"You are late."
I glance up at my father with a small frown "sorry, football practice ran long."
"Then you tell your coach you have to leave."
"I can't, Dad. Isn't the whole point of this so I can get a scholarship at some point? College scouts don't take kindly to a player that constantly dips out on practice early."
"Is that back talk?"
I force a hard inward breath through my nose, and I shake my head slowly "no, sir."
"Good, now get in the car, thanks to you we have an hour less than what I had wanted tonight."
I turn my gaze down to the floor as I toss my bag down "I am exhausted, can't it wait until tomorrow?"
"No, it can't, give it a year or two and you will understand. When you get the urge, you get the urge."
I turn my gaze to the ground, I will never be like you.
"If you are really that tired, I can always take your sister."
I grit my teeth and turn my hard gaze to him "let's get this over with."
He smiles wickedly at me and steps closer "eventually you are going to have to let her learn that the world is cruel, you are not going to always be around to protect her."
I glance up at him "and you won't always be around to intimidate us."
I flinch when he grabs my arm roughly and glares into my eyes "is that a threat, kid? I will always be here, whispering in your ear making sure you remember who your loyalty lies with."
"Fear is not loyalty."
"You know what I don't want a girl tonight anymore, I want to practice my stitches. Go lay on the couch, I think I will use a steak knife tonight."
I sit up in bed running my hand through my sweat-drenched hair. My hand is shaking.
"Colin?" Emery murmurs beside me, she sounds half asleep. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, fine," I say.
Emery slowly turns to me frowning softly.
"I'm fine, babe, go back to sleep," I say touching my hand to her arm.
Emery sits up touching her lips to my cheek "you were talking in your sleep. Was it a nightmare?"
I hesitate as I shift back against the headboard.
"Talk to me," Emery urges gingerly touching my hand. "You haven't spoken two words since you got back from that lunch. Please talk to me. We are a team."
I sigh heavily turning my gaze up to her, "he wants to take you from me. He isn't just affiliated with that gang he is the leader of it. He wants you to go back with him and be some twisted princess."
Emery gazes at me in surprise she touches her hand to my cheek "he's a drug lord."
I nod slowly leaning back against the headboard. "He needs a grandson. He wants to marry you to one of his members and..." I close my eyes in anger.
"Colin, he isn't going to take me from you," Emery insists. "He can't."
I open my eyes and gaze at her "but he is going to try, and he will do everything he can to get you. I don't know what lengths he is willing to go to but a guy like that, he doesn't care about morels or the law. He barely cares if you get caught in the middle. If it was just me that I had to think about I wouldn't worry, he wouldn't stand a chance. But I'm worried I am going to miss something, forget something or do something and it will hurt you."
Emery gazes at me with a small smile, she slowly climbs into my lap, straddling me. "Colin we will take all of this one step at a time. I trust you and I am not going with him."
I nod slowly, wrapping my arms around her. I press my lips to hers cupping my hand against her cheek. I feel her hand move around to my hair, scratching my scalp with her fingernails. It causes a shiver to run down my spine.
"Emery, we need sleep," I breath against her lips.
"You need to relax," Emery insists. "Is this helping you relax?"
"You need sleep," I say as I turn us over guiding her back against her pillow. "Close your eyes."
Emery smiles a little looking up at me "dream of me."
"That is my line," I say with a small smile.
Emery giggles as she leans her head back against the pillow.
I smile warmly as I gently kiss her neck, tracing my lips down her collarbone to her breast and then down to her stomach, I kiss her skin just above her belly button.
"As long as we have you, we will be fine," Emery says as she drags her fingers through my hair.
I nod slowly laying down beside her, she turns onto her side and continues to play with my hair as I shut my eyes. When she pulls her hand away I catch her wrist and kiss her palm "don't stop. It feels good." I smile when her fingers return to my hair as I drift back asleep.
"Does anyone see any reason why these two shouldn't be married?"
I blink gazing around the banquet hall. I am seated in the back row, each are filled with people I don't recognize but each wears the same symbol I saw on Anderson's arm tattooed on their shoulder, except minus the crown. The men are in black suits, the women in slutty black dresses each with collars around their neck. Many of them have bruised eyes and handprint marks on their neck. I turn my gaze to the stage, Reese stands next to Emery, his face rigid. Clearly, he is in the place of the best man. What the hell is he doing? Emery is standing holding a bouquet of white flowers, wearing the wedding dress we saw in the window of that boutique and facing a man who doesn't have a face. Anderson stands between them reading from a folder.
"I do!" I growl getting to my feet.
No one even tilts their head in my direction. It's like they can't hear me.
"I do! She is not marrying into this hell hole!" I snarl.
Again no response.
Anderson smiles darkly as he turns to the man standing next to him "you may kiss the bride."
I try to take a step forward but my legs will not move they are locked on the floor. All I can do is watch.
"Don't you touch her!" I bellow.
Anderson finally turns his gaze to me and grins wickedly "she is my daughter. You can't protect her from me, just like you couldn't protect your sister from him."
It's a different kind of torture as I watch Anderson drag Emery away with her faceless husband, he is covered in tattoos and his entire ambiance indicates that he is everything Emery does not deserve. She needs someone who can make her feel safe, who can be in her corner, who can protect her from the worst in this world. She deserves someone who can make her see that all the pain and hardship that she faced in her life is all behind her.
This is the kind of torture my father aimed to achieve but never quite mastered. It is the torture that had he mastered he would have won. He would have broken me.
"Please Colin, help," Emery finally says as she glances at me "help me, please, Colin don't let them take me."
I want to follow, I want to save her, I want to stop them, but I can't. I can't move all I can do is watch.
I blink and before my eyes the scene changes, I am standing in the police station, metal cuffs around my wrists.
"Please Colin, help, help me, please, Colin, don't let them take me!" an eight-year-old Evelyn cries pulling with all her might on the hand of the social worker.
"Don't take her from me!" I demand, trying to fight against the strong hand of the police officer on my arm.
For a moment I am quite literally gasping for breath. My air is caught in my throat and I can't remember how to force it through my lungs. I turn my gaze to Emery, she is still asleep this time. I move my hand to rest on her leg, slowly rubbing my palm over her skin, reassuring myself that she is beside me and safe. Over my dead body is she going to go with Anderson to be some twisted princess for the Brotherhood.
But even with that understanding, I can't quite shake the images that where in my dream out of my head. I can't shake the fear of watching her being dragged away from me. Anderson, well my subconscious really, was right – is right, I couldn't protect Evelyn what makes me so sure I can protect Emery? Sure I am not a helpless boy anymore but I am not all-powerful either. No matter how much I like to convince myself that I am.
I lean my head against the pillow and sigh heavily, for nearly fourteen years now I have dreaded the nightmares I have of my childhood, but for the first time, those nightmares are not the ones I am praying not to have. Emery being hurt is all kinds of worse.