Page 98 of My Brother's Enemy
“Goddammit, Bruge! Just fucking type it. We’re losing her. It’s the only way to keep her.”
He didn’t respond for a moment, but his eyes narrowed. “You’re talking about Rain?”
“Yes,” I clipped out. “What she said in there is just a hint of the fucked-up shit her family did to her growing up. I don’tunderstand it, but I know it was psychological torment. She’s gone unless we do something drastic. I have something Icando, but you need to type that for me. Please.”
His eyebrows smoothed out. “You love her.”
“Of course I fucking love her. I went all Hulk just now in the locker room because you assholes are going to let her walk. As long as she’s here, we’re not going to lose her. I can’t tell you anything else because I don’t understand it. But this is what my gut says we need to do. WhatIneed to do. Send the fucking text, Bruge.”
His lips pressed into a flat line, but he typed it out before showing me the screen.
Tyler: Release it.
I gave him a nod.
He hit send.
We waited. I could feel my tension ramping up with every second it took for her to respond.
Just as Hunter pulled up in his car, my phone buzzed with Kashvi’s response.
Kashvi: Done. Get ready. I’m assuming you and Rain both agreed?
Hunter got out and came around to open the passenger doors for us. He stepped aside. Bruge ignored him, staring at me in silent condemnation.
I breezed past Hunter to get into the front seat. “Don’t give me that look,” I told Bruge. “It was the only way.”
Bruge got into the back. “Did you have to take the front seat? Such a fucking diva.”
57
RAIN
Ididn’t stick around after my goodbye to the team. It wasn’t technically a goodbye, but for me it was.
They’d release me from my contract.
This was strike two, and there’d be more coming. I had no doubt Daniel’s team wanted me to disappear completely. That’s how I’d felt growing up. If I’d simply left when I was a kid, no one would’ve looked for me. Others in my position might’ve run away, but I’d had a house and food. I was physically safe. Why risk facing the dangers out there until I absolutely needed to?
I think a part of me stayed because that’d been the house where my mother lived. She’d hugged me. Cuddled me. She’d loved me.
And I didn’t want to leave until I was forced out.
I tried telling myself Daniel couldn’t hurt me anymore, but it wasn’t true. If it was, I would’ve had the courage to turn my phone on.
We’d returned on Monday. It was now Wednesday. The Grays were playing Tyler’s old New York team, and I had no idea what the fallout was going to look like.
I’d changed rooms at the hotel, but that was it. My phone had stayed off. I’d asked the front desk to hold any other calls.
I was hiding.
I didn’t even watch television.
In all honesty, I had no recollection of what I had done since I got into my new room Monday afternoon.
I’d finally woken up today. That’s the best way I could describe it. I’d come back to myself, my reality, and I was all too aware of the time. The Grays were playing in thirty minutes.
I couldn’t watch.
