Authors: Brei Betzold
Chapter
26
I
was woken up by someone poking me over and over in my ribs. I rolled over and
flipped whoever it was off then tried to go back to sleep.
“Come
on, princess,” Liam cajoled. “Wakey wakey, eggs, and bac-ey.”
“Please
god, say you’re not cooking,” I moaned.
“Oh
hell no, that’s why I am waking you up,” he said and jumped away when I went to
kick him but was restricted by the sleeping bag.
I
finally untangled myself from the sleeping bag and dragged myself up off the
ground. I stretched and looked around the campground. I had to pee and brush
my teeth, guess that meant I was going for a hike.
“Running
up to the restrooms,” I told Kale. He nodded and went back to watching the
coffee, and I took off in what I hoped was the correct direction.
When
I finally found it, I had almost decided to give up and find a tree. I ran the
rest of the way in and sighed in happiness. I quickly brushed my teeth and
headed back towards the campsite. Once I made it back I gratefully took the
coffee offered and took my meds before I started work on our breakfast.
“So
what’s the plan today?” I asked while scrambling eggs, and keeping an eye on
the bacon.
“Well
we’re going to go pick up fireworks,” Liam sounded excited. I rolled my eyes.
What was with boys and blowing shit up?
“Can
you stop and get some things?”
“Sure,”
Kale answered, “just give us a list.”
“Good,
since tomorrow’s the fourth I’m sure most places will be closed, and I really
don’t feel like running out of food.”
“Yeah,
that would suck,” Liam said watching me pull the bacon off, then put the egg
mixture in the pan and began scrambling the eggs.
“Hands
off,” I warned and he pouted.
Once
the eggs were done, I filled our tin plates and we all tucked in to eat our
breakfast. After we finished, I had the boys clean up in the men’s restroom.
I changed into a pair of board shorts and a tank top then slathered on
sunblock, grabbed my Kindle, and texted Kale that I was heading to the lake. I
grabbed a bag, stuffed in a towel, my phone, sunblock, my Kindle, MP3 player,
and my sunglasses and headed off to a day of lying around being lazy and
reading.
Once
I found a spot I liked, I turned the ringer off on my phone, spread, out my
towel and laid down soaking in the vitamin D. I put my sunglasses on and
started reading my book. The swimming area filled up rather quickly, families
here for the long weekend, college kids enjoying their summer break. I went
between people watching and reading. When the small snack cart opened I went to
get myself a lemonade. I decided to wade through the shallow part of the
water, the cool sand against the bottom of my feet felt heavenly and the water
lapping against my calf was relaxing.
I
watched the kids building sand castles, and the older boys toss the girls into
the water while they screamed in protest. I smiled when a father took his son
out and started teaching him to swim in the lake. I never had that, a dad to
teach me stuff. He taught me about bikes through proxy, since I followed Cas
around. I wandered back to my towel and sat down watching everyone play.
A
young couple sat close to me kissing occasionally, snuggling, laughing and I
realized as I watched, that I wanted that. I wanted someone to do that with,
someone who looked at me like this guy looked at her. I began to wonder if I
had blown my chance at that. Would Thayne have ever looked at me like that,
like I was his world?
I
sighed and pulled out my Kindle and tried reading but I just couldn’t get back
into my book. I tossed it back in my bag and laid back down. I knew I had
screwed things up with Thayne, and that I was screwing things up with Cas as
well. I didn’t know how to fix things with either of them, or if I could at
this point.
Things
with Thayne scared me. I had no idea what he wanted or expected out of me. He
said we were friends then would make comments that made me think he wanted
more. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be capable of the more. If I couldn’t
give him the more, was it really fair to pursue this? Cas though was the
opposite, he didn’t expect anything from me, and I didn’t know if I could continue
living a life like that.
I
knew Cas meant well, he was trying to protect me, but at what point would he
feel like I could protect myself, if ever? It was time to sit down and attempt
a conversation with him that didn’t include yelling at each other. I just
wasn’t sure if that was possible at this point. I was also scared that as soon
as we started talking I would do what I always did, go back to doing as he
wants. I didn’t want his disapproval, and the thought of him disappointed in
me, scared me.
