Chapter 2
Two
When I wake up, I sit straight up. Looking around I don”t recognize the room. Where the fuck am I?
”Morning, Lyssa.” I hear my brother from the corner of the room.
”Morning, Brady.”
”Feeling any better? You had a nightmare or two last night.” He stands from the chair and walks over to the bed, sits on the edge and takes my hand. ”Are you ready to talk, Lyssa?”
”Not yet. I tried so many times to get that bullet and when I do you walk in and distract me, Brady. I”m fucking pissed.”
He stands up. ”You”re fucking pissed? Well, I don”t know what to say to that. Your fucking pissed that I stopped you from killing yourself. Well, I”m sorry that I wanted you to stick around. I”m sorry that I wanted to grow old and have my sister come to family events. I”m sorry that I love you enough that you fucking made me cry in front of my brothers.”
The door flies open, and Tank is standing there. ”What the fuck are you two shouting for? Spider, she”s been through something and I”m sure she doesn”t need you shouting at her. Get out and let me talk to her. Maybe I can be a bit more tactful.”
I can”t stop staring at his chest. I knew he was big, but oh my god he is built like a... Oh I get it now. I smirk as I stare at him.
”What are you smirking for?” Brady asks as Tank pulls him up from the bed. ”You think he”s going to give you a good time? Ha, you”re wrong.”
Brady slaps Tank on the chest and walks out, closing the door behind him.
I stare at him, trying not to look at his chest. ”Did you forget some clothes, Tank?”
He looks down at his chest. ”I”m sure you”ve seen it before. It”s not important.” He looks at me and my heart breaks. He is genuinely worried about me. Fuck. So is Brady.
”I”m sorry. I didn”t intend for you to all witness my failed attempt at suicide.” I roll away from him on the bed. I feel him lying next to me on top of the covers. One of his arms snakes under my neck and he rolls me toward him.
”Lyssa, you are family to us. Did you think about how your death would affect us? Imagine being one minute later. Spider would have seen your brains all over the walls and floors of your apartment. That would not have been a fantastic last image that he would have of you. I”m not sure he would”ve been able to forgive you for that.”
”Since when did this become all about him?” I feel his warmth from his chest and all I want to do is climb on top of him and lay there feeling him breathe.
”It”s not all about him. Lyssa, it”s all about you, but I need you to know how much that would devastate him. Fuck it would devastate me. When I saw you with the gun in your hand after hearing the bullet, I was prepared to kill whoever was hurting you. Then I realized it was you.”
”Why does it bother you so much, Tank? I know Brady would care, but why would you?”
”Look Alyssa, I”ve known you for years, you”re like a little sister to me. I care about you and I care what happens to you.”
”A little sister?” I move so that I am sitting up and looking down at him. ”Nothing else?”
I take a breath. More like a gulp. ”Now is not the time to talk about that. I just want you to tell me what happened to get you to this point in your life, Lyssa. I want to take that pain away for you. I never want to witness something like I did last night. Especially not where you are concerned.”
I lie back down.
I take a deep breath. ”Six months ago I had the world at my feet. I had made a lot of money trading online. My bank account was full, I was going to start traveling as I can work from anywhere in the world as long as there is Wi-Fi.”
”You were going to leave us here?”
”Shut up, Tank. Do you want to hear this or not?”
I feel his body moving as he laughs. ”Carry on.”
”I met a guy, Richard, he was kind, funny and had an understanding of trading. The perfect guy right? He asked me to invest in some partnership which I did. It wasn”t a large amount, and it paid off. I got two hundred percent return on my investment. So, it was a win win. I made some more money with him and then I asked him how he was doing it. I know from trading myself that it”s not always a good time, or the market isn”t always performing, so I wanted to know what he was doing.”
I take a deep breath, smelling Tank and finding it soothing. ”That”s all a bit over my head, Lyssa. The only thing I got out of that is that you met a guy called Dick.”
I laugh. ”I know, but I need to tell you the backstory so that you understand the rest.”
”Okay, just keep the technology basic.” He laughs and I love that sound coming out of his mouth. I”ve always wanted to be the person who puts a smile on his face.
”So, Richard...”
”Dick.” I see him smirk.
”Richard told me that he has been using crypto arbitrage for about five years. He had got down to business when it gained momentum and that”s why he was making so much money. He had taken mine, bought some crypto, used his ”special software,” and made me more money. Each single transaction made me some money. So when they added their ”software” in, it reproduced those trades several thousand times in just minutes. I was like this is going to make a fortune out of a pittance.”
”Lys, did you know about investing in crypto before you worked with this Dick?”
”Not really. A little. I”d seen friends who were making a fortune and I wanted to look at Forex Trading and mining, but it was a little above me.”
”So he took advantage of your lack of understanding.. Is that what you”re saying?”
”I let him. He reeled me in when he changed my $62 into $17,000.”
Tank takes a deep breath and blows it out. ”Wow, now I”m listening. How long did it take for him to do that?”
”About one to two hours. I had to wait for him to come back to me. I didn”t chase him, but I was worried. Then again, it was only $62. He came back to me and told me that I had $17,000 sitting in my trading account and I needed to withdraw it. He showed me how and when the money hit my bank, I was like god yes this is going to make my life comfortable.”
I lean in closer to Tank. I can smell him, his scent is rushing up my nose and I love the smell. I”ve missed him. I”ve always wanted Tank, but knew that couldn”t happen because of my brother. Shame, because I think we would be good together.
”So what went wrong, Lys?” He sits up against the headboard and pulls me up next to him.
”I did these trades once a week. First it was $62, Then it was $81 and then it was $105. The profit ranged from the $17,000 I had already made to $23,000 and then $32,000. My bank account was looking sweet.”
”You must have had a lot of money in there, Lys.”
”I did, Tank. I had enough money to travel around the World a few times, but I just wanted the simple things in life. I wanted to buy a family home in the burbs so that when I have kids they will have somewhere to play. I wanted to buy a new car and give some to Brady to do what he wanted with. But that”s when it all started to go wrong.” I sob. I can”t help myself. I feel stupid and then I feel like a child because I lost everything.
”Hey Lyss, don”t” cry babe, we”re going to help you. No one is going to take anything from you again. I promise you that and I know Spider does too.” He kisses the top of my head and I feel safer than I”ve felt in years.