by K. M. Raya
Love.'
It can do silly things to a girl of nineteen.
Love can make you forget.
It made me forget the realities of this game we play. The endless cycle of betrayal and regret.
The four of them loom over me like unshakable gods from some far off land. I can’t see their faces through the masks they wear, but I know who each of them are individually without having to strain my eyes.
I’d know those eyes anywhere.
The feeling of them traveling over my dirt covered bare skin prickles like the punctures of a thousand tiny needles. Each one of my men stares into my soul and I thrust every ounce of betrayal and heartbreak into my eyes as I physically can. Tears stream down my cheeks as grief crashes over me in waves. Grief for the men I thought I loved and grief for the love of a father that never truly was.
Papa sold me to these men, and for what? I thought Sofia had been enough.
I should have known better.
Watching them, I see the way their arms hang stiff at their sides, fists clenched and shaking. I can’t tell if it’s anticipation that excites them, but another wave of anger flows through me. They don’t deserve the things I’ve given them. They don’t deserve what they now demand of me.
I can hear words being spoken but the roaring in my ears blocks it out. A man's voice booms in the night, and in my peripheral, the head of a white tiger approaches.
Closing my eyes tightly, my hand is yanked forward as I raise my tear filled face to the stormy sky and I scream as the slash of a hot blade pierces the skin of my palm. Thick, crimson blood drips from my shaking fingertips—pouring to the ground.
There is nothing but silence all around us, broken up only by the far off booming of thunder, heralding the storm to follow. It booms and booms, shaking the ground.
But wait.
Something’s not right.
That didn’t sound like thunder.
Something heavy hits the ground at my feet.
Snapping my gaze away from the cloud filled sky, I feel my entire body stiffen as my eyes lock onto the impossible scene before me.
I feel like my eyes are deceiving me, but in my heart I know it’s not true. One by one the four men who haunt my every waking moment lower their smoking guns with shaking fingers as the men on the other end drop to the forest floor like bricks.
Boom, boom, boom. . .
The one on the end in the wolf mask raises the gun again, firing into the trees and I hear the sound of retreating footsteps in the distance. This goes on for what feels like minutes. I watch in utter disbelief until the only people who remain are the five of us.
Before me stands a tiger, a bull, a lion and a wolf.
Behind them and at my feet are the bodies of their fathers—thick blood seeping into the dirt from their mask covered heads, their treacherous lives snuffed out just like that.
Taken at the hands of their own heirs.
✽✽✽
I feel like my body is moving on autopilot.
Low voices rush through my ears as I feel myself being dragged through the trees. I can’t capture a word because my mind is still stuck back in that clearing. I try to make sense of what just happened.
My heart feels like it’s run laps by now as I whip my head from side to side only to see the tall figures guiding me along. Carter has ahold of my left arm and Holden has my right. They push, pull and urge me to go faster until we break through the trees, running towards Carter's familiar car sitting in an old clearing.
The guys shove me into the back seat of the car, Carter circling around front to the driver's seat while Holden and Ellis box me in on either side.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby—” someone whispers.
I stay silent as we rumble out of the forest, taking to the streets until we’re pulling up to my house. Everything is frantic as the guys yank me from the car and we all file into my house.
“Get upstairs and pack everything that means something to you, Angel. Do it quickly because we don’t have a lot of time,” Carter orders.
“I’ll help,” offers Captain as he grabs my hand in his and guides me up the stairs.
Together, we burst into my bedroom and I go right to my bed, grabbing the bag I’d abandoned—already filled with everything I need.
“You guys done up there? We need to go, now!” calls Ellis from somewhere downstairs.
Cap looks to me and I nod, slipping my bag over my shoulder and following him back downstairs. He grips my hand tightly and it’s only now that I notice his is shaking.
When I get to the bottom of the stairs, my three other men are waiting for us by the front door.
Carter holds out his hand.
“Give me your phone,” he orders and I don’t hesitate.
He takes it and immediately smashes it on the floor before stepping on it for good measure.
“What’s happening?” I ask them desperately.
“We’re leaving, we need to hurry,” Ellis tells me—reaching out to cup my face in his hands.
“Y—you killed them all . . .” My words come out in a stutter, I’m still in a slight state of shock.
They all look down at me with a softness on their faces that I’ve never seen before.
“It needed to happen. Those bastards killed my mother and lied to everyone about it. They covered it up and ruined lives. They needed to die,” growls Ellis.
“I—I thought—”
“We know what you thought, baby. And I’m so fucking sorry we had to do it like that but it was the only way without them getting suspicious.” Ellis wipes a stray tear streaking it's way down my cheek.
“We need to get out of here now—some of our men got away, and I know for sure Micah did. Salvatore has probably already been notified and is likely on his way,” Cap tells me, his eyes darkening. “We need to get as far away from this fucking city as we can. There's nothing left for any of us here.”
“We?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“Where do we go?”
The four of them look at one another, communicating silently in that way that only men who grew up closer than brothers can before looking back to me.
Holden steps forward.
“Angel, I know we’ve been through a fucking mess together, but I speak for all of us when I tell you that despite it all . . . we fucking love the shit out of you. All of us. We hate the things we put you through—you didn’t deserve any of it. But I’m telling you right now that things are going to be different.”
He steps closer, tilting my chin so that I look into his chocolate eyes.
“We go where you go,” he promises.
My heart leaps in my chest.
“Where am I going?”
He smiles as all four of them reach behind them, pulling something from their back pockets.
Plane tickets.
There are five of them.
“We’re going to Vancouver, little bird.”
The End
Playlist
‘By My Side’ — Lund
‘If You Let Me’ — Sinead Harnett
‘Skin’ — Jaimee Woon
‘Hunter’ — Galantis
‘Weight In Gold’ — Gallant
‘Body’ — Sinead Harnett
‘Eastside’ — Benny Blanco
‘So Cold’ — Breaking Benjamin
‘Heavy Prey’ — Lacey Sturm
‘Comatose’ — Skillet
‘Send The Pain Below’ — Chevelle
‘Let It Go’ — James Bay
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