tried to fight the sleep that kept working to take her.
“I’m tired,” she sighed.
Kera took her hand and the contact gave her comfort she
didn’t know she needed. “Well, it looks like Dane’s hard head has
done its job,” she smiled. “He’s fine. Talking to the police right
now, making the bullshit statements and all.” Samara smiled also.
“I’m worried about Makayla.” Samara felt so drained of
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energy. Even talking seemed to use up what precious amount she
had. “She’s only sixteen.”
“I know. Saying to not worry won’t do either one of us a damn
bit of good, but try to rest. She’s in good hands, and in a few
hours she’ll be right here with you.”
Tears fell. Tears she didn’t even know were forming in her
eyes. “I can’t believe my own father would do this to us. What kind
of person does this to their children?”
“A selfish one,” Kera stated. “My father sold me to the
Compound, Samara. Took the cash and left town for good. To this
day I don’t even understand the why of it, and don’t think I’ll ever
understand it. But what I do know and understand is that I have
friends now. I have Devon, you, Dane and Blaine and even
Darius. To me, you all are family and that in my eyes is way
thicker than blood. So even though it hurts like hell over what your
father has done, and what is happening with Makayla, you also
need to take a deep breath and get the rest you need and let your
new family help you take care of this. I promise you, your sister is
coming back.”
Samara nodded and let out a ragged breath. More tears fell
and she closed her eyes, crying silently. Kera wiped them away,
squeezed her hand, but said no more and Samara kept on crying.
She cried until her body gave up, the pain killers won, and sleep
overtook her.
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Chapter Thirteen
“Come on, Blaine, don’t have all night,” Darius mumbled to
himself while he paced the room, waiting for Blaine to show and
do his thing. Every few steps he would glance over at Makayla.
She was out to the world. He could go over there, take what
he wanted, and she wouldn’t be the wiser. It sickened him. How
the hell could men get off with a young girl that was passed out?
Once more he went to her, knelt on the floor next to the bed
and touched her hair. Soft, black silk slipped through his fingers.
Darius didn’t think he would ever find a woman to complete him
like Devon and Dane had. He and Blaine didn’t believe there was
one out there that could claim their hearts, and both blamed their
mothers for it. Darius’s mother turned her back on him every time
his father lashed out. She didn’t give a shit what happened to
Darius. Never showed him a kind hand, or loved him like a mother
should have. She simply had nothing to do with him.
Darius was brought up with the notion that women were here
for his pleasure. At a very young age his father had him instructed
on the pleasures a woman could give a man. And at that young
age Darius knew just then how fucked up his family really was.
When the day came that his father sent him away, Darius left with
a smile on his face. He’d rather be sent to some boarding school
on another planet then live in that cold house.
But looking at Makayla, something inside him began to melt.
For the first time in his life he felt like he wanted a woman by his
side, not one for the night. Kneeling down next to this young
beauty, Darius felt for the first time a sense of protectiveness.
“Don’t hurt me,” the three words came out in a faint,
whimpering whisper.
Darius moved his hand from her hair, brushed knuckles down
her cheek and got closer, “Never.”
Apparently the drug was starting to wear off. Darius stood up
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went back to the window and looked out again. Off in the distance,
almost too far to see, he could make out a car parked. A car that
looked a whole lot like Blaine’s. Not losing sight of it, Darius
“That you parked off in the distance?” he asked the second
Blaine answered.
“Yeah. You ready?”
“Hurry the hell up!” The lock on the door turned, Darius
jumped and turned to face it. “Make it fast, man. Someone’s’
coming.” He hung up and waited. The door opened and in came a
man Darius never saw before. “Can I help you?”
He closed the door and faced Darius. The man didn’t look like
he had money, and yet Darius didn’t either. The guy wore jeans,
shirt with jacket. Cold gray eyes, messy brown hair and stood the
same height as Darius. But there was something about him that
Darius just didn’t like.
“I paid for the next round,” he told Darius. “I’ve come for my
sweet young puss.”
“Don’t think so,” Darius quickly put himself between the guy
and Makayla. “I paid a large amount of money for her alone. I
don’t share.”
The man smiled. He also fisted both hands at his side and
Darius knew there was going to be a fight. He lunged and Darius
was ready. Two strong bodies pushed against each other, but it
was the other one a bit stronger. He shoved Darius to the side,
and Darius went flying. The man went towards Makayla and
Darius lunged right back for him. He knocked him down, hovered
over him and hit the guy in the face with his fist.
