“Why bother? You’re halfway to the grave. Why turn around now?”
“I want … I want my family back. I want you back, Izzy.”
“Don’t hand me that bullshit. I know exactly why you’re here. You found out I was with Lucian Blackthorne and you decided it might be an opportunity for you.”
“No. No, that’s not true. In fact, I think you should stay away from that whole fucked-up family.”
“I’m sure. Except it was Lucian who got you out of trouble the last time.”
She stares back at me confused, as if it’s the first time she’s hearing this. “What’s that in your hands?”
“Nothing.”
“My yearbook? What for?”
“You want to do me a favor, Mother? I’ll give you one chance. One opportunity. You want to make things right and be a family again? Tell me who my father is.”
Turning her face away from mine, she flicks the ash into the ashtray again, and when she brings the cigarette to her lips, I catch the tremble in her hands. “I can’t do that.”
“Why? Because you fucked so many men you have no idea who he is?”
“Because he’s a piece of shit who never deserved to be in your life.”
“Ah, perfect. You two made the perfect match, then.”
She snorts a laugh and bites her lip, the way she does when her pride has been wounded. “You’re right. Maybe I should’ve stayed with him.” Jaw shifting, she sniffs and drags her arm across her nose. “I couldn’t, though. I refused to stay on this shithole island with him.”
“You’re selfish. You’ve always been selfish. And this crap about having a family again? It’s just that: a steaming pile of dog shit.”
“You don’t understand, Izzy. I didn’t …. I’m … not telling you because of me. That’s not what I meant to do.”
“Do you hear yourself? How ridiculous you sound? The drugs have warped your head so much. Whatever you were in this …” I hold the yearbook up in the air. “Isn’t who you are now.”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. That girl is gone. Long gone.”
“I’m out of here. Lock the door when you leave. And do Aunt Midge and I a favor--lose the fucking key. I don’t need you, Mother. The little girl who did is gone now, too. Long gone.”
My blood pulses with white hot fury, as I slam through the front door and cut across the neighbor’s lawn. The walk back is riddled with confusion and anger, and I don’t immediately notice the sleek, black Bentley parked at the corner, about a block ahead of me, until its lights flick on.
“Shit!” I slam to a halt and bang a right through the adjacent park, running across the massive stretch of lawn, until I have to stop and catch my breath. Bending forward, I force deep inhales and long exhales, trying to settle my nerves.
The darkness settles over me, and in the silence, I clamp my eyes to the mishmash of information pounding at my skull. I want to cry, but I won’t.
Get it together, Isa.
Another minute, and I push upright to hustle back before Makaio can catch up to me, when a shadow steps into my path.
“Well, well. Look what we have here.” The sound of Aedon Ross’s voice scrapes at the back of my neck.
I turn around to go the other way, but bump into Brady standing behind me. Fear and panic churn in my stomach, muscles tingling with the shock that crawls beneath my skin. “You’re … you’re not supposed to come near me.” Based on a court order, we’re not to talk, or go anywhere near each other, which has been easy up until now, with the two away at college.
At the sound of Aedon’s chuckle from behind, I spin around, desperate to keep my eyes on both of them. On instinct, my hand swipes over my pocket, where my knife should be, but I left it back at the manor.
“No, no, sweetheart,” Aedon says, edging closer. “It’s you who are supposed to stay away from him. But we won’t tell, if you don’t.”
I lunge to the left of Aedon, darting around him, but he captures my arm. I swing out with my free arm on reflex, failing to connect with my intended target. A scream rips through my chest, but is tamped down by his hand covering my mouth. My body is dragged backward, my heels digging into the grass, as they haul me toward the building behind us.
The park restrooms.
The potent smell of sewage fills my nose, when we slam through the door. Urinals stand off to the side, the concrete of the bathroom floor tearing at the soles of my shoes. Aedon holds me captive, one arm banded across my chest, while the other seals off the air to my mouth. Brady approaches me, the dark smile on his face brimming with malice and long-awaited revenge.
My whole body is quaking as I squirm in Aedon’s grasp, to no avail.
From his back pocket, Brady tugs a pocket knife, much like my own, and twists it around in front of me.
Salty tears mingle with the snot that gathers in my nose, as Brady holds my legs, preventing me from kicking out at him. I reach behind to grab hold of Aedon’s groin, and the dirty cement floor of the bathroom crashes into my spine as the two lay me out. Pain shoots up the back of my skull into my sinuses, and spots float before my eyes. Another scream escapes me in the melee, echoing off the walls before being quickly capped by Aedon’s palm. He tucks my arms beneath his bent legs, and traps my head between his thighs, flexing hard against my ears. Brady gathers my legs beneath him, and I’m stretched out on the floor, imprisoned by both of them. Brady leans forward, still holding the blade, and buries his nose between my thighs.
“You smell like dick, Isa. You always smelled like dick.” He raises the blade again, and I scream into Aedon’s palm, squirming and writhing on the filthy bathroom floor. “I’m going to repay the favor for what you did to me. I’m going to make sure you never enjoy a good fuck again. I hear it’s a common practice in some countries, removing the clitoris.”
My head aches with the scream that fails to breach Aedon’s palm. Dizziness settles over me. The surrounding blackness closing in.
The sound of a slamming door yanks me out of that abysmal descent, and Brady turns away from me.
“What the fuck?” I hear Aedon say over me.
“’The fuck you want, asshole, get out!”
I stare down my body to where a massive, shadowy figure takes up the width of the doorway.
Makaio.
In the next breath, Brady’s body is hefted up off the floor and thrown backward, crashing through the door of the nearby stall.
Aedon releases me, and I feel him scrambling about my head.
I steal the moment to kick myself back against the wall, watching as Makaio makes easy play out of these boys, throwing them around as if they’re nothing more than ragdolls. Hands against my ears, I try to block out the sounds of their screams.
The sounds of my nightmares.
My body is lifted up off the floor, the world feeling light as I’m spun around, and Makaio carries me out of the bathroom as if I weigh nothing.
I finally wrap my arms around his neck, while he strides across the park, my whole body cold with terror as I stare off at the restroom over his shoulder.
When the weight of it all finally hits me, a sob tears through my chest.
Finally, we reach The Shoal parking lot, and he settles me into the soft, plush leather of the Bentley and closes the door. As he rounds the car, I steal a glance at the bar. All I want right now is Aunt Midge’s arms wrapped around me, but I can’t bring myself to go back inside and tell her what happened just now. For months, she tried to pull me out that blackness, and I can feel it rising up from my gut like dead bodies in a murky lagoon of bad memories. I left the yearbook back at the park, but that’s the least of my worries right now, as my body shivers, desperate for warmth.