Lake's Reign

by A. E. D

  “No fucking way! You bought me a car!?” He said astounded. With a nod of my head he grabs the key and runs toward the car. His hand lightly touching the car like he’s afraid it’s going to break. Then he proceeded to inspected the car. Right down to the screws that held the number plate up.

  Finally turning to me, his face held that signature mischievous grin.

  “Want to go for a drive?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I probably shouldn’t have let him drive seeing as he doesn’t even have his permit yet. I thought today was the day I die, by the hands of a sixteen-year-old. Once we pulled out of the underground parking garage he shot off through the streets. For someone who doesn’t have his license yet, he sure knew how to drive. Though he did cut the corners a bit tight, other than that, he was pretty good.

  “How do you know how to drive?” I ask him, squinting my eyes in suspicion when I look over at the cheeky shit who has one hand on the wheel and the other resting against the window with a smirk playing on his lips.

  “I do have friends, Lake. They’re older than me so they let me drive sometimes when we hang out.” I don’t know if I like that.

  “How old are these friends?” A gut feeling tells me these friends aren’t the type of friends you’d want your kid hanging around. If they’re letting a fifteen-year-old drive around this city then there’s something wrong with them.

  “Some are eighteen, some nineteen, there’s this cute little seventeen-year-old I’ve got my eye on though.” He jokes.

  “So, you’re the youngest then?” That worries me. I don’t know when I went from being acquaintances with Keenan to feeling a type of parental feeling for him. Maybe it was my breakdown or maybe it was just always there and I was never put in a situation where I don’t like what he’s doing. Maybe I always cared for him in the way a big sister would and I just didn’t know it until Mason broke down the first of my many walls.

  Behind every wall, more darkness lies. The deeper you get the darker it becomes until eventually, all light ceases to exist. I’ve never had light in my life. It’s only ever been darkness. Like the night sky when there are no stars out, you spend your time looking for even a speck of light that won’t ever appear. When I was younger, I spent years looking for that one star, the one that tells me to hold on, to be strong. That amongst the darkness there will always be light and that I just had to look for it. I gave up looking for that one spec of light a long time ago. But after my breakdown I started noticing some things around me that I never did before. Like Keenan. He’s that star. The lone star in the night sky that no matter how dark it becomes, will always shine through. The star that will always be there, no matter how lonely the sky looks, if you just look, you’ll see it there, shining brightly. No matter how dark my life got, he’s been there.

  I see Keenan in a new light now more so than I ever did.

  He saved me.

  He saved me from losing myself completely to the darkness inside of me last night. He’s been that spec of light in my life since the moment he moved next door. That lonely ten-year-old boy who was abandoned by his parents, tossed aside, born for the sole purpose of being an heir, someone to claim his parents' company when they retire or die. He’s been that star in my life keeping me grounded without me even realizing it. If I could love, I’d love him. But like I said, I don’t have a heart, I was born without it. Taught that love is a weakness that will kill me. As a child, everything I loved was taken away from me. Amongst the brutality of seeing everything I love slowly die in front of me, I stopped loving. In time it became second nature to me, flicking the switch to my emotions off. I won’t get hurt if I don’t feel. But Keenan makes me feel, makes me realize it’s okay to. It’s okay to let the beat of your heart through and that it’s not going to hurt me. But Mason, Mason makes me feel, really feel. The electricity that pulses through me when I see him scares me. The hard thumping of my heart when I think about him terrifies me. Like he was sent from hell to torture me. For everything I’ve done, he’s been sent here to punish me.

  “I may be the youngest but you couldn’t tell. I’m as tall as them. Though they are a bit more muscular than me.” Keenan says breaking me out of my thoughts.

  “They don’t sound like the best role models for you.” I say sighing. Looking out the window I feel a frown forming.

