Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Isla
A whirlwind of emotions slapped me in the face as his arm snaked across my lower back, keeping me from falling over.
I lightly gasped when he drew me closer to him, holding me firm against his chest. Our eyes stayed locked.
His eyes weren’t Caribbean blue this time.
They were dark, murky water, boring deep into mine, silently warning me to back off.
On cue, a train’s roar tore through the walls, breaking through our silence. It was the first time I had heard it, making me realize I must have been knocked out, as it was so loud.
However, I recognized his expression, having encountered it often with the kids in group homes. Kraven’s guard was up, and the tension between us was so thick you could choke on it.
His intense regard shifted from me to the shirt I was wearing, and he quickly removed his arm. “You just got stitched up,” he declared while moving around me, walking towards the bed. “I don’t need you bleeding all over the place again.”
He grabbed the cloth off the nightstand, tossing it at my chest. I caught it, lowering my gaze. When he lost sight of my eyes, with his finger under my chin, he lifted my face to look at him. His touch was cold, and his glare was a mask of grim determination to get me the hell out of there.
“You don’t belong here,” he stated all in one breath. “You’re just evidence.”
Am I?
He narrowed his gaze at me, cocking his head to the side. “Because my brother is ignoring the fact that you’re the brightest red fucking flag I’ve ever seen doesn’t mean I will. Let’s get that clear first.”
His words were laced with venom and ice cold against my skin.
“We don’t need any more problems,” he crudely added. “And you come with an arsenal of them. That much I’m sure of.”
I looked away. I had to. I couldn’t withstand his hatred for me. I read him all wrong… he wasn’t with me, he was against me, not a friend, but a foe.
He grabbed my chin this time, making me look at him as he spoke with conviction. “You can’t hide from me. I know you’re not scared of me, so just give me a reason to make you be.”
I yanked my chin away because I never surrendered to anyone.
“Kraven!” Julius unexpectedly shouted, abruptly walking into the room. “For fuck’s sake, she just woke up.” He stepped right into his face, getting between us. “Can you give her a minute?”
“I’ve given her two days.”
Two days? Damn, I was out for a while.
“During which she was unconscious,” Julius replied.
“Yeah, well,” Kraven snapped, looking back at me. “Your time is up.”
Julius’s aggression seemed to slightly subside when he glanced at me, ordering, “Don’t mind him, his bark is always worse than his bite.”
“Yeah, and she’s about to find out my bite leaves a mark.”
Little did we know it wouldn’t just be marks. They’d be scars I’d carry for life.
“Kraven, enough!” Julius demanded, not backing down for one second.
“I’m not your dog,” Kraven spewed, standing taller. “You can’t order me around. Try that on your new bitch.” He nodded at me. “She’s the one who needs to learn the rules.”
Julius reacted by shoving him, roaring, “Get the hell out of my room.”
This might have been the first time I felt like a pawn in a game I didn’t understand, but it was far from the last.
Nobody told me that once I learned the rules, they’d change into something unrecognizable.
Over and over and over again.
With one last menacing regard, Kraven shoulder checked Julius and stormed out of his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Julius’s expression swiftly faded into immediate regret.
“He’s a lot,” he somberly announced, taking a step back to give me some space before acknowledging the IV on the floor. “Roland would have taken that out. He only lives down the street.”
My face furrowed a bit, and he understood my soundless expression, informing, “He’s the doctor who fixed you up on our dining room table.”
My stare widened.
“You’ll be okay. At least physically.”
Did he know? No, how can he know?
“Your backpack is in my closet.” He gestured to it behind me. “I didn’t want to go through your things. It’s why you’re wearing my shirt.”
I stood there, listening intently to what he was saying.
Leaning against his dresser, he coaxed, “You can stay here as long as you want. And not just in my room, but the house. Don’t worry about Kraven. He’s my problem, not yours, alright?”
Unsure of where this was going, I held his gaze.