They both rolled on the floor, hitting each other, landing some
really hard and good punches. Darius tasted blood on his lip, felt a
cut over his eye, but didn’t stop fighting. He heard the sound of a
nose being broken, the man yelling out in pain and another hit to
his ribs. Somehow Darius ended up back on his back, the man
over him and his fist rising up for another hit.
But instead of the hit landing in Darius’s face, a chair landed
on the guy’s back and head, knocking him out cold. Darius got a
glance of Makayla standing over them both, a chair leg in her
hand. With a shove, he got the guy off of him and caught her just
as she crumbled to the floor.
“Nice one,” he said.
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She smiled. “Samara. Where’s my sister?”
Makayla still sounded weak and drugged. “Don’t worry. You’re
going to see her real soon.” He grabbed one of the blankets from
the bed, wrapped it around her body then swung her into his arms
as he stood up.
Since the door was unlocked, Darius left. He went back down
the dark hallways and to the stairs, glancing around him every so
often to see if anyone might be following him or noticing him
leaving with a girl. With the silence of the house he cou
ld clearly
hear moaning from men now behind the closed doors.
He made it all the way down the stairs and just about to the
front door when he was stopped.
“Where do you think you’re going? And with one of our girls?”
Darius was just about to answer that when he heard Blaine.
“He’s leaving.”
Darius turned to see Blaine with a gun at the guy’s head.
“Perfect timing.”
Blaine hit the guy in the head, knocking him out cold. “Let’s
get the hell out of here. The cops will be arriving in about five
minutes or less.”
“Thought you said you weren’t calling them.”
“Changed my mind,” Blaine shrugged.
Darius followed Blaine out of the house. He jogged with
Makayla in his arms to where Blaine parked, put her in the back
seat and got in the front. But instead of leaving, Blaine waited.
“What’s going on?” Darius asked. “Blaine?”
“I want to make sure none of them get away,” Blaine
answered.
Less than five minutes and cops arrived, raiding the house.
When men were brought out in cuffs, Blaine started the car and
pulled away.
Letting her go once they reached the hospital was one of the
hardest things Darius had ever done. It felt strange also. Hell, he
didn’t even know her and still he felt as if she belonged to him.
The doctors checked her out, confirmed that she had been
drugged with a roofie and planned on keeping her over night.
Samara also was staying overnight. Some fucker beat her for his
kicks.
“I owe you.” Dane handed a cup of coffee to Darius. Darius
looked at it before taking it, but avoided eye contract.
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“No, you don’t.” Darius pulled away. He couldn’t let Dane see
what was written all over his face.
“I know that look, Darius,” Dane stated. “I saw it on Devon’s
face the first time he saw Kera. She’s too young for you, and she’s
my wife’s sister. I can’t let you have her.”
Darius sat down and sighed. He was damn tired, more so
than what he thought. “I’m not stupid, Dane. I know she’s too
young right now.”
“Right now?” Dane huffed. “She’s too young period.”
Taking a deep breath, Darius stood back up and faced Dane.
“I’m not going to argue this with you here. Dane, I don’t know what
the hell is going on with me and I don’t want to fight with you. I
have five years to figure it all out. Maybe you’ll get lucky and this
all will be one big ass mistake. So to keep our friendship where it’s
at, I’m going to say goodnight, good luck, and I’ll be in touch.”
He turned, and walked away, leaving Dane standing right
where he was.
“Doesn’t work that way.” Devon was waiting outside, leaning
against Darius’s car.
“What doesn’t?”
“Darius, I knew without a doubt that Kera was the one for me,
just like you discovered tonight Makayla is for you. You’ll wait the
time that’s needed for her, and then you’ll come right back here
for her. But as for just walking away from her, Dane, this town for
that matter, doesn’t work the way you want it to.” Devon took a
deep breath. “You’ve been running from this place for years. You
and Blaine. Stop running and face it.”
“There hasn’t been a thing in this town for me to come home
to,” Darius stated. “Until now. Keep me posted on her, will-ya?”
Devon nodded, “Yeah, man. I’ll let you know what’s going on.”
“Thanks, and keep an eye on Blaine. Something big is going
on with him.”
