’s her choice, you know how she used to feel about Brody.” I pull on the joint and hand it back.
“I know how she feels about me now and I guarantee she wouldn’t leave us willingly.” I watch him inhale deeply and exhale, the smoke climbing around his head like a storm cloud. “I’m giving her a day, if she hasn't contacted us, I’m going over there.”
I fucking know he doesn’t mean alone and I feel a pang in my chest for my brother. Not for Caine, but for Brody.
The others take the news solemnly and if my heart could sympathize properly, it would be doing it for Cooper. The guy looks a mess and I know it's because Kailey is literally his everything.
“She’s choosing him over us.” He says into his hands.
“We don’t know that.” Oliver’s steady voice says from across the room. I watch him sip his bourbon from a crystal tumbler. Pricey for a guidance counselor’s salary. “We need to let her figure it out though.”
“So, you’re giving up?” Cooper asks as he lifts his head. His eyes are rimmed in red and the bags underneath could rival my plush pillows.
“Didn’t say that.” Oliver smiles and I can’t explain the feeling I get when I see a glint of excitement in his eyes.
Looks like Kailey rounded herself up a bunch of psychotic misfits and the guidance counselor may just top us all. I know what family he comes from and I know they rival our fathers’ empire but what we don’t know is who exactly Oliver Ballon is.
“He didn’t want her before, so why now?” Cooper moans and throws back the amber liquid in his own tumbler.
Cooper wears his heart on his sleeve, even though it’s been broken numerous times and not from females. Cooper’s father is an addict of all things that can be addictive, money, power, drugs, alcohol, and pussy. His mother likes to bury herself in mountains of coke and forget she has children or a responsibility to raise them. Jeanine-Cooper’s older sister-refuses to come home and has pretty much turned her back on her family. Not that any of us blame her, but she broke her brother’s heart.
“She has a day.” Caine reiterates, keeping his eyes locked on mine.
I hear you, brother. Loud and clear.
Have you ever pressed your face into the earth and breathed in its scent? I have, unwillingly of course, and I think that particular fragrance will always be ingrained in my mind. Sometimes, it’s the first thing I smell when I wake in the morning, or when I wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, and the aroma is pungent in the room around me.
It’s obvious why I’m lying here in this bed smelling it now and I sit up quickly looking around me. I’m still in Brody’s bed, but he’s released my wrists and wrapped me up in a blanket. The chill I’m feeling has nothing to do with the temperature of the room. It’s the lingering nightmare still replaying in the background of my mind.
“Fuck, I love it when they beg.”
I can still hear Justin’s voice like he’s right here in this room and I let a sob escape me when I realize I’m utterly alone here in the hands of a monster. Another monster, sharing the same blood as the first who defiled me, and that thought has me shaking in terror. I need to get out of here if I want to survive, and I do, I want to survive for them.
I get out of bed and gasp when the pain between my legs intensifies. It hurts but nothing like the first time I was violated and it feels something akin to a rough night with Caine. It’s bearable.
I pad over to the window and open the curtains, some kind of heavy velour material. I look out and see the driveway as the sky twinkles with stars overhead. I don’t know what day it is, or what time of night, but I do know I can’t get out from this window and I drop the curtain back into place.
“You know…” The sound of his voice has me screaming as I turn quickly towards it. “You talk in your sleep.”
“Get away from me.” I scramble towards the door and try to turn the handle. It doesn’t budge.
“Locked.” He pulls out a key hanging from a string around his neck. “This is the only way out. You see, my parents used to lock me in here the very same way.”
“Let me go, Brody.” I beg him.
“My brothers are willing to start a war for you.” He states, completely disregarding my plea. “What do you think of that?”