Page 99 of Ruin

DECLAN

I watchTrixie in the kitchen with Lileah and Autumn, she’s not spoken one word to me or them. I have no idea how I’m going to get her to talk, but by the end of the day, one thing is happening. She will be saying my name. I need to hear my name from her lips.

“Declan, are you listening?” Mason snaps at me. Not looking over, I reply.

“Yes, and I’m not fucking hiding in the house. They proved today they can get me here if they wanted. I’m going about my day-”

“No, you’re fucking not!” Hayden shouts making the girls and Autumn look over at us, and Trixie’s eyes meet mine. “I’m not about to lose my brother because he thinks he’s untouchable.”

“I never said I’m untouchable. They could have killed me today if they wanted but they didn’t. I have three days to think of something, but I’m not hiding.” I finally look over at my brothers. Miles is tapping away on his laptop. Mason is watching the tv, not really saying much which is worrying, and Hayden has spent most of the time working on a plan. Cain, surprisingly, has been quiet, tapping away on his phone, to Lincoln more than likely.

“Okay, how about we stop the fighting, and have some food?” Autumn hands me a bowl of chicken pasta, and I say thank you. “They are only worried,” she whispers and hands Cain his bowl.

Trixie sits next to me, and Lileah on the other side of me. She taps my leg for me to look at her. “Trixie showed me the dresses she was designing for me, she needs to get fabric for the one I like.” Lileah stops talking when Hayden says no, and I give her a nod letting her know I will take them both, which she returns with a smile. “The conversation would have gone quicker if she spoke to me, instead of writing everything down.” I know Lileah is only joking but Trixie looks into her bowl and starts playing with her pasta.

“She’ll talk when she’s ready,” I let her know. She doesn’t have to rush to talk to other people and I’m not going to make her. Three years is a long time not talking to anyone, it’s going to be one step at a time.

“Okay, so we know who the family is, and who you killed down there. We know what they want. You dead. But The Pit is a fair place, and that’s what they need to remember,” Miles says, and we all turn to Cain who is tapping on his phone. Clearly there is something on his mind.

“And I think that is something we have to remind them about.” Cain finally talks and shakes his head a little. “They all know the rules before you go in, not sure about you, but I'm a little fed up with this game, and I think the Crawfords need to show them the Crawford way.” Fuck why has my body just had a shock of excitement at his words.

Are we about to finally work with him the Crawford way? He’s always taught us, showed us how to work with what we have, but we have never stood next to him to work. One thing is, I’ll stand with him to the end, and I can’t wait.

“When do we go?” Mason asks.

“Tonight, Lincoln will come over to be with the girls.” Without looking at us he walks away, and Trixie leans closer to me and signs.

I need some clothes and would like a shower. Please.

“You two are going to be so fucking annoying.” Miles jokes making everyone else laugh. Ignoring them, I sign back to her.

You know where my room is, have a shower, and you can wear something of mine for now, and we’ll get your stuff tomorrow.

She goes to put her bowl on the table, but I take it from her. “If you don’t want to eat any more, give it to me.” I wink at her as she walks towards the stairs.

“Be ready at ten, Lincoln will be here.” Cain joins us sitting next to Autumn, eating his food. He turns to the stairs watching Trixie, waiting until she is out of sight. He waits until the door is shut before talking. “What are you doing about her family?”

“Killing them,” I answer within a second of him asking. I’m not even sure why he even thought of asking me that question.

“You’re not even going to talk about it?” Cain asks.

“No.” I don’t look at him, I finish my food and slide the bowl onto the table. “I’m going to kill him slowly, and his bitch of a mother. I’m sure the fish would like some food. No one is going to change my mind, so you’re either with me or not.” I stand up and look at my family waiting to see which ones as something to say.

“Tell us when and we will be there.” Hayden is the first to talk, I look over at Cain.

“Do you want to kill him, or throw him in The Pit?” he asks. I thought about it, and was going to talk to him about it, but I want to talk to Trixie about it too. He hurt her; she should get some say in how I end his life.

“I’ll talk to her and see what she wants.” I turn to my brothers. “Are you free to come help me pack up Trixie's stuff, and bring it over here?” Now I could do it myself, but there is more chance of me killing her stepbrother if I’m alone. And I don’t want him to have an easy death, I want to drag it out as much as I can.

“We will be there.” Mason is the one to answer, and I head upstairs to talk to Trixie, while my family work on a plan. My head isn’t in the thinking mood at the moment, there is only one thing I can think about. How will my name sound from her lips?

Closing the door behind me, I sit on the end of the bed, listening to the shower. Taking my phone out, to make sure I haven’t had any more messages, I put it on silent because I don’t want anything to get in the way of our family talk. There’s one message from Blake telling me the car is fixed-she’s been using her dads the past few days, and another from mom, which is a picture of her and dad at the beach.

I throw my phone on the bed, and close my eyes for a moment. I try to remember the days when life was simple, and I didn’t have scars over my body, or have anyone trying to kill me. We’re the hunters, not the fucking prey.

The bathroom door opens, and I look at Trixie stepping out with a towel wrapped around her, and she stops in her tracks. My eyes travel down her body, taking in every single tattoo on her sexy body, and that body is now all mine.

“Lose the towel.” I look up at her and she looks around the room, not sure at what, there is no one in here but me. “I’d like to worship my temple-” I stand up, and walk over to her, in one quick movement I’m taking my t-shirt off and throwing it on the floor, kicking off my tennis shoes and undoing my jeans’ button. “-and it’s going to be hard with a towel on.”

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