* * * *
Blaine stood in front of the fireplace, a fire blazing, and giving
off golden light in the study. The rest of the room stood in
darkness. Between his lips, a thin cigar, and resting on the mantle
was a glass of whiskey. And in his hand a photo that he hadn’t
looked at since he graduated from school.
He stared at the photo, wondering when things went so
wrong. It was the only photo that Owen Paterio took. They stood
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together, laughing outside the school. Blaine remembered it all
like it was yesterday, even recalled who took it. A young girl—a
pretty young thing that Owen enjoyed having around. It didn’t hit
Blaine then why Owen liked having her around so much, until the
last week of their friendship.
Owen being Owen, ended up having a relationship with the
girl’s mother. Besides boasting about it, Owen’s main plan was to
get to the girl herself. She was so young, so pretty and as Owen
liked to point out ‘ripe for the picking’. Once Blaine discovered
what his friend was up to, he cut all ties. That pissed his father off
mostly because Owen was from a good family and would do
Blaine good to be a close friend with him instead of the ones he
had back home. He never knew what happened to the girl or her
mother. Only heard rumors that she left in the middle of the night
with her daughter and the stories of her being paid to leave by
Owen’s father flew through the school.
“Can I get you anything, Sir?” Randal asked from the
doorway.
“No, thank you, Randal,” Blaine answered him
“Your luggage is ready and the car out front waiting for you.”
Blaine fisted the photo in his hand as he rolled the cigar in his
mouth. He tossed the photo right into the fire, watching it burn. As
far as he was concerned his past was just that—the past, and
Owen nothing more than a punk who needed to be stopped.
Turning away from the fire, Blaine walked out of the study and
met his butler at the front door. “Randal, I have a job for you.”
“Sir?”
“I need you to look into something for me. A mother and
daughter with the last name of Kabrey. I want to know what
happened to them, where they’re at, everything. And I also need
you to get me everything you can find on Owen Paterio.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Thank you.”
“Have a good trip, Sir.”
Blaine nodded, walked out into the night, got into the back
seat of the car. He drove off but his mind was not on the business
meeting that was coming up. No, his mind thought about his
school days and the girl that Owen wanted. She was the only one
he ever wanted and the one he never got. But for the life of him,
he couldn’t recall her name, or a face for that matter.
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* * * *
Dane stood in what use to be his front yard looking at what
was left of his home. It had burnt to the ground. Everything he
owned, worked for, gone. Some of the timbers still stood, nothing
more.
“We can rebuild,” Samara came up behind him, wrapped her
arms around his waist and rested her chin on his back. He
nodded. “I
wish I knew what to say, Dane.”
“Hey, it looks like your car made it!” Makayla called out.
Dane turned his head. Makayla stood at what use to be the
garage and sure enough there stood his car. It had some fire
damage but not much.
“Come on, staying at Blaine’s place won’t be so bad,” Samara
said.
“It’s not that,” he sighed. “This was the first thing ever to be
mine. I worked my ass off behind my grandmother’s back to build
this place and now it’s gone.”
Makayla walked up to them, brushing her hands over a pair of
second hand jeans. None of them had clothes when they left the
hospital, so the staff found them something to wear. By the time
Kera came with new things they were already dressed and ready
to get the hell out. Then Blaine called to tell them all he was out of
town once more and if Dane wanted to stay at the house until he
could figure out what he was going to do about this place he was
more than welcomed.
The crunching of gravel and Dane, in Samara’s arms, turned
to see a limo enter his drive. He frowned. It was strange to see the
limo, since the last time he spoke to its owner they left on very
bad terms.
It stopped; the driver got out and opened the back door. With
Samara on his left and Makayla on his right, Dane watched his
grandmother get out of her limo and walk up to him, head held up.
Berdina Knight dressed like she always did in her best when
she went out. A dark gray designer suit, black pumps, hair pulled
back into a bun and her blue eyes crisp and sharp as if she was
still in her early twenties or thirties. She walked up to Dane,
standing face to face with him.
“I just heard about everything,” she said. Those sharp eyes of
hers softened. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to fight this
battle alone. I’m a stupid old woman, set in her ways, use to
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running things the way they need to be ran. I’m asking you to
come home.” She looked then at Samara. “All of you.”
Dane thought the Earth had to have stopped. Never in his life
did he think he’d hear his grandmother say the things she just said
now.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
She turned back to him. “Any man that would risk his life for a