It was enough for him to understand. “I’ll sleep in my parents’ room.”
I pursed my lips with another silent question on the tip of my tongue.
“It’s just Kraven and me,” he reassured.
There was so much I wanted to confess, to ask, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised he wasn’t attempting to find out the very same information his brother sought.
Instead, he continued, “Feel free to use any of my clothes. Everything’s clean, too. And uhhh…” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Is he nervous?
“The bathroom is across the hall. There’s not much girl stuff in there, but I got you a few toiletries at the store.
The towels are located under the sink. If you need anything else, please let me know.
I can run out and get it for you.” He paused for a moment, giving me time to process everything he offered.
“There are some snacks in the drawer of the right nightstand and there’s food in the pantry and fridge.
You’re welcome to whatever. Anyway, we’re heading out to the subway on 8th Street for the rest of the day.
Sleep, eat, wash up, or whatever. You can relax here. ”
Can I? Do I believe him?
My mind might have been conflicted, but my body didn’t miss a beat. My feet were about to run. To seek its own escape, protecting me from a future that would eventually destroy us all in ways we never could have imagined or predicted.
I should have left.
I should have hauled ass out of that house and never looked back.
I should have done something other than allowing him to grab my hand.
An electric current flicked through our skin like it did back at the subway when he first held my hand.
“Listen,” he insisted with sincerity in his tone. “You’re welcome to leave whenever you’re ready, and you can even leave now if you want. Nobody’s forcing you to stay.”
I fought against his words, not wanting to believe him.
To have hope.
To have faith.
To have friends…
It wasn’t something I ever envisioned.
As if reading my mind, he explained, “I don’t expect anything from you. You just look like you need a friend.”
My heart beat rapidly, and the longer I stood there not saying anything, the more I felt the truth of that statement.
I bowed my head, unable to look into the depths of his soul any longer. It was too confusing, and I was emotionally drained.
It wasn’t until he confessed, “I need a friend too,” that our eyes locked again.
A wave of overwhelming gratitude washed over me, leaving me feeling almost breathless and vulnerable. The world had only shown me cruelty, and this was the first time I experienced pure kindness from a stranger who hadn’t even asked me my name.
With my grip still holding his, I silently thanked him for everything. Squeezing his hand while my eyes brimmed with fresh tears, I fought back the unrelenting emotions he was stirring inside me as if they belonged to him.
I openly showed him a vulnerability I never shared with anyone, wanting him to know how much his compassion meant to me. I couldn’t stay there forever…
Yet there’d come a time when I’d never want to leave.
And not just because of Julius. He was only half the reason.
Half my heart.
Half my soul.
The other half was reserved for his brother. The one who was supposed to hate me yet ended up falling in love instead.
Kraven
What. The. Fuck.
To say I didn’t think this whole unexpected situation was bullshit would be an understatement. Now, this chick was staying in my house, in the bedroom next to mine, and I absolutely had no say about it. She was literally a ticking time bomb, ready to explode in our faces.
I couldn’t believe Julius was blowing me off, like what I was saying wasn’t true or didn’t matter. How the hell were we going to explain to the cops why we had an underage runaway staying under our roof?
I mean, I’d brought a sketchy person home a time or two, though nowhere near this disaster.
To see my older brother, who was always the responsible one, the golden boy, making all the right choices, no matter how hard they may be.
Him becoming careless wasn’t something I ever expected to happen, let alone witness.
He wouldn’t see reason. I spent the past two days trying to reason with him, but it was useless.
He'd made up his mind, and she was staying in his space, no less. We hadn’t touched our parents’ room, leaving it like it was some sort of sick shrine, and now he’d basically moved in there when she could have easily crashed on the couch.
Neither of us could bring ourselves to actually get rid of our parents’ things. I guess it made it too real.
Shit, now I’m not making any sense.
I knew that shit would be contagious. I needed to stay strong on getting her the hell out of our house and our lives.
