Dylan (28 page)

“Or, maybe Daddy loved you too much. You
know, I always thought Neason was a pervert. It makes sense that he
couldn’t keep his hands off of you either.” As I’m talking Ethan is
moving around us. He’s slowly making his way behind her, and she is
too wrapped up in me to notice.

“Shut the fuck up!” She screeches like a
crazy woman, and I wince as I fight of the urge to cover my
ears.

“I’m going to kill everyone you love,
slowly. I can’t decide if I’m going to start with your mom, or that
pretty little thing I’ve seen you around with.” She smiles wickedly
at the color draining from my face. “Oh, by that look on your face,
I’m going to assume you didn’t think I knew about her, but I know
everything, Dylan! I make it my business to know!”

I try my hardest not to let that bother me,
but the fact that Callie’s crazy ass knows about Raven is another
blow to my chest. If I caused Raven pain, even inadvertently, I
would never forgive myself. What if Callie put me in the same
position she put Troy in? Could I really choose between my mother
and Raven? What if Callie hurt Harper?

“You’re a fucking psycho, Callie. No one is
afraid of you. We’re just ready to see you dead so we don’t have to
worry about you anymore. You’re forgettable.” I speak the words
calmly, knowing it will drive her crazier, and I’m right.

She flips, but not in the way I expect. I
expect her to start shooting at everything in sight, but instead
she laughs.

“Ardon sure didn’t see me coming. I wish you
could have seen the surprise on his face before I shot him. That’s
how it will be for you, Dylan. You won’t even see it coming.”

“If you don’t kill me now, then I will kill
you before you ever make it out of here.”

“You can try.” She smiles, but says nothing
else before she lifts the gun and pulls the trigger.

Taking me completely by surprise I try to
move quickly out of the way, but the bullet grazes against the
flesh of my bicep, and I groan in pain.

“See? Didn’t expect that did you?”

Just as I’m about to respond, Ethan reaches
out, wraps his arms around Callie, and throws her to the ground
knocking the gun from her hand. I hold my hand tightly against my
arm and rush over to check Ardon.

I drop to my knees, immediately looking for
a pulse. I don’t find one, and as I look up to meet Ethan’s gaze, I
shake my head sadly. From one moment to the next, Ethan snaps
Callie’s neck and it’s over. Over nine months of fear and sadness,
and it’s all over that quickly. It doesn’t even seem possible.
There has to be something we’re missing.

Would Callie really go down this easily? I
pull out my cell and dial 911 before calling Deirdre. This is not
news I want to break to anyone, especially on the day Troy’s baby
is born, but this is our life.

As I watch the paramedics load Ardon’s body
into the back of the ambulance, I realize that our lives have never
felt more cursed then in this moment. How can I have a family of my
own? How can any of us? I can’t push away the gnawing feeling in my
gut that it’s not over yet. I can’t see Callie not having a bigger
plan than this.

***

When we make it back to the hospital Ethan
and Deirdre follow the paramedics to an emergency waiting area. I
let the paramedics patch up where the bullet grazed the flesh of my
arm as I watch Ethan console his mother. We’ve decided not to tell
anyone else about Ardon until after the baby is born. The
paramedics were able to find a faint pulse, but they said he is
critical. He will need surgery, and if he survives, he possibly
won’t walk again.

All I want right now is my girls, but when I
walk into the waiting room for labor and delivery, I don’t see
Raven. Harper in standing in front of Addie, her black hair tied at
the nape as she plays with baby Benjamin. I walk over to them and
Addie smiles as she looks up at me.

My chest aches with the secret of Ardon’s
condition, but I paste a fake smile to my lips and hope she doesn’t
notice the blood splatter on my pants.

“She is such a cute kid, D.” Addie gushes
over Harper, and I have to agree. She looks just like her mama.

“Thanks, Ads. Did you see where Raven
went?”

She looks over her shoulder as if she’s just
realized Raven wasn’t in here. “She had to run to the bathroom. She
asked me to watch Harper, but that was a while ago.” A frown mars
her face, and I can’t help the panic that spreads through me.

