Page 27 of Phoenix

“Afternoon, brother, always a pleasure to hear your happy, friendly voice,” she says sarcastically, forcing me to smile because she’s my kid sister after all. “Listen, I know you’re pissed with me, Phoenix, but I was doing it for your own good. I’ll admit, Jake’s execution of getting you together left a lot to be desired, but what can I say? He’s a bit of an idiot and I’ve learned never to leave ‘details’ to him in the future.”

“What do you want, Lou?” I practically grunt because I refuse to have this conversation over the phone.

“I just wanted to check you’d be there today; it’s the first, remember?” she asks as I look over at the calendar on the wall, cursing under my breath when I see she’s right.

“Then I’ll be there,” I sigh.

“And Jess?” she asks, and I find myself clenching my jaw over her saying her name so casually. I also realize that I’m going to have to make her come out of hiding which is going to take a lot of work on my part.

“If I’m going, so is she,” I reply curtly, “see you later, Lou.”

I hang up before she can say goodbye, which she knows will mean I’m still annoyed with her. She’ll get over it; she has her suburban house and her fancy, wealthy husband, Daniel, to take care of her now. The trouble is, she thinks that means I’ve got no one, that I’m the one that now needs taking care of. I don’t know, maybe she’s right, but I’ll be damned if my wet-behind-the-ears cousin and baby sister will be the ones to ‘save me’.

“Phoenix?” Jake calls over to me.

When I turn around, I’m surprised to see not only him but Jessie too. She eyes the few locals drinking their beer while they do the same to her. You don’t often get new faces in here, so when one as pretty as Jess’ comes in, it tends to draw attention. I watch her eyes darting about the place, desperately trying to take everything in, turning deathly pale in the process. The fear emanating from her entire body is palpable; it has me feeling so angry on her behalf, my hands ball into large fists by my sides. Jake can obviously feel it too, seeing as he is tightening his grip around her shoulders, just before he mutters a few reassuring words inside her ear. She takes in a few gulps of air before nodding. Meanwhile, Harry, an old guy on the stool which he sits on every lunchtime and evening without fail, quirks his head to the side, as if studying her with curiosity. I glare back at him with a grimace that has him averting his eyes and shuffling uncomfortably on top of his seat.

“Phoenix, Jess has agreed to let me take her out,” Jake explains, which does nothing to ease the pressure in my fists.

“No!” I reply forcefully, which has not only Jake and Jess looking back at me with concerned faces but also Harry. “If she’s going out, then I’m going with her. We can’t both leave the bar, so she comes with me.”

“Are you shitting me?!” Jake cries with incredulity in his voice. Jess chances a glance at me and almost looks relieved. Her small hint of trust in me has me strengthening my resolve to argue with the bubbling inferno before me, even if he is my cousin. “Phoenix, I took care of this girl for six damn years under the same roof as a psychopath!”

“I’m not arguing with you Jake,” I level with him, “but if you push, you and I both know I’ll say something we might both regret. She comes with me; you cover the bar!”

“Over my—"

“It’s ok, Jake,” Jess says in a small voice, placing one of her delicate hands on his chest. “I trust your cousin and I know he’ll protect me should he need to.”

“Jess, you sure? You didn’t want to before—"

“I know, but if you’re all going to force me to go out, I may as well go with a trained hitman,” she replies before walking over to stand next to me. I feel bad for Jake; her words have just made him feel inadequate, even if that wasn’t her intention.

“Fine!” he snaps before grabbing a few empties and stomping out back.

“What made you change your mind?” I ask her quietly, looking over at Harry so I can silently warn him to stop ogling. When I meet her gaze again, I lose all conscious thought for a moment. She looks different in the light, like a new day with the hope of it being a better one after a period of darkness.

“Sometimes my mind forces me to go outside, to distract me” she explains, swallowing hard and looking a little ashamed, “otherwise it has me thinking of…scarier times.”

“Right,” I reply, knowing full well how that feels because I experience the same thing on a daily basis. Flashes of my mother during that fire, my father dying, and even Lou in that hospital bed after she had been attacked, all frequently appear in my day-to-day life. That’s when I know I need to get out and clear it all away. “Let’s go.”

As soon as Jake returns, sporting a scowl and a generally pissed-off demeanor, I lead Jess toward the front door and throw out my hand for her to step outside. She takes a deep breath before eventually putting her foot over the threshold where a gust of wind kicks up the sand beneath her. She stares at it before looking up to see my outstretched hand, eyeing it with caution before she eventually accepts it inside of her own. I offer her a lopsided smile, but she merely expels another breath before nodding her head, and gesturing to the great outside space before us.

“Jess,” I whisper as I pull her further out, “you are safe with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Warren,” she utters, “someone should have told my parents that before they failed to keep me from being taken.”

I stare at her for a while, wondering how long she’s been bitter about what happened to her. She’s lost faith in everyone and everything, even herself. Had it not been for my dad, my sister, and Javier, perhaps I’d be exactly the same. I decide in the here and now, to become that crutch for her, and bring her back to life.

Chapter 11

Jessie

The ride along the dusty road, on the back of Warren’s bike, is enough to have me sinking into dark thoughts from my past. I was lucky, I had Jake, so many others who have been taken don’t live to tell the tale or worse. I have no idea if Daddy ever thought of taking things further with me, especially when I grew into a womanlier figure. I never did work out this man’s pleasure or whether he truly was just looking for a makeshift family unit. But whatever his purpose, he still stole me from mine, and even though I was deemed as fortunate enough to make it back to them, alive and ‘untouched’, I never got what I had back. We were all changed forever more; tainted by a nightmare that never ends.

Jake is no doubt feeling hurt over my rebuttal of his offer to take me out, but he shouldn’t take it personally; I don’t trust anyone to keep me safe outside. My own parents couldn’t. The only reason I have agreed to come out with Warren is because I know he is a trained killer, an ex-assassin who is built like a brick wall of muscle, a myth, just like Stanley. Jake looked after me for all those years like a brother, but he still couldn’t keep me from living in that basement for six years.

When we finally come to a stop, we are in a small town, the sort that only has one of everything - one barbershop with an old guy sitting out front, one greasy diner, one wreck of a bar, and a shop selling clothes that were once vaguely fashionable, most likely before I was born. However, it is of no concern to me what I wear, so long as it doesn’t draw any unnecessary attention. I make it a point to look like someone who can blend into the background. Unfortunately, in the desert sunshine, together with the earthy tones surrounding me, my pale skin and ink black hair only have me standing out like a sore thumb.

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