The last thing we needed was another mouth to feed and someone else to worry about.
If the past two days proved anything, it was how adamant Julius was on keeping her.
It was as if she were nothing more than a toy that fell out of the sky into his hands instead of a girl who was obviously in trouble.
This was insane. He flipped a one-eighty on me in a matter of a few seconds, and I had no idea how to set him straight. My brother was in denial in a way I’d never seen before. Not even when our mother left for good.
Shaking away the thoughts, it was after ten when I walked into our house, heading directly to my bedroom. It was the only privacy I had now that my brother had invited trouble to openly invade our space.
We’d lived in this three-bedroom, three-bath, two-story house in a shitty neighborhood since we were kids.
Our grandparents once owned it, and after they passed away, it went to their only living child, our mother.
Although it still had a mortgage, it was better than having to deal with a noisy landlord who would call CPS on our ass.
We’d had some run-ins with them before, but luckily, we’d find Joe, and he was easily bribed to play his role as if he weren’t the root of the problem.
I didn’t want to run into trouble, taking the stairs two at a time. I hurried down the hallway to the sanctuary of my bedroom. It was the only control I had left—my own space.
From the moment I opened the door, a primal fury erupted deep inside me at the sight of her standing there, her expression resembling that of a deer caught in headlights.
My anger was palpable, this suffocating pressure that made me want to lash out and introduce her to the rules, no matter the cost, since Julius refused to.
Someone had to put her in her place and make sure she stayed there.
One thing was blatant: she definitely wasn’t scared of me, or she wouldn’t be in there.
“What is this?” I snapped. “Fuck around and find out, jailbird.”
She stood wide-eyed like she’d just seen a ghost, and at this point, I might as well have been one. Eyeing me up and down, she took in the state I was in as I spewed, “Shouldn’t you be in my brother’s bed?”
She winced and didn’t try to hide it, simply pissing me off further.
“I asked you a question, several actually, and I expect an answer.” My patience was wearing thin, barely having any to begin with.
She opened her mouth, shutting it just as fast.
“Un-fucking-believable,” I breathed out, angry that she was playing these games with me. I pushed past the doorframe and was over to her in three strides, causing her to fall onto the edge of my bed.
In one hasty movement, I loomed over her face. “Do you think I’m buying this silent damsel-in-distress act you’re pulling on my brother?”
Her gaze widened, and her breathing hitched, obviously winded by my allegations.
Leaning in closer to her face, I bit out, “You wouldn’t be in my room, on my bed, in my face right now, if you thought for one second, I wouldn’t fall for your little games.”
She frantically started shaking her head, still not uttering a word.
“Enough with the silent bullshit!” I ordered, now hovering above her.
“If you really couldn’t speak, you’d be a lot better at hiding the fact that you’re just another stray from the streets, and it’s only a matter of time before I throw your ass back out there.
I can see right through you… I’m not my brother. ”
“Kraven!” Julius shouted, reprimanding me from my door. “For fuck’s sake, I can’t leave you alone for two minutes.”
I jerked around, the sound of his voice only fueling my fire. “Are you here to hold her hand? Or did you get here just in time to catch her snooping in my bedroom?”
Her abrupt movement was enough to bring our attention back to her. She stood, and I expected her to run into Julius’s arms. Seeking shelter from the hero he was trying to be. I guess that made me the villain.
Her enemy and I had absolutely no problem filling that role.
Flying over to my desk instead, she surprised me as her steady grasp snatched the sheets of paper and pen off it to show them to us.
The realization of what she was searching for in my room hit us at the same time. She then laid the paper back down and began writing firmly on it. Each letter was more heated than the last. We waited there as if she were about to read us our favorite bedtime story.
In yet another quick movement, she lifted it to us.
It read:
I’m sorry.
With that, she slammed the sheet into my chest and left. Leaving us to contemplate…
Those were the first two words she ever said to us, and they’d carry a heavy hold.
Especially to me.