My Brother's Protection: A Dark Romantic Thriller

by L. C White

I close my eyes, releasing all the air from my lungs. “Amber, you don’t need to know.”

  “Yes I do!”

  “Fuck it,” I utter angrily. “A girl called Zoe Harrington… Tuesday.”

  She starts to sob uncontrollably. I hurry to her as her legs weaken and wrap her up in my arms. She sobs and snivels into my chest.

  “When?” her muffled voice asks.

  “The night you left.”

  “Oh god,” she wails. “This is because of me. He’s doing this because I’m not there.”

  “Shush Amber. You’re safe here.”

  “I’ll never be safe. The safest place is with him. At least I know he won’t hurt any of the other girls. I know how to calm him.”

  Rage zips through my blood, making my heart pound in my chest. I cannot believe she’d even consider it. I grip her biceps and push her away, to look down into her watering eyes. I’m the one who’s supposed to protect her, not the heartless dick I’m hiding her from.

  “You cannot even think that,” I say through clenched teeth.

  “She was only eighteen. Trent did this because he loves me.”

  I release her and turn my back, too angry to be near her.

  “Oh fuck. Amber. He really did a number on you didn’t he!”

  “What about the other girls? I’m going to be responsible for what happens to them too. You taking me away has done this. Jenny warned me it would happen.”

  I march to the small table by the window, and slam my hands down on the case.

  “I asked you if you have any regrets, Amber. Please tell me that you understand I had no choice but to get you out of there.”

  I’m fuckin desperate here. Maybe I did go too far taking her. I just couldn’t handle the thought of what was happening to her. It’s like those eight years don’t exist between us. I’m seventeen again, trying to protect her.

  “I don’t know anymore,” she yells at me.

  “So you want to go back to the sick world I took you from,” I say, scornfully. “We love each other. Always have. Or am I wrong? You’re so damaged now, you don’t know how to love anymore.” She hunches her shoulders over and sobs into her hands. “Amber, please just give me a chance to end all of this. Not just for you, but the others too.” I approach her deflated quivering body. “We’ll figure it out, I promise.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amber

  I’ve waited. I didn’t have a choice because I had no idea where we were, apart from in some cabin in the woods near Redwood Creek. I have to go back to San Francisco. I have to stop Trent, and I won’t risk losing Dwayne, or anyone else. I know I’ll never see him again. And I think that’s fine with me as long as he’s safe. He doesn’t know everything about Trent. He doesn’t know that he could have Dwayne tossed in a cell to rot, or shot in the head without any consequence. He doesn’t know that most of the men in Trent’s BDSM circle, have strong government and military ties. I could tell him, but these facts will not make him stop, only get him killed.

  Before we left the cabin, I wrote a small letter in the bathroom. The words in it, have broken my heart. But this is for the best. It isn’t like there’s much heart left in me to break anyway.

  We’ve been driving on Highway 101 for thirty minutes. The mid-day July sun rays heat my arm resting on the base of the window.

  “We’re going to need to stop for gas soon,” Dwayne says, turning up the knob for the air conditioning.

  I remain quiet, watching the arid yellow fields and trees pass by. It’s when we stop I’m going to make my move, and I can’t allow any more emotional contact between us. Last night was the last time I’ll let him in. I laid in his safe arms awake most of the night, soaking in every moment, every beat of his heart, every relaxed breath he took.

  “I know a place in Nevada. A ranch owned by a friend of mine. It’s quiet,” he continues to try and get me talking. “Like you,” he adds, repeatedly side-glancing at me. “Amber?”

  “I’m good. Just tired.” I avoid eye contact, slouching further down in the seat.

  My eyelids are so heavy, closing and opening, trying to blink the exhaustion away. Dwayne leans and flicks off the stereo thoughtfully. But I can’t sleep. I have to stay awake.

  “Okay, that’s it.” He turns the steering wheel a sharp left and pulls up to the side of the road, startling me. “I can’t drive anymore.”

