Chapter 14
EMMA
Ispent the first hour after Vahn left trying to get a hold of my brother, but his phone was off. Which meant one of three things. He was with a girl, he was gambling, or he was mad at me.
Mitch typically didn’t ignore me when he was pissed. If anything it was the opposite. He preferred to verbally voice his grievances. But this was different. He thought I slept with his best friend.
Mitch didn’t have an easy time making friends.
Me being with Vahn was a betrayal on another level.
Mind you, one could argue that the same would go for Vahn.
I was his baby sister. So, if he was mad at me then he would definitely be mad at Vahn, which he might be.
In order for me to know that, he would have to answer his phone.
“Ugh!” I tossed my phone on the couch beside me.
This was a nightmare. Vahn had done a complete flip, and gone from hating me to claiming me like I was some prized pig. Meanwhile, Mitch was out there somewhere, feeling hurt because the only two people he had betrayed him, and I couldn’t even get him to answer a damn text.
Huffing out a breath, I looked over at the bird in the corner. Was that a new cage? It looked bigger. Maybe I was smaller? I felt smaller.
Yesterday I was feeling confident and proud. I’d finally shown the two overprotective men in my life that I didn’t need them. I could handle myself. That led to me getting attacked then being claimed. How did that go so wrong? I really was shit at reading men.
Wait a minute…
I was attacked. My professor almost raped me. Where was my brother then? Here I was, feeling guilty about a lie that someone else told, and I was the one who was assaulted. Why should I be worried about him, when he clearly wasn’t worried about me? Mitch didn’t even call to see if I was okay.
What if he was in trouble? What if he got beaten up again, and was lying in a ditch with no one around to help? No, Vahn said he talked to him. So, why hadn’t Mitch called me? Surely I would’ve heard from him by now, right?
No, I didn’t like this. Something was wrong.
I picked up my phone and sent a text to my brother.
Me: Mitch, if I don’t hear from you in the next five minutes, I’m calling the cops.
It took less than a minute for my phone to ring.
“Finally.” I grumbled in the phone at my brother.
“What do you want Emma, I’m busy.”
“Really?” That was all he had to say. “Did you not read all my texts?”
He sighed. “I read them.”
“And?”
“And what? What do you want me to do about it?”
What did I want him to do? “You could call and see if I was okay.”
Didn’t he care?
“I did,” he growled in the phone. “I talked to Vahn, he told me everything.”
If by everything he meant lies, then sure.
“You shouldn’t listen to Vahn. He lies.” I hissed. “I never touched him by the way.”
“You didn’t touch who. What the fuck are you talking about?”
Wait… did Vahn lie to my brother, or me? Of course he lied to me. I was the only one gullible enough to believe the evil bastard.
“Nothing.” I’d get Vahn back for this. “Come home Mitch. I need you.”
“I can’t come home.”
“Yes, you can.” I argued.
“No. I can’t.” He insisted.
A tear rolled down my cheek.
If the roles were reversed I would drop whatever I was doing and rush to his side. “Don’t you care?”
“Of course I care. That’s why I can’t come home.”
“That makes no sense, Mitch.”
“It doesn’t need to make sense.” Mitch lowered his voice and muttered. “It’s better if you don’t know.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Please tell me he wasn’t gambling.
“Nothing. Look Em, I gotta go.”
That was all I got before the line went dead.
“Son of a bitch.” I grumbled and tossed my phone back on the couch.
What was wrong with the men in my life? Did they all get a fresh dose of the asshole hormone today?
I’d call Mitch back if I thought he’d answer.
Or better yet, I’d talk to him in person, if I had any idea where he was.
And it had nothing to do with clearing up whatever lies Vahn told him. I didn’t care about that.
I just wanted my brother. Mitch made me feel safe. Every time we were ripped out of home, or left alone in the middle of the night, he was there. When my world was spiraling out of control, his hug would ground me.
I could really use some of that right now. Mitch was the one solid I had in my life. Or at least he used to be.
Huffing out a breath, I hugged my knees, and watched Ruby dance in her cage. Why couldn’t my life be simple like that. She had it good. All she had to do was wander around on her little branches, and dance when she wanted to. That bird was caged, but she had more freedom than me.
“I envy you Ruby.”
She bobbed her head at me, “Awk, pretty Ruby. Pretty Ruby.”
She had no idea what was happening, she just wanted a cracker.
“I’ll get you a damn cracker.” I got up and walked over to where Vahn kept her treats. Which she happily gobbled up.
“Just so you know the men in this house have gone insane.”
Or maybe I had? I was talking to a bird.
“Vahn has lost his damn mind.”
And I continued to talk to the bird. That was how low I had sunk. My only friend was a bird, that didn’t like me very much. She tried to bite me every time I fed her. I needed some of her confidence. I needed to bite Vahn. Or talk to him politely. Confrontation wasn’t my thing.
Ugh, I was pathetic.
“What would you do, Ruby?” I asked her. Who knows, maybe she had some inside bird knowledge that would be helpful.
“Vahn is the master.”
Great, even the bird was against me.
“Here’s your damn cracker.” I tossed it in the cage then walked away to flop back down on the couch.
My phone rang a few seconds after. I thought it might be Mitch and scooped it up before looking to see who was calling.
“Mitch, thank god…”
“Not Mitch honey.”
I stopped and checked the caller ID on my phone. “Lorna?”
Why was she calling? Behind the Lens rarely called, unless there was some technical issue they needed to fix for my cam show. And that was usually someone else. Lorna owned the company. She had better things to do than call her employees.
“Is Vahn okay?” That was the only thing I could think of.
“He’s fine. Can you come in to the office?”
“Sure. Is something wrong?” Getting in trouble at work would be the icing on my fucked up day cake.
“No,” she said. “I wanted to discuss something with you.”
That didn’t sound bad. “Okay. Give me an hour?”
“See you then.”