I
was getting nowhere fast with this. I had to make some decisions and stick to
them for once. It was time to start acting like a grown up. Would it be worth
the possible pain to see where this thing with Thayne went? Yeah it was, he
made me feel different. I reacted differently to him than any other person I
had ever met, my heart fluttered when he was around, and I deserved to see
where that went. Cas and I needed to talk, a real talk, about everything that
has happened. Now I just had to grow some balls to see it all through.
I
laid there staring up at the puffy white clouds and blue sky thinking,
considering, debating when a shadow came over me, I looked over to the side and
found a guy around my age standing there. He was grinning and holding a football.
I continued to watch him curious about what he wanted. Apparently, he took
that as a queue to plop down beside me. I didn’t know what to do about this.
I had never really been in a situation like this.
“Hey,
I’m Brett,” he said.
I
nodded in acknowledgement and looked back up at the sky, hoping he’d get the
hint and leave.
“Aren’t
you going to tell me your name?”
I
opened my mouth then closed it, not sure what I was supposed to say. I opened
my mouth to tell him my name when a deep voice spoke up.
“Taken,”
he said and I rolled my head in his direction. He was not happy for some
reason, his arms were crossed over his chest, and he was scowling at me. He
looked good in board shorts and nothing else. I noticed his tattoos, tribal
band around his upper arm, some sort of Celtic knot on his chest, and one
pierced nipple.
I
chewed on my left viper bite unsure what to say in response. He sucked his lip
ring in and continued to glare at me and I shivered with the look in his eye.
“Thayne,”
I finally stuttered out unable to breathe with all the bare skin. He wasn’t
overly muscular, more of a thin swimmer build, but damn was he hot. And
looking around I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“Scout,”
he said gruffly and sat down beside me, “who’s your friend?”
“My
friend?” I stuttered out confused I looked around and found the guy who had
been talking to me walking away and shrugged.
He
smirked at me then leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Kale told me where I
could find you. They’re up at camp waiting for me to bring you back.”
I
nodded stupidly just staring at him, his grey eyes twinkling with something I
didn’t understand, but I wanted to.
He
leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Like what you see?”
I
finally ripped my eyes away from his body and blushed. He used a finger and
made me look at him again. “Look all you want,” he whispered, “because
nothing’s going to stop me from looking at you in that.”
I
looked down at my white tank top and blue board shorts then back at him like he
was crazy. “Uhm, yeah, not much to look at,” I told him.
He
shook his head. “Part of your appeal is that you don’t see it. You are
gorgeous, trust me, I walked up and noticed every guys eyes on you.”
I
snorted and rolled my eyes. “Mmhmm, if you say so.” Then I started gathering
my stuff.
“So
what are you doing here?”
“Matt
invited me, a weekend at the lake sounded like a great idea to me.”
I
nodded. “You staying at our campsite?”
“Yeah,
if you don’t mind.”
“Nope,
not at all,” I told him standing up and grabbing my towel giving it a good snap
and getting the sand off then shoved it in my bag.
I
looked down at him, “You coming?”
“Not
yet,” he murmured watching me. I blushed and he chuckled, standing up
following me back towards camp.
“So
my sister’s here with me,” he said watching me. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Nope,
the more the merrier.”
He
nodded, “I think you’ll like her.”
“Why’s
that?”
He
shrugged, “Everyone does.” He didn’t sound happy about that.
I
laughed. “Uhm, is that a good thing?”
He
sighed and bit his lip. “Depends on their age and sex.”
I
stopped and looked at him, “If she has your eyes, you are so screwed.”
He
smiled brightly. “You like my eyes, huh?”
I
blushed. “Shut up,” I muttered and started walking again.
“I
like your eyes too, Scout, and your ass, you have a nice ass,” he told me. I
glanced back and found him staring unabashedly at said anatomy.
I
turned and blushed harder. “Come on, let’s go.”