My heart picks up, but I force myself to
chill out as I nod. “Can you watch her for a bit longer?”

When she nods, I rush out of the waiting
area. Walking in the direction of the restrooms. I pull out my
phone as I go and dial Ravens number. I don’t even make it to the
ladies room before her cell picks up, but my relief is quickly
replaced with the worst fear of my life as a male voice greets
me.

It’s not Raven at all, but instead a deeper
voice that stalls my heart, and rattles me to the very core.

“I’ve collected my girl, and I’ll be there
to get the other one soon. Thanks for taking care of them, but your
services are no longer needed.”

The line goes dead, and my heart jumps into
my throat. How the fuck did he get her? How could I have let her
down like this? I fucking promised her.

I rush back to the waiting room. I find
Ronan, and pull him to the side to fill him in on everything. The
devastation on his face is impossible to mask, but he promises to
look out for Harper, and not to speak of what happened to Ardon. I
don’t waste another second before I’m running the fuck out the
door.

I call in a few favors from a few guys. I
have no idea if calling these guys will help, but thankfully it
does. They tell me that there was a man asking around about me for
the last couple of days, and that he seemed really interested in my
girl. One of the guys I talk to tells me that a man rented out one
of the motel rooms down by Clovers, and that he had seen the man
watching us have lunch earlier today.

He had called Stella afterward to tell her
about it, but Stella hadn’t been able to reach me. They assumed it
might have just been some pervert checking out my girl, but Stella
had wanted to let me know just in case. Sometimes it really does
pay to have friends in low places.

I head straight to the motel Stella
confirmed for me all the while cursing the bullshit drivers and
praying that I get there in time. I fucking promised her I would
keep her safe, and I fully intend to keep that fucking promise, or
die trying.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Raven

I wake up
in a dank, semi-dark room. It smells familiar, and it reminds me of
the mildew and bleach smell of the home I grew up in. As the
memories assault me, I can feel myself slipping back into the mask
I’ve only recently escaped from.

Why did I leave the waiting room? Why did I
allow this to happen? Dylan had trusted me to stay with his family,
and I left. Now, he won’t know where I am. He can’t save me if he
can’t find me.

I can feel the small part of me that had
been hoping and praying that someone would save me—that Dylan would
save me—burn slowly away. Dylan wasn’t even there when Steven
showed up. Dylan doesn’t even know I’m gone. What will he do when
he makes it back to the hospital and I’m not there?

That last thoughts snuff out any lingering
hope I might have been holding onto. By the time Dylan realizes I’m
gone, it will be too late. That fear only intensifies as Steven
comes out of the bathroom wearing nothing but his jeans and a
smarmy smile. His dark eyes linger over my body, and I realize for
the first time that I’m restrained to the bed. Utterly helpless to
whatever he wants to do to me, but then that was always the
case.

“I talked to your boyfriend. Let him know
his presence is no longer needed. Do you have any idea how much it
hurts to know you let another man touch you?” His face is drawn
down as if he is actually hurt, but that can’t be true.

He’d have to have a heart in order to hurt,
and I know for sure that part is missing from his anatomy. I can
still hear him talking, but my mind has chosen to focus on one
singular fact. He talked to Dylan.

Dylan knows I’m with Steven. What must he be
thinking right now? Will he forgive me for getting myself in this
situation in the first place? Will he find me?

“I’ve told you, Raven, there are rules.
You’re mine, and you always will be.” His voice breaks through my
thoughts and heats my blood with anger.

I know what it’s like to
choose,
to
really belong to someone, because of Dylan.

“I’ll never be yours.” I spit the words out
in disgust, but he ignores them completely and continues speaking
over me.

“I use to tell your mother how much sweeter
you were, and how much tighter you felt. She fucking hated you,
Raven. Do you know how fucked up it is that your mother was jealous
of you? I told her everything.”

He moves closer and sits next to my side as
he caresses one hand along my restrained arm. He moves his hand to
rest over my breast, and I hold my breath as I wait for the pain I
know he will inflict.