  I have no right to tell him who he can and can’t be friends with. He lives next door to me. No kid should ever live near me, let alone be best friends with. I’ve come to realize he is my best friend, my only human friend. I shouldn’t have ever let him into my life. I’ve placed him in danger just by that action alone. He’s too sweet to be friends with someone like me. He doesn’t know the danger he’s in but I can’t seem to let him go. I only realized last night that I need him, I need him to help me feel grounded. I need my star.

  “You hungry?” He asks, taking his eyes off the road to look at me before quickly shooting them back to the road. I guess he’s still worried about my breakdown last night. I probably would be too.

  “Sure, I could go for a nice big juicy burger with a side of fries and oow, some crunchy ass onion rings.” I finish, emphasizing the exact words he said to me about this new burger place he tried. He laughs a deep stomach laugh that makes me smile while he flicks the indicator on.

  “I know just the place.” He smiles brightly.

  I knew he would.

  ✧✧✧

  Minutes later we pull up in car park right out the front of a new burger joint. I remember Keenan telling me about this place when it opened up two weeks ago. I remember him bragging about how ‘bomb ass’ the burgers were and how crunchy the onion rings are. I thought he’d appreciate me throwing his words of description back to him. We exit his car and enter the new store.

  It had a red and black theme with silver finishes. Deep blood red booths sat on the left and ride sides of the room with the counter and kitchen in the middle of the store, leading towards the back. Black shiny tiles and matching tables adorn the place with silver trimmed lights and utensils. The lighting had a clubby vibe to it and the music was upbeat, making a cool and chic atmosphere. It’s like someone’s taken a 1950’s diner and mixed it together with a modern club scene. Usually I’m not impressed by food places but I do quite like this one. Definitely love the colour tones. It gives of a real fifty's retro diner look, but modernized. I never would have thought to combine the two. Keenan scans the area swiftly before finding a newly cleaned booth. We slowly head over, pushing through the crowd of people waiting to buy their to go orders.

  After sitting down, I pick up the black leather covered menu and look through all the delicious options. I’m never too fussed when it comes to food but there’s just something about burgers that make me crave them. Not to mention onion rings.

  “Hi there, I’m Ruby and I’ll be your server for today.” A chirpy voice pulls my attention up from the menu. She looks like she’s the same age as Keenan. Short like me with dyed fiery red hair pulled up in a cute messy bun and a septum piercing adorning her nose. Big black eyes and a matching big smile complete her face. She’s cute and by the way she keeps looking at Keenan, I’d say she’s got a little crush. When I looked at Keenan, I had to do a double take. A blush had started crawling up his neck to rest against his cheeks. I stifle a laugh, the little shit has a crush. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him blush before, except for the time I opened the front door naked, or that time he walked in on me and someone I brought home. Now that I think about it, he’s walked in on me so many times in the bedroom that I’m starting to think it’s no accident.

  I order a double cheeseburger with extra bacon, a large serving of chips and a side of their famous house specialty onion rings. I finish off the order with a large glass of coke before looking at Keenan who hasn’t spoken a word since she came over. Only just now realizing he hasn’t even taken his eyes off the girl since she got here, I smirk. I think it’s time to have some fun, can’t have him all
starstruck on me now.

  “Sorry about my little brother. He gets really shy when he’s in the presence of his biggest crush. He just could not stop talking about how beautiful you are.” I finish off with a big smile. I’ve managed to not only make Keenan blush as bright as a tomato but her too.

  “He’ll have the same thanks.” She quickly nods, jotting his order down before rushing away, blush burning brightly on her sweet cheeks. I look back at Keenan with a cocky smile to see him in a new position. Mouth wide open, face red and eyes slowly blinking like he’s in slow motion. Laughing loudly, I reach across the black polished table to shut Keenan’s mouth for him. This seems to snap him out of it.

  “I can’t believe you did that.” He says like he’s actually pained by it. I did that little shit a favor. Clearly they both have feelings for each other and I was only giving them a little nudge.

  “How do you know her?” I ask the still shocked Keenan. He huffs before shyly smiling.