When
we made it to the campsite I stopped, there fluttering around was a young girl
in a hot pink bikini and super short cut off shorts. I glanced over at Thayne,
“Uhm yeah, you might want to try buying her clothes.”
“Shut
up,” he grumbled.
I
giggled then sighed, watching the girl I looked down at my own clothes.
“I
like the way you dress,” he murmured, “it’s sexy.”
I
rolled my eyes then looked over at him. “I can never dress like that. I can
never draw that kind of attention to myself.”
He
shrugged, “That’s fine with me, in fact, I prefer it. I like knowing that the
only one you will flaunt yourself for is me.”
I
shook my head, “We’re friends.”
“Is
that what you think, Scout? That we’re just friends?”
I
bit my lip and looked away. “I don’t know what we are anymore.”
“We
are getting to know each other, building up trust, so that one day you will be
comfortable enough with me to talk to me, and eventually flaunt yourself for
me,” he winked at me then headed over to his sister.
“Nikki,
get some fucking clothes on,” he bellowed. She rolled her eyes at him in
response and went back to talking to Liam.
“Hey
Thayne,” I said. He stopped and looked at me. “The good news, the only guys
here are her brother, an old guy and two gay men, she’s safe.”
“Yeah,
until she goes down to the beach.”
I
shrugged, “Can’t help you with that.”
He
smiled at me then went off towards his sister, once again telling her to put
some clothes on. I watched curiously as he interacted with her. I wondered if
this would have been the way Cas and my relationship would have turned out.
You could see the fondness for her in his face. He ruffled her hair and she
huffed off towards one of the newly constructed tents. I shook my head and
went towards where everyone had gathered.
Chapter
27
That
evening after dinner, we sat around the campfire talking, telling funny
stories, and keeping an eye on Nikki. She discovered the high school aged guys
at the next campsite over, or more like they noticed her. More than once, I
had to pull Thayne back down onto the log we were sitting on. She was having
fun, and they were in view of all of us, nothing was going to happen.
I
leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I have duct tape and a master lock in my
saddle bags if you want to lock her in her tent later.”
He
turned his head from staring in her direction then looked at me, “I may take you
up on that offer.”
I
pushed his shoulder and he reached up snagging my hand, interlacing our
fingers. I looked down at his large hand eclipsing my own smaller one and
smiled.
“So
where is the rest of your entourage?”
I
looked up. “Uhm, Cas went back to San Diego for a few days, Simon and Cam
stayed in town, Zadok’s teething.”
“Hmm,”
he said rubbing his thumb over my knuckles softly, “I bet they will be kicking
themselves once they find out I crashed.”
“Probably,”
I murmured enjoying what he was doing to my hand.
He
reached over with his other hand and gently pushed the hair that had fallen
into my face away, “Beautiful,” he whispered. “So beautiful, and you don’t
even realize it, so strong,” he murmured.
Someone
cleared their throat and broke the spell. I looked away, happy that it was
dark out so no one could see my blushing.
“Harper
Lee, we’re all going to bed.”
I
nodded then yawned, realizing how tired I was. “Yeah, I think I am too.”
Thayne
reluctantly let go of my head and kissed me on the forehead. “Sweet dreams,”
he whispered then he got up to collect his sister and I headed towards my tent.
After
rolling around unable to get comfortable, I once again dragged my sleeping bag
out under the stars and fell asleep.
I
slowly woke up, hearing voices around me one particular one peaked my interest.
“Is
that normal?” Thayne asked.
“Scout
sleeping outside?” responded Kale.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah,
that’s normal, she doesn’t like cramped spaces.”
“Hmm,”
he said, “she hasn’t told me much about what happened.”
“If
she’s told you anything at all then that’s a huge thing for her,” Liam said.
“She
had to have told you, right?”
“Nope,”
Liam said, “Harper Lee didn’t tell us, Cas did before we ever met her.”
“Oh.”
“The
only person I think she talks to about it is her psychiatrist, and I’m not
entirely sure she talks to him about it,” replied Kale.
“Huh,”
he grunted, “that can’t be a good thing, can it?”
“We
don’t push,” Liam said. “Cas said not to.”
