Emerald. Even though I am hanging upside down, I know it’s her by the desperation in her voice. I feel Cain swivel around.
“Can someone get this cunt the fuck away from here?”
“No!” she wails. “Damn it, Cain, what’s going on?”
“Don’t tell me what the fuck to do. It’s none of your goddamned business. Now fucking leave before I have you thrown out.”
Oh, my God, if I didn’t hate her so much, I just might feel sorry for the bitch. Without another word to her, Cain turns his back and strides away, leaving her standing there shouting and cursing the both of us.
I have no idea where we are going until I feel and then see him climb a few steps. Panic sets in. Memories flood my mind from the one and only time I was in this house. I start to pound on his back with everything I have to get him to release me.
He continues across the front porch, ignoring the beating I am inflicting on him. Once we’re inside, he stomps up the stairs. My heart is beating frantically. Finally, I cave and give in to my raw emotions, and I start to cry.
“Please, Cain, don’t do this. I’ll beg if I have to.”
Still nothing from him. I screech through my tears when he tosses me onto his bed. He pulls my shoes off, tossing them behind his back. My expensive Jimmy’s hit the wall with a little thwack. I’m sobbing now, and scared.
“Stop crying. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He’s gentle when he squats down in front of me. I refuse to look at him. My anger at myself for being so weak consumes me.
“Let me go, Cain. You don’t want me here any more than I want to be.”
The bed shifts when he sits down next to me. I stay still, for the first time admitting I’m scared of this Cain Bexley I do not know. All kinds of fucked up scenarios are invading my head. I should have brought my dad with me. No one knows where the hell I am.
“You’re shaking.”
A warm, rough, calloused hand settles on my knee. I flinch from the contact.
“Listen to me for just one minute. There are a few things you need to know.”
I keep my head bowed down, my hair shielding him from seeing my face as I watch my tears land on my skirt one by one.
“Fuck me. The last thing in this world I ever wanted to do was to hurt you again, baby. Before I tell you anything, I need you to know that.”
I close my eyes. Every bit of hurt from that horrible night comes rushing back. Him calling me baby is breaking me all over again.
“I had to do it, Calla. My dad left me no choice.”
My head snaps up at the mention of his father.
“What do you mean, you had no choice?”
He sighs, pulling his hand away from my knee. I avert my gaze from his down to the spot where I can still feel the warmth of his skin on mine.
“The day we got married, I came back here, and told my dad about us like I promised you I would. But it didn’t go as we’d hoped. He was pissed off, started saying shit I had no idea about. All this time I thought we were just a club... a group of people who liked to ride. I never knew the bullshit that really went down around here. The drugs. Any of it.”
He lets out a frustrated breath.
“He told me everything. Believe me, I was shocked as fuck. He had been lying to me for fucking years, leading me to believe he was legit. At the time I was blinded to it all. My mind was obsessed with you and me, with trying to find a way for us to be together in spite of the hatred our fathers had for one another. It wasn’t until after you were gone and my dad brought me in that I realized our parents were right all along. They were only trying to protect you from a life neither of us knew anything about.”
I sit here like a mummy wrapped so tightly that I’m unable to move any part of my body except my eyes. Cain stares straight ahead, breathing heavily. I almost feel sorry for him.