  “She’s in a few of my classes at school. I always thought she was beautiful but I never spoke to her.”

  “Why not? Don’t tell me were nervous?” Pft, I’ve seen this kid talk to women in their mid-thirties like he’s God’s gift to women. He must really like this girl.

  “Please, I wasn’t nervous.” He tries to brush it off but I can tell he is. He really does like her.

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. He’s grown up so much.

  A short while later she brings our meals, escaping quickly before her blush had a chance to come back. We eat our burgers laughing and talking like we always do. Time seems to fly when we hang out like this. It’s like he just pulls me in, taking my mind hostage from all the dark thoughts, feelings and urges that constantly keep me awake at night. Like he knows exactly what I need to stay sane. My little savior. Ruby slips the bill on our table when she walks past carrying another tables order.

  “Write your number down. Address it to her.” I say placing a hundred dollar note in the black sleeve of the bill book. Keenan blushes again as he grabs the pen, scribbling on it before quickly getting up and rushing out the door. I look down at the note curious to see what he’s written. It seemed more than just his number.

  Ruby,

  (555) 555-1432

  Call me.

  Keenan xo

  Cute.

  Real cute.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  After pushing through the crowd to get to the exit, I spot Keenan out the front of the place talking to a few of his friends I’ve seen before. Just as I was about to reach Keenan, a Russian conversation drew my attention, stopping me in my tracks.

  I know there are a lot of different cultures in New York, so hearing someone else speak Russian wasn’t that rare. But the man the voice belonged to was. I will never forget that voice. Searching the crowd for where it came from, I find the source. Standing a few meters away was Adrik Orlov. Just one of the three men who took my innocence. Who held me down as I screamed for him to stop because my insides hurt. Just one of my father's sick fucks who followed his every order and was only too happy to do so. I didn’t know I was having a panic attack until my throat constricted and I was trembling.

  I stood there staring at one of the men who always appears in my nightmares. He’s always there staring back at me with those dark empty eyes as he laughed at my tear-stricken face. The young girl in my dreams always begged him to stop but he never did. Even when I passed out and woke up again, he was still on top of me, thrusting away as I stared at his face, imprinting his to my mind forever.

  “Lake!” Turning me quickly to face him, Keenan grabs my face as he calls my name again and again trying to capture my attention.

  But nothing could break me out of my thoughts.

  That was, until I saw Keenan look over my shoulder and stare straight at my haunting past. Then his bright eyes turned so dark I thought I was staring into the eyes of myself when I kill. What frightened me more was that his grip started to loosen, getting ready to storm over there to my deadly past who wouldn’t think twice about snapping Keenan’s neck.

  Forcing a breath down my throat I grab his hands, silently begging him with my eyes not to do what he’s thinking of doing. I’ve never been so afraid of Keenan than I was in that moment when his eyes connected with mine again. I wasn’t afraid for my life, but his. I’ve seen that look so many times before when I catch my reflection after a kill that wasn’t planned. When I lose control and my demons win, that’s the look I see now in his eyes. I can’t let him go down this road, I need him safe.

  “Don’t.” He continues to watch me until I see his eyes start to brighten as his breath becomes normal again.

  “Lake..” He starts breathlessly but I cut him off.

  “Go hang out with your friends.” I turn to leave and follow the retreating demon but Keenan's hand clamps around my arm, instantly reminding me of when Mason grabbed me the same way weeks ago.

  “Don’t go, Lake.” He tries to beg but I’ve already made up my mind. My father is no longer alive to control me.

  “Let. Go.” I look back into his eyes and show him something I’ve never shown anyone before.

  My weakness.

  The real me I struggle to hide every day. The girl that was abused, beaten and broken everyday of her childhood. The girl that for once feels like she finally has the power to beat and change her past, one demon at a time.

  With tear filled eyes from what he’s seen he nods, agreeing to let me go and do what I need to do.

  “I’ll..I’ll be here waiting.” He replies but I’ve already turned around and started tailing the man who’s about to die.