“I told her everything, and she still kept
me around. She let me fuck you, and even when you asked for help,
she blamed you.” Steven wraps my shirt in his fist and tugs until
the thin fabric slowly splits wide open.

I let out a scream that gets cut short when
he slams his fist against my exposed rib cage.

“You will stay quiet, bitch, or I will make
you be quiet. Permanently.”

I cough and sputter as I try to pull the air
into my lungs. He seems to relax again when he sees I am in no
shape to yell again.

“I told Lisa everything, and she didn’t save
you, but you were always trying to save Harper. You never would
have let someone like me hurt our daughter. You are so much more
than your mother ever was.”

His hand squeezes my breast tightly, and I
have to suck in a harsh breath even through the pain in my ribs. He
smiles at the pain he knows he is causing—the pain he gets off
on.

“I will get Harper, and we will be together.
The three of us will go far away from here, and as long as you
follow the rules, I won’t hurt her. Just because she is ours,
doesn’t save her. I don’t want to hurt her, but if that’s what it
takes to keep you, I will.”

Steven runs his hand over my face, pushing
the hair away as he does. “How does it feel to know your mother
died knowing what I was doing to you, and did nothing to stop it?”
His expression is filled with genuine curiosity.

When I don’t answer, he leans down and runs
his nose along my jaw as he breathes me into him. My stomach riots
and revolts, and vomit clogs my throat at his nearness. My chest
aches with so much pain as he continues to remind me of all the
ways my mother failed me. Even though I love her, I can never
forgive her.

When Steven places a kiss to my neck, I have
to force the heave in my body to still. When he speaks again, he
shatters my world with a confession that shouldn’t really be a
surprise to me, but it is.

“The thing about drugs, Raven, is that it’s
hard to know when someone overdoses as opposed to someone’s
supplier intentionally giving them too much. Your mother was in the
way. Now she’s gone, and it can be just the three of us—like it was
always meant to be.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Dylan

I make it
to the motel less than twenty minutes after my phone call with
Stella, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that Steven couldn’t
do a lot of damage in twenty minutes. I’m terrified as thoughts of
what he might have already done fill my head. My whole body is
wracked with fear as what started as the perfect fucking day boils
down to this.

I just want my girl to be safely wrapped in
my arms with all threat of fear eliminated from her life. I want to
get back to us. Focus on our lives together and what can be if we
stick together. I need Raven. If I doubted that at all before, it’s
crystal fucking clear in my mind now.

I creep along the side of the building with
the gun I grabbed from Stella before crossing the street. This
fucking moron must not realize who I am, and that works in my
favor. If he knew who I was, he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to
rent a room right across from one of Fianna Fáil’s biggest
establishments.

I had to get a description of this dipshit
from Stella, but once I did, it didn’t take much for me to convince
the punk kid at the front desk to tell me what room Steven had
rented. As much as I want to run straight there and rip the fucking
door from the wall, I don’t want to do anything that could
potentially put Raven in even more danger.

I don’t know what’s happening right now, and
if I barge in there while he has a gun or knife to her, I’m liable
to scare him into hurting her. The thought of it sends a chill to
my core and reaffirms my need for caution.

If Steven has hurt her at all, I know I
won’t be able to control myself. How can so much happen so soon?
How can I find someone who makes me feel complete and then
potentially have her ripped away from me all in the span of a few
days?

I stop outside the door, and try to listen
for any noise from inside the room. All I hear is silence. I slip
the key the kid at the front desk gave me out of my pocket and
quietly lift it to the door. The lock gives easily, and I quietly
push the door open.

As I peek around the corner, I feel my heart
completely shatter and violence surges to the front of the
emotional barricade that has clouded my thoughts these last few
hours.

Steven in sitting next to Raven on the bed,
both her arms are tied to the headboard, and her t-shirt is torn
apart. I don’t think about my next move, or the consequences it may
have. I storm into the room, and Steven’s head whips in my
direction.