“Uh
huh,” he muttered.
“I
get it, okay, and I am starting to agree, it’s time to loosen the reins, but I
think the only way for that to happen is for Harper Lee to stand her ground
against him. Not sure she’s there yet or not, but the house is tense lately
with them circling one another.”
“Huh?”
“She’s
been challenging him and he’s not used to it. She’s always done exactly as
he’s told her in the past, but this time she’s not, at least not when it comes
to you,” Kale told him.
I
decided it was time to stop eavesdropping and began moving around letting them
know I was up. I finally climbed out of the sleeping bag, stretched my hands
over my head and heard a gasp. I looked around and found Nikki staring at the
skin showing above my sleep pants. I quickly pulled my tank top down and
looked down at the ground.
“What
happened to you?” Nikki asked.
“Nothing,”
I mumbled.
“He
did it, didn’t he?” she asked and I jerked my head towards her and stared.
“Has
he?”
She
shook her head. “No, but he watches me.”
“Stay
away from him,” I ordered her.
She
nodded, “I try to.”
“Wait,
what’s going on?” asked Thayne.
I
kept my eyes on Nikki. “How’d you know?”
“I
heard him and Ace talking about you being here, they weren’t happy about it.”
I
nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure they’re not.”
“Will
someone tell me what’s going on?” Thayne barked.
“I
think your sister understands more than you do about your friend,” Kale
murmured keeping a close eye on me.
“Thayne,
don’t leave her alone,” I told him not taking my eyes off the scared girl in
front of me.
“What?”
he asked.
“Bring
her to our place while you’re working, Cam’s there and Cas most of the time,
they won’t mind.”
“Yeah,
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that,” he said sarcastically.
“For
this, he won’t,” I snapped.
“For
what?”
“To
keep from what happened to me, from happening to your sister.”
“I
don’t even know what happened to you!” he yelled.
“You
want to know what happened to me, what your best friend did to me?” I yelled.
“Will that get you to keep your sister safe from him?”
I
yanked my tank top up showing my abdomen and the scars that ran down it. “Is
that good enough?” I yelled. Then I reached down and pulled my pajama pants
down where he could see the scars running horizontal on my thighs. “Or that?
How about the scars from the burns?”
“Jesus,”
he whispered paling, “what happened?”
“Your
friend held me hostage for five goddamn days torturing me,” I screamed, “happy
now? Is that what you wanted to know?”
I
yanked my tank top down and my pants up and glared at him, “Do not leave her
alone,” I bit out.
I
looked over at Nikki who looked sick, there was a question in her eye and I
gave a slight nod, she ran to the trees and proceeded to get sick.
“He
wouldn’t…he couldn’t do something like that,” Thayne whispered.
Matt
walked up and put his arms around me hugging me hard. “He did,” he told Thayne
“I know for a fact since I was the one who found her and him.”
“I’m
going to kill him,” Thayne growled then took off towards his car. Luckily, he
didn’t have his keys on him, so they were able to keep him where he was and out
of jail.
I
left him with the guys and went off on my own to process what had just
happened. I couldn’t believe I had done that. I would never forget the horror
on his face at seeing my scars, and he didn’t even know the worst of it yet.
After
finding a secluded spot, I sat down hard on the ground and put my head between
my knees breathing deeply, in and out counting them. I didn’t know why I had
done that, then I remembered Nikki’s scared face when talking about him, and I
had to get him to understand. I didn’t think I would be able to live with
myself if something was to happen to another young girl. My head snapped up
and I wiped away the tears at the sound of snapping twigs, I glanced back and
saw Thayne bearing down on me.
“What
do you want?” I growled putting my head back down.
“I
wanted to make sure you were okay?”
“Am
I okay?” I asked quietly. “No, I can honestly say I am not okay.”
He
sat down beside me and reached out to touch me but I flinched back and he
dropped his hand.
“I’m
sorry for not understanding,” he whispered. “I just never thought he could
hurt someone like that.”
“He’s
very good at fooling people,” I told him. “Cas told me I was being silly, that
I had no reason to be worried about him.”
