Page 51 of The Boy I Loved
I didn’t havea lot to pack, mostly some clothes and some bathing essentials. Aside from necessities, nothing else was worth any value to me. I’d taken a quick shower to tide me over, packed all my shit, and loaded my vehicle.
It wasn’t until I was on the road again, headed to the shop, that I got a call from Clay.
“Change of plans,” he said, his thick voice drifting through the speaker. “Head directly to the compound.” He didn’t say anything else, didn’t even explain, just hung up the phone and left me with more questions than answers.
My grip tightened around the steering wheel, annoyance sparking to life within me. I was sick and tired of being his little bitch. I merged into the left lane, hitting my turn signal in the process.
The night was fading into day, the black sky beginning to lighten into a faint blue. I’d been up all goddamn night, and sleep wasn’t even in my near future by the sounds of it. I blew out a breath, straining to keep my eyes open as I took a sharp left.
I thought back to the way life used to be, back when things weremuch simpler. My parents had always been good parents, always doing their best to ensure my sister and I had everything we could possibly need and want. Mom stayed home most of the time—cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, donating to the school when she could, and still managed to make time for my father outside of that. She enjoyed staying home with us, and said it gave her purpose. I never understood it, but I’d been grateful that she was always around when Dad couldn’t be.
Alice and I were always close. Before Hazel, my sister was my best friend. We tried to include her, but I was sure she felt like a third wheel and began to distance herself after a while. Alice was younger and didn’t have as much in common with the two of us, so it made sense, and I was glad I got Hazel to myself. They never hated one another, in fact, they’d also become friends. Maybe not as close of friends as Hazel and I had become, but there was something friendly between them.
After Dad died … I was selfish. I withdrew from both of them, and started hanging out with Mason, Vincent, and Nicholas. At first, it was small things: partying, smoking cigarettes, weed, drinking, sex, and shoplifting. Those crimes caught up to me though, and I found myself in some legal shit.
I should have gone to the correctional camp. I should have taken my punishment and come straight home. It was my fault I was in the position I was in. Nobodymademe trust Clay.
A ragged breath fled from my lips. He threatened Alice—my own fucking sister. The girl who always wanted the best for everyone and who would never harm a fly. His own fucking niece.
Alice had been the first to warn me away from the guys. She’d told me there was something about them she didn’t like. She was absolutely terrified of Vincent, more so than the others. I should have fucking listened. Had I not been so goddamn stubborn, I would have seen it.
I remembered one of the first times he came to my house, how panicked Alice had been, howscared.
Vince had just left after stopping by to bring me some more pills. I never knew what they were. I didn’t care. As long as they took the pain away, that was all that mattered.
Alice rushed into my bedroom, her face as pale as a sheet. Her chest rose and fell with her panicked breaths, her faint blue eyes falling on me.
“Is he gone?” she asked, glancing around my room as if she half-expected someone to jump out at her.
“Who?” I asked, quickly dumping the bag of pills into the top drawer of my dresser before turning to acknowledge her.
She swallowed thickly, taking another step into my room. Her fingers were folded together, intertwined, as she fiddled with them—one of her nervous ticks. “Vincent,” she whispered. “Is he gone?”
A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth. “He is. Why?”
Her shoulders rolled forward with a breath of relief, and she swept a hand through her raven-colored hair. “I don’t like him here,” she admitted. “I don’t like the way he watches me—stares at me. I-I think he wants something.”
This caught my attention. My stomach rolled with unease. Vince knew my sister was off-limits. I’d made it abundantly clear. He could fuck whoever he wanted, anyone but Alice.
“Did something happen?” I pried, attempting to keep my tone neutral.
Alice hesitated, blowing out a breath, and finally dropped her hands to her sides. “I was in my room. I forgot to close the door, but I was reading on my daybed. When I looked up, he was there. Just … staring at me. It freaked me out.”
My molars ground together, but it was the only emotion I allowed to slip out. “I’ll talk to him, Alice. He probably didn’t mean anything by it. He’s—” I didn’t even have an excuse for his behavior. To my knowledge, he had a decent upbringing. He was justdifferent. “He’s observant,” I finished at last. “He likes to watch things. He does it to me, even.”
This seemed to put her a little more at ease. She blew out another sigh and nodded. “Well, I don’t like it.”
“I know. I’ll talk to him. I promise.”
And I did. I told him he freaked her out, which he found amusing, but he relented in the end and told me he’d no longer bother my sister, and to my knowledge, he hadn’t since. That was before everything went to shit. Vince was already doing Clay’s bidding by then, but I didn’t find that out until months later. He wasn’t trafficking girls yet, but he was beating the shit out of them when asked to and doing grunt work.
We didn’t start taking women until a year after I’d joined Clay. He let us fuck them, made us even, but for the most part, we were being trained forgreaterthings.
The leather steering wheel creaked beneath my grip. I was a fool for trusting my uncle, for ever thinking he had my best interest at heart.
The compound wasn’t nearly far enough away. The large, iron gates glinted beneath the rising sun as I pulled to the front, my heart hammering against my chest with a multitude of varying emotions. I rolled my window down and typed in the pin. Slowly, the doors creaked open, spreading wide to allow me entry.
I rolled forward, my throat bobbing with a heavy swallow. Gravel pelted the undercarriage of my vehicle, rapping against the metal regardless of how cautious I drove.