  He turns off the engine, slams his back against the seat, and crosses his arms over his chest.

  “What are you doing?” I frown at him.

  His eyes remain focused on the long road ahead. “Oh, I’m just having a quiet moment. I thought I’d join you in this game of silent treatment.”

  “Sarcasm never suited you,” I grumble.

  “Okay.” He blows out, shuffling in his seat to face me. “Here’s how I see it. You are completely fucked up in the head. You’ve been screwed over by everyone you have ever met, including me. What happens around you, is not because of you. So that girl’s death is not your fault. You are not a murderer. You’re the girl who’s getting away from the devil, and the devil doesn’t like it. This is what he’s done to you. Crawling into your brain like a wasp, stinging you over and over again. You can’t think for yourself anymore. Think Amber. For fuck sake, think about yourself.” He pauses to stare at me.

  My eyelids close. I’m angry, and for the first time in a long time it’s a conventional sort of anger, not the self-loathing I’m used to. I’m furious at the whole goddamn situation I’m in.

  “So tell me Amber, what do you want to do?”

  My eyes flash open on him. “I want you to shut the hell up.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Oh god,” I growl out and open the door of the truck.

  My pumps land on the dry grass and I charge across the baked cracked soil. I don’t even know where I’m going. Just walking away.

  I can hear him giving chase behind me, but he can fuck-off. They all can. I’m so sick of this dark cloud following me around because of other people, and the fuckin drugs I’m addicted to. I’m a mess.

  Dwayne arrives at my side, but I don’t look at him. I continue to storm ahead, arms and feet on a mission to take me somewhere better, at full throttle.

  “That’s it,” he says, and I can hear his smile.

  “Go away,” I hiss, still not looking at him.

  “No, I want to see this.”

  I peer at him for a second, panting for air. “See what?”

  “I want to see the real you, Amber,” he says. “Besides, you may need me.”

  “For what exactly?” My feet dodge a large boulder stuck in the ground.

  “Well if you had a frying pan in your hand, wouldn’t you want to hit me over the head with it right about now?”

  My stride comes to a halt. I gawp at him as he takes a few steps ahead then stops to turn to me.

  “So, what do you want?” he asks me again. “You can do anything now? You want to go back to that life, you can. You want to come with me, you can. You want to walk off into the sunset, you can.”

  “Oh my god.” I turn my back on him as the fury overpowers me.

  I hear his boots scrape against the dry soil, and feel his clammy hand come down on my shoulder. Immediately I shrug his touch away.

  “Get off me!”

  “This is about you. You have to make a decision and keep to it.”

  I spin to face him. “I want you to stop… stop with this trying to get inside my head!”

  “Because you can’t face it. That maybe just around the corner, happiness awaits. Good things, Amber.”

  “FUCK-OFF,” my lips bellow out.

  He smirks at me. Not a nasty smirk, but a sweet little glint, like he’s loving this mental breakdown I’m having. My darkened subconscious is telling me to stop. To just agree with him so I can get back to my plan, and return to my old life. But I don’t think I can anymore.

  “Do you want me to tell you exactly what I want,” I yell at him. “I
want to shoot Trent Moore’s dick off! I want to visit every dirty rotten asshole who ever hurt me, and shoot their dicks off too! I want… I want to fuckin hit something.” I pace back and forth as the pressure on my chest makes me pant in and out for air. “I… I don’t know who I am anymore!” Irrational tears spill over my cheeks.

  “You can hit me if you like.”

  I look at him through hazy eyes. “I can’t hit you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you came back. You saved me.” I lose control of everything. “And I love you.”

  He grabs me and pulls me into his chest. I’m shaking as years of suffering come out of me in tear form. The broken pieces of a filthy past, leaving me like tiny embers floating away from the flame. I don’t want to be used anymore, or be told what to do. I don’t want to have drugs fed to me that mask my feelings, and hide away who I really am. And I don’t want to be alone anymore, because I’ve been alone for so fuckin long. That happiness around the corner Dwayne mentioned, I’ve found it in his arms. I was going to leave him. Run back to Trent like the little obedient submissive he turned me into. But I can’t. It won’t change Trent. You can’t cure evil. I’m in love with Dwayne, and he may have took his time, but he found his way back to me.