  No longer feeling afraid, I feel empowered. Even more so as he turns down a nearby alleyway. For once I can finally take control of my nightmares.

  I never expected to be killing anyone today so I don’t have any of my tools with me but that’s fine. For once I actually thank my father for teaching me everything he knows.

  Running through a quick game plan of how to take him down quick as he is a six-foot five man who can and has easily overpowered me before. I spot a businessman too consumed in his phone call to be noticing where he’s going but that's perfect for me. Pretending to bump into him I grab the gold encrusted pen that obnoxiously sat in his front dress shirt pocket. The pen is one you would see given to someone when they’re about to sign a contract. Having now set a plan in motion, I speed up just as Adrik turns another corner walking down a darker more deserted alley.

  Using my small body as an advantage I sneak up behind him. My pulse is beating so hard that I’m sure he could hear it any second. My hands lightly shaking from the amount of adrenaline coursing through my body. Pulling my arm back, I swing with every ounce of strength I have to stab the pen into his back, connecting with his spine. He instantly drops to the ground as a scream releases into the air. Since it was lunchtime the traffic is at its peak, covering up his scream.

  Successfully paralyzing him from the waist down I grab the back of his suit collar, pulling him back roughly as he uses his arms to shakily roll over. Now towering over my past, I watch as he stares with fear in his eyes first before recognition sets in. What made my skin crawl was when his haunting eyes travelled down my body appreciatively. I just paralyzed him and all he could think about was ogling me. My hands started trembling as flashbacks of the same looks flashed before my eyes. When my father told his men to have at me, he was the ringleader. The one that got to go first. The one that hurt me in more ways than one, and the one that gave me the same look he did now.

  We do nothing but watch each other. He’s no longer bothered by the fact that he’s just been paralyzed because he knows he won’t live past today. I saw it the same moment he realized it was me. The scars he gave me tingle as if I’m reliving that pain all over again. It’s as if I can feel him on top of me again as he held a knife against my back and took me from behind. His taunting laugh echoing through my head as he trailed the knife down
my back as he dug it painfully into my skin. I remember feeling the pain of him thrusting both himself and the knife into me all at once. I remember feeling my sides and legs become wet from my blood.

  That day I thought of a thousand different ways I could kill him but now that I’m standing in front of one of my biggest nightmares, I’m drawing a blank. I paralyzed him but the moment our eyes connected I forgot everything except for what he did to me. I knew I couldn’t leave here with him still alive but I didn’t know what to do. I had gotten this far but I just don’t know. I’m nowhere near one of my warehouses and I definitely can’t drag him there. I didn’t have to wait long to decide his fate once he opened his mouth.

  “You’re even sexier now.” That was the last sentence he ever spoke. The rage in me boiled over so quickly I didn’t have time to prepare for what I was about to do.

  I grab his foot, pulling out the knife that he had strapped to his ankle that I saw when he first dropped to the ground. The unmistakable glint from the silver weapon stuck out like a sore thumb through the cloud of darkness that surrounded us.

  He grabs my hands, fighting for control of the knife while his legs are of no use anymore. His upper body strength is still so much stronger than mine. I feel the knife slipping from my grip as he starts to win the battle. Thinking quickly, I punch him in the throat with a quick hit. He instantly let's go of the knife to grab his neck. I latch onto one of his arms, harshly pulling it down and dislocating it. I was too slow to see his other hand swing out, connecting with my ribs painfully. I double over grabbing my ribs as the cracking sound continues to echo in my head. I savor the pain as I quickly straddle him, taking his other hand in mine and effectively dislocating that one too. Now completely apprehended I grip his jaw as I start to smile. Once he saw the gleam in my eyes his turned to fear. He knows what I’m capable of because he knew my father. He knows how sadistic my father was and they say the apple doesn’t fall further from the tree. In a quick movement I smack his head harshly against the graveled ground. In his dazed state, I use the knife to cut open his dress shirt.