“Yeah,
I’ve told Nikki the same things,” he said pained.
“Are
there more?”
“Scars?”
He
nodded. “Yeah,” I murmured, “there are more.”
“How
did he…I mean, what did he…” he stopped and looked down at the ground.
“What
did he do to cause them?”
“Yeah,”
he whispered, “if you don’t want to tell me that’s okay,” he said quickly.
“I
don’t like to talk about it,” I said equally quiet.
“I
can understand that.”
I
stared off at the trees in front towering over us, blocking the sun from fully
reaching us. “My dad had given him a knife for his sixteenth birthday, he,
uhm, used that and cut my legs, arms, and chest,” I whispered. I wiped away
the tears now streaming down my face. “You can’t see the ones on my upper
chest and arms easily so I don’t have to keep them covered anymore.”
“Any
others?”
I
nodded and sniffed. “Yeah, burn scars on the soles of my feet, calves, and
thighs. I was handcuffed to the bed so there are scars there from where they
bit into my wrist while I fought, though they’ve also lightened.”
“You,”
he cleared his throat, “you said he had you for five days?”
“Mmhmm,”
I muttered, “Ace and my step mom Lace went to a bike week leaving me home with
him since we had school. I woke up chained to my bed the morning they left.
Uncle Matt got a phone call from my school the third day I had missed and he
came to check on me and found me.”
“How
did you survive that?” he asked sounding astonished.
I
shrugged. “I almost didn’t, by the time I was brought to the hospital I had
almost bled to death. I had broken and cracked ribs and was covered in
bruises. I had to have two surgeries on my vocal cords to repair the damage
from screaming, though not that I was willing to talk even when I could. Then
when I was released I tried to kill myself by overdosing on sleeping pills but
Saul found me, and I was put into the hospital again for a while.”
I
wouldn’t look at him, I didn’t want to see his face, so instead I stared at my
hands picking at my nails. “Cas took care of me as much as he could, Simon was
there when Cas couldn’t be, and Matt and Saul. They all took care of me, still
do.”
“How
did Cas not kill him, because sitting here I want to go find his ass and beat
him,” he growled.
“He
did want to, but Saul and Matt held him down, and finally talked reason into
him,” I smiled. “They explained to him he wouldn’t be much good to me in prison.
Though from what I’ve been told he did beat the shit out of Ace at one point.”
“Ace?”
he said confused. “Why did he do that?”
I
cleared my throat and looked over at him, “Because from what I was told, Ace
said that I had to have brought it on myself, that he wouldn’t have done what
they were saying he did without a reason. That set Cas off, though it was only
time before something did. Nineteen year old Cas had a short temper.”
“You’re
his daughter, right?”
I
nodded.
“And
he said you brought it on yourself?”
I
nodded again.
“I
would have done what Cas did as well. How can you say that about any girl?
Something like that happens to, let alone your own daughter, if it were to
happen to one of my kids, I would have killed the son of a bitch.”
I
shrugged and looked away. “Because he blamed me, still blames me for my
mother’s death. I was nothing but a burden to him that reminded him of what I
took.”
“That
almost sounds like you’re reciting it.”
“That’s
because I am,” I told him, “I heard those words enough.”
I
wiped my face once more and looked over giving him a watery smile I didn’t
feel. “So that’s my sad story.”
“That’s
not all of it, I can tell, but I won’t push for more,” he murmured. “I’m glad
you trusted me this much, even if it was only to save my sister.”
“I
don’t want him to hurt someone else,” I whispered.
“How
is he not in prison?”
“He
was a juvenile, same as me, so it stayed in juvenile court. He was sent to
juvie until he turned eighteen and all records were sealed.”
“Yeah,
but with what he did, he should have been—”
“Come
on,” I interrupted, “let’s head back before they start worrying.” I hopped up
and headed back towards camp, I didn’t want to tell him that my dad had paid
for the best lawyers to make sure he got off easy. I didn’t want him to fully
realize how unwanted I was by the person who was supposed to love me, protect
me above all else, that there was something inherently wrong with me. He’d
figure that out for himself, eventually.