  “You’re doing it Amber,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “Letting it go.”

  “What now?” I snivel.

  He pushes me back a step and leans his torso, placing his hands on my face.

  “We don’t have to go back. We can go anywhere you want. We could catch a plane and fly the fuck away from here.”

  “And Trent?” My head lowers, hating his name on my tongue.

  Dwayne’s hands elevate my face back to his. “He’ll be in hell soon enough. I was supposed to ask you this eight years ago.” He inhales and releases a long breath. “Run away with me, Amber.” He smiles tenderly.

  I nod a tearful yes as he hoists my body up his, his sweet lips kissing my uncertainty away.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dwayne

  We’ve been on highway 95 since sundown, and we’re nearly at the Nevada border. Amber is fast asleep, and I’m beginning to struggle to keep my eyes on the road. Once over the border, I have to call Private O’Ryan’s parents to state a time we’ll be arriving. They own a part guest house part ranch in the desert, with cattle and horses. The tourists love it, playing cowboys in the scorching sun.

  Amber snorts out a cute breath, then suddenly her body projects up, gasping, causing me to swerve the truck left and right. I quickly regain control, and look to her pale sweaty face as she slouches her body back into the seat.

  “Amber, it was just a dream,” I say, noticing her eyes sadden. “We’re nearly there, see.” I gesture my head at the road sign we’re approaching.

  “What time is it?” she asks, still trying to gain a regular breath.

  “Ten forty-five.” My fingers clamp tighter around the wheel. “Does that happen a lot… nightmares?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Me too,” I say, glancing across to her.

  I’ve seen some pretty horrific shit in the Marines. Often I’ll wake hearing non-existent gunfire. But the worst reoccurring nightmare I have, is the one where my boots are fused to the carpet, watching my dad pulling Amber’s hair down to the floor. She’s screaming for my help, and I can’t move a fuckin muscle to save her. I shout until my voice goes hoarse, and thrash until the bones in my hips and legs crack. It’s the moment he lifts his fist to her face that I wake up in a pool of sweat. It’s ridiculous to think that I have seen men blown to pieces, and it’s Peter fuckin Schofield that haunts me.

  Amber shuffles, trying to settle down in the seat again, when I see the blue flashing lights of a cop car around a quarter of a mile behind the truck. I keep my eyes on the road, checking the rearview mirror as the lights draw closer, and the sirens begin to sound. I’m waiting for the cop car to overtake me, but it continues to move only a few meters behind.

  I take my foot off the gas to slow down just enough to encourage them to go by, as Amber’s torso moves forward so she can look in the wing mirror.

  The lights of another police car appear, and now both are tailing my truck.

  “What the fuck do these guys want?” I utter.

  “You need to drive faster.” Amber panics, bouncing in the seat, looking through the back window.

  I smile at her irrational behavior. “Calm down. See, they’re going.” I watch as one of the cop cars speeds by.

  “No, they’re following us, look.”

  I check the rearview, to see one still tailing us.

  “It’s probably just a busted taillight.” I indicate to pull over.

  “NO, IT’S TRENT.”

  “Amber, you need to calm down. This truck isn’t registered in my name.”

  I stop the truck by the side of the road and the cop car pulls up behind. I wait as a cop exits his car and approaches, shining a torch at the back of the truck.

  Amber fidgets and begins to hyperventilate.

  “You look like you’ve just shot someone. Calm the hell down,” I warn her.

  I roll down my window as the police officer arrives at the side of the truck. He leans to the window with his hand pushed up against the door.

  “Evening officer. Is there a problem?” I ask, squinting in the bright beam of his torch.

  “You are aware of the speed limit?” he asks, his eyes giving Amber the once over.

