Chasing Liaison

Protector

                                                                            Liaison - Chapter 23

Smacking my mouth and licking my lips, I swallow to clear the cotton in my mouth and to moisten my lips, but then the bite of cold touches them as cool water fills my mouth. When I swallow, shivers run through me as it flows down my throat to settle in my gut. I can't seem to get enough and open my mouth wider to take more in.

"Take your time," Corey says as I cough.

I swallowed too much water and some went down the wrong pipe. Listening to him, I begin to take small sips and after a time I feel refreshed so I go back to sleep.

***

I want to wake up but my eyes are drifting open-and-shut. I'm too drowsy and I can't keep them open for long. I should be worried but I feel safe in the calmness and warmth that's surrounding me because I know that I'm with Corey.

The next time my eyes shut, I see the darkness in my mind looming in the shadows waiting for me.

"You're safe."

Corey's re-assuring voice comes again and I want to say, I know I am, I'm here with you but I'm too drowsy and slip back into sleep where darkness engulfs me.

"I got you," Corey coos.

Hearing that I panic and force my eyes open. When I do, the room swirls above me. It's too dark and the shadows around me are playing tricks with my mind. They're taunting me, they're telling me to come back to sleep, they have a game that they want to play. I don't feel in control of myself and my eyes drifts shut again.

***

I'm suddenly fifteen and I'm in the bar. The storm outside is bad. Thunder and lightning are fighting over the skies and the rain is winning the battle over the earth.

"I'm sorry Liaison," Jared voice echoes around me.

I look in the direction of where he should be, but I don't see him. His gang leader comes out of the shadows to approach me.

"Nate, I change my mind. Let her leave and I will find some other way to pay you back. That's my parent's house and I can't give it to you, nor my sister."

"You knew the stake of the bet before you entered it, and you knew what you were getting your sister into when you called her here... Tie him up!" Nate say ordering his lackeys.

When he looks at me, he says, "I got you now."

He begins to stroke my cheeks and his fingers smells like freshly smoked cigarettes as they slide across my face. Hating it, I try to turn my head but he's forcing me to look at him.

"If you want someone to blame for what is about to happen to you, blame your brother." He tells me squeezing the hollow of my cheeks.

"Seven hundred and fifty grand with some change is hard to pay off Lee, and there's nothing else your junkie of a brother has to offer me, so I think this is a fair trade."

A knife appears out of thin air and he begins to trace it across my face. "He said we can have you. Now, finally, I get to have you."

I scream, "no! Never again" at Nate, then at Jared. I don't want to relive this. I can't believe my brother has done this to me. After everything that I've done for him, I can't believe it. Not accepting it, I start to scream my hatred at him, at all of them, but then, the room and shadows suddenly sways as something ominous enters. Everyone goes silent as we wait to see what it is.