Through The Storm

47

Estella

I stay against the wall, rerunning countless memories of my brother through my brain. Questions upon questions storm my mind. Why wouldn't he have reached out to us? Where is he? Does he know Cade personally? Do they work together?

Reality rushes back to me when my ears tune in to the chaos going on in front of me. Cade's here. And currently beating the shit out of David. Before being aware of what I'm doing, I'm jumping onto Cade in attempt to tackle him. Except his muscle and build is no match for me.

"E! What the fuck are you doing?" He screams. "It's me. Cade." Oh he thinks he's the hero here doesn't he? Swooping in to save me from David?

"You are a monster" My voice breaks as I scream at him; while lunging towards him and pushing him back, while repeatedly slapping him.

He stops moving. Completely still, as if frozen in time. "I'm the monster?" He asks slowly.

"That depends on what you classify as a monster. See for me? One would look like an asshole drug addict who knows where my brother is?" I hiss at him as I step closer towards him with anger.

He walks the rest of the way towards me, grabbing my wrist lightly, like always. I break out of it, im not doing this again.
"Don't fucking touch me" I grit at him. He opens his mouth to speak but I get to it first.
"You listen to me Cade. Really, listen. You will not touch me, you will not talk to me, you won't come near me ever again. The only thing you are allowed to do; is tell me where the fuck my little brother is and how the hell you know him."

He stumbles back from my words, shocked i'm sure. Deciding not to let my confidence go to waste, I chime in again.
"Oh and also, I'm not your friend, we aren't fuck buddies, and I'm definitely not your fucking intern anymore. We have no communication at all anywhere anymore." I emphasize each word of the last sentence to make it perfectly clear what im saying.

"Okay." He says, almost too easy. Then i see the smirk appear on his face. "But now, Estella Josette, you listen to me." He retorts in a mocking tone.
"I"— he takes my wrists into one hand above my head. "Am"— he walks me back slowly. "In"— he pushes my back to the living room wall. "Charge". He spits at me, lips inches from mine.

"Fuck you." I yell in his face.

"Wrong answer, princess." He bows his head at me. "Why don't you go sit in your room, and let me take care of this piece of shit." He pushes me to my room before going back towards David's now unconscious body.

Pacing in my room, I'm unsure whether I should fight him, or just play by his rules to get my information. I just need to know how to contact Dylan. And then I can deal with Cades entire part of the project another time. I deserve that much, to just know where my brother is. It's definitely going to kill me not being able to tear into Cade. But I just need to know my details and then I can deal with him.

It's one conversation, one fight, where I just have to make him believe he's winning. And then I can do whatever the hell i want. Just. One. Conversation. Right?

"Hope you didn't miss me." He returns with a cocky grin on his face.

"I didn't." I mutter out. Silence consumes us before I speak again. "So where's my brother?" If he's gonna make this awkward, I may as well just get to the point.

"You just screamed at me and now you want to ask me a favor?" Huh?

"What favor? I'm asking where my own brother is. I'm playing by your rules, being nice."

"Well, I don't know where the fuck your brother is. My guess would be he's dead in a ditch somewhere, but how would I know?" Does he realize I heard the message?

"I listened to you talk about him Cade. If I recall correctly it was when you were in Seattle and made a call to one of your little friends about how you were playing pretend with me. But there was something else. Ugh I can't quite remember. Oh yeah, you mentioned how Dylan was fucking alive?" I raise my voice significantly towards the end of my sentence.

His face noticeably shifts. The realization is clear on his face as it hits him. He looks to the ground. Scared to meet my eyes? Good. He should be. I step closer to him so that I'm directly under his gaze. Using soft eyes and gentle touch, I caress his head upwards to make him meet my eyes.

"Where the fuck is my brother, prick?" I slap him. Hard. Catching him off guard, he stumbles backwards. My slap didn't affect him at all, but the overall surprise is taking him out. Growing angry at him for staying quiet, I walk to him again. "The big bad Cade has nothing to add?" I start circling him.

"No response? No banter? Wow, ladies and gentlemen would you look at what we have here. Cade Walker completely speechless. What. A. Pussy." The word feels awful rolling off my tongue. But I can't help the adrenaline rush I'm feeling. I sit on my bed letting this feeling take over for a bit.

"Did you just call me a pussy?" I hear a faint and low voice. Suddenly feeling a dip in the bed, I look up to see he's sitting in front of me, causing my body to subconsciously scoot back until I meet the headboard behind me.

"Your mouth is so much more useful when it's quiet." He whispers as he grips my jaw.

"Okay. Im sorry. Let's just calm down." I try to reason, realizing I've just gotten myself into a nightmare. Anything could happen. He could kill me right here right now.

How had I been so stupid? I was so caught up in the rage that I had forgotten who this man really was. Who he could be. I know shit to nothing about Cade. What am I doing?

"Calm down? After you called me a pussy? After you slapped me?" His breath is hot as he heaves over me. Leaning even further above me, he places his arms on each side of my head.

"We can talk like you said." I reason.

"Why do you always do this Estella? You always get into trouble. If you would just keep your pretty mouth shut, and your adorable little head out of everyone else business— then you might have a chance at a real life." Ouch. His words hurt. This feeling is all too familiar with him.

"Was it ever real?" The questions falls from my lips without my permission. I have no idea where it even came from. But somehow, it makes his stare soften.

"No." His dark glare clouds back over. And he stares intently at me, studying my every breath. He's planning his next move, and I am shit out of luck.

~~

[ thank you guys for reading! Classes did just start up again for me, but I will be trying to get updates out as often as possible! Love you guys!!💕 please comment, vote. I appreciate you guys so much! ]