  I peer over to see she’s focused on the road ahead. No smile or words to make her look less suspicious.

  “Yes officer.” I frown up at him. I was doing fifty-five in a sixty zone. “Sixty,” I reply.

  “Driver’s license and registration,” he asks, again he’s studying Amber’s guilty expression.

  I flip down the sun visor, sliding the documents out of the sleeve. I hand them over to him and notice he’s waving his partner over. This is fuckin uncalled for. Two bored cops playing games because they have nothing better to do.

  “Look, what seems to be the problem. I wasn’t going over the limit. I haven’t been drinking. We’re just on our vacation.” I glare up at him, pissed-off.

  “Really… you’re on vacation?”

  “Yes,” I snap.

  “Married then?” He leans down to look at Amber.

  “Not yet,” I state.

  “Out of the vehicle Sir,” he orders, backing up a step.

  “You’re kidding right?” I scowl up at him.

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  I wrap my fingers around the handle and at the exact same time, Amber grips my wrist.

  “Don’t,” she hisses.

  I take my hand off the door and lie it on her cheek. “It’s just a routine stop, Amber. I used to do it with my unit to keep them in line. I’ll be back.” I slide my hand away, but still she’s on edge.

  I step out onto the tarmac, holding up my hands. My lips force a smile, and almost immediately the cop has his hands on me, pushing me around and against the back of the truck.

  “A bit extreme,” I grunt, as he pats me down.

  The other officer bends down to eyeball Amber. He opens the door and tells her to get out as the cop car that drove away moments ago, pulls up in front of my truck, blocking it in.

  “What the fuck is this?” I yell as my hands are yanked around my back.

  I manage to get free for a second, but two other cops are now holding me.

  The need to protect Amber swells up through me. My heart races as I fight. I now have three officers pinning me against the truck, hands pressing my head down hard on the roof.

  “Fuckers,” I hiss, watching the officer rubbing his hands down Amber’s body.

  He’s fuckin touching her up. I know how a body search is done, and feeling a woman’s breasts isn’t a part of it.

  “Well, looky what we have here.” The officer waves a wrap of cocaine, while smirking down at her terrified face.

  I thrust my body
off the truck. I use everything I have to try and get free, as my wrists are cuffed at my back. I straighten up, watching Amber sobbing as the bastard cop runs his hands down her cheek.

  “Your presence is requested by your Master,” he says down to her face as she sobs and shivers.

  Fuck this. I need to buy her a few minutes, no matter how much damage I incur. She was right. This is Trent, and I’ve fuckin underestimated him. He’s willing to go this far to get to her. I can’t let them take her.

  I stop moving, like I’m under control, and the second the cops drop their guard only a little, I propel my neck back, feeling the crunch of the officers nose burst on the back of my head. They still have me secure, but not enough. I kick the hell out of the officer on my left. He falls back as I yank the cuffs on my wrists. The cop holding Amber, pulls out his gun and aims it at me, but I can’t stop fighting. I’ll fight to the death for her. He then takes Amber with one arm into his body, and presses the gun against her temple, making me stop instantly. I’m immediately forced down onto the ground to be kicked repeatedly in the gut.

  “GET OFF HIM,” Amber screams.

  I receive a boot to the chest and my body begins to fail me. All I can do as my head scrapes against the tarmac is watch, as Amber is dragged kicking and screaming to the cop car in front of the truck.

  “Amber… Am… ber,” I croak, blood filling my mouth.

  “What was that?” One of the corrupt cops crouches right down to my face, smirking. “Your little sister is going to be well looked after, believe me. While you serve hard time for the murder of Zoe Harrington. There’s a real solid case against you.”

  “FUCK YOU,” I splutter.

  “I’d read you your rights. But you don’t fuckin have any.”

  Amber’s screams fade as she’s shoved into the trunk of the cop car. I give it one last painful effort, digging my knees and feet into the ground, when the tread of a boot pounds down on my head. I blink, once, twice, three times, but I’m swallowed up by darkness and pain.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Amber