“Hayden—
“Not interested in anything you have to say.” I leave the room before I lose it with her. I have no idea which way it would go, either me shouting at her, or fucking her against the door.
All I know is I need to get away from her before I do something I know will hurt me down the line.
Twenty-Two
Hayden
The forest is silent.I needed to go somewhere I could be alone. No Olivia clouding my mind, not close to my brothers who are all giving me their own advice. Cain well he’s being Cain and is waiting for me to figure out what the fuck I’m doing.
I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing, so I’ve come to the only place I know I might get some peace from everyone including myself.
My cheek is pressed into the earth, eye to the scope of my rifle. I’ve been lying in this same spot for the last two hours, motionless but alert. Watching. Breathing slowly. Thinking slower. The camouflage netting is draped over me, my body swallowed up by dirt and shadows. Nothing moves in these woods except for the wind, and me when the time is right.
Once the job is done no one will know I was ever here.
The target’s where he always is about four hundred yards away, behind the curve of a glass balcony and a neat little set of manicured hedges. His shadow keeps passing the window. Pacing. He’s on the phone again. Third time in ten minutes, while his side piece is in bed naked, ready for him to fuck her again.
My finger hovers over the trigger.
But all I can think about… is the cell.
Prison, One Month In
I’ve never felt cold like this before.
My ribs throb with every breath. One side of my face is already swollen, my eye barely opens, and I can taste iron every time I swallow.
The worst part is that I’ve stopped asking “why.” Because I already know.
They want the rapist kid to remember. To bleed. To pay.
Even though I never touched her. Never touched Olivia like that.
They don’t care. They only know what they heard, and they make sure I don’t forget it.
Today was worse than usual. I’m still on the ground when one of them pins my legs and another guy lifts a shiv.
I see the flash of the blade. I brace myself for the pain. I’ve already been stabbed three times in this hell, and I've only been here a month. A fucking month, and every day I wonder will I get out of here alive.
I wait for the blade to hit me again, ready for the impact, my sight moves to the two men walking into the room, fucking great I’m fighting more of them. I don’t have the energy for this.
One of them grabs the guy with the blade and slams him into the bars, the other throws the other two off me like they’re nothing.
The cell turns red for a second, fists flying, skin splitting, shouting. Then silence.
I don’t even get a chance to move before one of them kneels beside me, offering his hand.
“Mr. Cain said you’ll be out soon,” he tells me, voice low and steady. “Until then, no one touches you.”
He helps me to my feet, and something in his stare makes me believe him.
Even though I can barely stand.
Even though I stopped believing in help a long time ago. I know Cain, I know he wouldn’t have just sent someone in here with a fake promise. I trust that man with my life, and I would never question it.
PRESENT
