15. Drake
Chapter fifteen
Drake
Four Months since Soren has been gone
L ife was almost quiet since Soren had been taken away, until Ben cornered Caden and Reed at the races last week to warn them. Jace has been relentless with his efforts to find Soren, to I guess enact revenge on the girl he believes wronged him and stole his only chance of happiness and a secure life .
The warning itself led me to look more into it, and reached out to our contacts that dabble in the unsavory parts of the underground.
With all of our sleuthing, it brought forth the missing pieces of why he tried to kill Soren that night. His father was in debt to one of the biggest gangs in South Side Hazelton, and to a man named Tobias, I couldn’t find much on this man but a picture from five years ago and it showed him entering a nightclub in New York with Josie I’m guessing they were a thing , but I could not find a name or address for this man it was like he only existed in the one picture and the encrypted texts that I could barely crack.
When Soren didn't get into Brown, thanks to my expert hacking skills and tampering with her paperwork, his plan was derailed. He had to take drastic measures to ensure that he could get her in his hands again. He couldn’t deal with the thought of not having her within his grasp. But I knew once the lords gave the order on Soren, that keeping her away from Brown and Jace would be the only way to ensure we could complete our task and that she would actually have a shot at a real life and not one of a housewife locked away from the world with no real future of her own.
Four months since Soren's been gone.
Four months since we got accepted into The Lords and Ladies Of Ash, and our roles given to us.
Three months have passed since we started living in the founding family's home, my ancestor's home. I could never have felt more out of place.
In the dimly lit room, the only audible noise is the gentle hum of my computers. With eager anticipation, I fix my gaze on each monitor, praying for a glimpse of the girl that came into my life after four years, and wrecked my very soul in less than twenty four hours.
The thought of her moans as she let Caden take from her what I only ever dreamed of makes my stomach roll. The jealousy and betrayal taste like oil on my tongue.
Of course she wouldn't want someone inexperienced, what man remains a virgin into their twenties? It's not like I haven't had countless offers to break this vow of celibacy, I've just found that none of them compare to Soren.
A flash of jet black hair flashes across the monitor, snapping me from my spiraling thoughts and my heart seizes in my chest. The facial recognition program sets off the alarm, proving what I already know to be true. There stands Soren, in the entrance of The Ladies of Ash’s main office in New York.
She looks slightly different, tattoos adorn her once naked arms and neck, like armor covering the scars that we now know littered her once perfect skin. The glistening on her lip, and her tiny button nose let me know that's not the only thing that has changed, her hair is cut in a razor-ed edge look that perfectly shapes the lines of her jawbone. The leather pants and the crop top that she is wearing show off her stomach and the top of her round perky breast. Tattoos cover those lush orbs, flashing only what she allows the world to see. The sweet innocent role she had portrayed to the world of Hazelton was no longer in sight. She had let whatever she had to endure to secure her role in the organization harden her. She wasn't just Soren anymore, she was a Lady of Ash.
My chest aches at the vision before me, she walks in the building with her head held high, not an ounce of fear is etched across her beautiful face. She looks almost delighted to take on whatever has called her there.
She moves swiftly through the building, making her way to the elevator where my cameras barely can spot her before she disappears again.
Moving with swift precision, I try to find the right angle to catch another glimpse of her, but it's like she's a shadow in the dark moving where the camera themselves can't pick her up. Which can only mean one thing, she's in the council room now, with Scarlett and Josephine, the only damned place in that building that didn't have cameras.
Pushing away from my desk with such a force that my monitors wobble, my newfound agitation at seeing her for a moment to just lose her again makes me see red. “I FUCKING HAD HER RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!” The scream echoes against the walls of my bedroom.
I slam my fist into the wall beside my desk making my knuckles ache as they sink into the drywall right before my door slams open. In steps the last person I want to see while I'm seething with rage.
Caden's voice comes out frantic as he takes in my state. He takes a placating step forward in my direction, hands held up in front of him like he's approaching a wild animal and not his best friend.
“What the FUCK happened Drake?” He steps closer and eyes my ragged breathing with a look of concern and fear just before his eyes cut to the monitors behind me.
“You saw her didn't you?” His voice came out as broken as I felt, “Where is she? Is she okay? Is she hurt?” He moves closer but his eyes are glued on the screen behind me like he can see her, even when she's no longer there. She's Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.
The only thing that is going through my mind now is the fact that he never felt for her the way that I did, and yet he still fucking fucked her after she experienced something traumatic, like a prick that he is.
That he got to experience something with her that I only ever dreamed of. That he wasn't worthy of ever sticking his dick in someone like her.
I don't realize that I'm spiraling until my fist connects to the side of his face and we tumble to the ground. I pound harder and harder into his flesh as memories of her laid bloody and broken below Jace, her crying and her moaning. Her. Her. Her.
Thoughts and emotions elude my senses as a hard force pushes me off Caden.
Reed stands before me holding me by my shoulders “Drake! Snap out of it!” His light shaking has me blinking my eyes rapidly as I try to crawl out of the black hole I've fallen in. I look to my left as Radley is helping a bloody Caden off the floor, his hand cradling his nose and bruised jaw.
“Wh.. what?” I stutter through a choked sob. My brother's eyes are wide, like he can't see me but as a monster. Like our father was.
But I'm not my father, I have never laid a hand on my brother or my best friend no matter how many arguments or heated moments we have had between us. I have never lost control.
I take a tentative step away from Reed, my hands shaking and bruised. “C..Caden I'm sorry, please.. believe me I didn't mean to.” The pleading in my voice seems to catch his attention as he steps towards me.
His eyes take in every inch of my face as his voice takes on an icy tone. “The only reason I'm not fucking snapping your neck for laying your hands on me, is because we are brothers and you're in pain.”
He keeps his hazel eyes on me that are filled with pure malice as he jabs his finger into my chest, punctuating every word that follows after to drive in how serious he truly is. The tears start flowing freely between us. “But if you ever do what you just did to me, all bets are off. You'll be as dead to me as my abusive piece of shit father.”
Radley gives me a look that breaks me. “Get your shit together Lennox Drake. Our family right here is the only thing that matters, Soren is dead to us. So stop chasing ghosts, and stop holding on to what could have been. It's time to let go, Drake. She's Gone.” With those parting words he shoulders past me, leaving me to crumble to the floor as a gut wrenching sob wrecks my body and soul.
I wake up an hour later, curled up in a ball in the mess that litters my floor. Everything comes back in waves as I gather myself, begging for my racing heart to slow. I have no choice but to let her go, and with her goes my heart and half my soul.
A door slamming alerts me to my brothers being awake. To which one it is, I didn't exactly care to find out. I decide to shuffle to the bar cart in the corner and fix myself a tall glass, chugging it in one sitting. Sleep will elude me now that I had that impromptu nap. So I'm left to my own vices to drown out the constant nagging in the back of my mind, repeating what I know to be true.
From here on out, I'm an impenetrable fortress forced to build walls to protect what's barely left. Because this isn't a battle I can win or a problem I can solve, this is just a reality that I'm forced to live.