Nick returns and drops to his knees in front of me. “I’m so sorry. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t answer your phone.” I fall against his chest with nothing left.
“I should have been with her. I should have died instead. I …”
“No. No, I should have protected you both better. It was my job. It is my fault Ryan, not yours. They were after you because of me,” Nick says, but all I can feel is the pain of losing her.
Nick takes me to his home where Kayla awaits. I didn’t allow anyone to console me on the way here. I didn’t want anyone to touch me or talk to me at all. I just wanted to be left alone, but somehow, the moment I see Kayla with tears already in her eyes, I welcome her arms around me and release screams and tears that I didn’t even know I had inside me. She lies on the floor with me and holds me, listening to my cries and crying even more along with me.
Chapter 18
Nick
As I watch my brother fall apart and struggle with his broken heart, I recall the moments prior to me calling Sam, prior to her dying so horribly in that explosion. I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what:
Elijah is kind enough to meet me at an out of the way place.
“You called?” he immediately says with an attitude.
“Yes, I need to make sure you watch out for Ryan. He is out of control and reckless with me around. I can’t imagine how he will be when I am not.”
“Are you planning on leaving us?”
“You know damn well that I don’t know what is going to happen,” I say to him.
“Damn it Nick! You know you have to let him grow up at some point and make his own mistakes. Not everyone and their actions are your responsibility.” He curses me, and everything around us, knowing I am not listening to him.
“Normal mistakes I don’t mind, but the mistakes he is making will cost him his life if he is not careful. All I want is for you to make sure he stays under the radar when I am gone, and you better fucking make sure he gets the hell out of here if …” Elijah sighs and looks away from me
“I can only imagine how sick Ryan is hearing your constant requests to desert you when you merge over to the dark side. I don’t know why you think I can get all these people out of the city and make sure they stay away. I only have two hands, and it will take more than that just to keep your wife in check. I don’t want to even think about your brother.”
“Well, you’re lucky that Brady is seeing to Lena or I would ask you to deal with her, too. Brothers for life, remember Eli?”
“Yeah, but you know I originally made that deal because I thought we were talking about women. I only agreed because I wanted to make sure you stayed away from the women I wanted to fuck first. Now, it’s turning into this whole life and death bullshit.”
I laugh at him and his scrunched expression, “You’re the one that wanted a family. I have one if you will just take it.” He walks away from me. “My wife and kids mean everything to me, and I know you will die to protect them as I would you.”
“Ahhh damn! You had to pull the, I would die for you card. Nicky, fuck, at least say something that I can yell at you for, not this crap that makes me feel like shit. You could have at least trained that wife of yours first. Damn Nicky, I thought we were friends?” He says with a smile. Before I can respond, I get a bad feeling rushing through me. “What’s wrong?”
“Ryan. Ryan!” I quickly dial his number and repeat, but the fucker doesn’t pick up. Sam does.
“Nick, something is wrong. Ryan is after someone, and I don’t know where he is. Please come quickly,” Sam says in a panic.
“I’m on my way. Don’t worry.” I speed through the streets until I come up on his house. Elijah pulls in right after and jumps out of the car, trying to keep up with me until the house begins to explode. Fire shoots out from every window and begins to blaze through the roof. “Ryan!” I scream. And then I hear him. I look over and see him running toward the house screaming for Sam. “Ryan!” I scream again, running after him. It takes Elijah and I both to tackle him and keep him from running back into the house.
“Saaaaammmm! No!” he screams in terror, fighting us with everything he has to get to her. “God no! Sam!” His screams begin to turn into terrorized cries, and my heart breaks for him. There is nothing left in him, so when attackers come for him, I go after them. They didn’t expect me, and I show no mercy tonight. I break one neck after the other, and the necks I can’t reach, I grasp their hearts and squeeze instead. Not one gets away from me, and not one is left to tell me why. My emotions get the better of me, and all I want is to kill more. So, I wait, searching for them, calling out to them. “Come on you cowards! I know you’re there. You want me right?! Come and get me.” All I hear is silence, and soon, I no longer feel their presence. I return to my distraught brother, feeling his pain deep in my heart. I fall to my knees in front of him, wanting forgiveness but accepting anything he can give me at the moment. I can do nothing to calm him or take away his pain. All I can do is listen to his cries and hate myself for being grateful that it wasn’t Kayla.
Dwayne, Reginald, Eddie, Terrence, and even Bo all come to help search the area for any clues as to who did this. It takes all of us to get Ryan to leave his charred home and into a car so I can take him to my home where Kayla handles the rest. She falls to the floor with him in her arms and cries right along with him, and along with Elijah, me, and everyone else within ear shot. No one is dry-eyed tonight. Ryan’s pain cuts us all. My wife holds my brother tonight while I hold my sons.
There is a place in between my indecision, in between staying with my family or going with Evil. It is the only place I feel comfortable. Not choosing is easier than choosing. After pacing for some time with Kayla watching every step I make, I go to my father’s hideaway. Now, I understand why he spent so much time here. This is the only place I can think these days. The quiet is short-lived. A car pulls up outside, and someone makes themselves right at home. I leave the back bedroom while someone starts up the power in the chair. What the fuck! I run in to see Ryan strapping himself into the chair and readying himself to push the button on his own.
“No! Ryan, no!” I scream, running for him. Thankfully, the surge causes him to drop the device, and I am able to turn it off before he takes on too much. “Are you insane?” I ask before realizing he is in pain and weakened by the voltage that is still causing his body to jerk. I remove him from the chair and help him to a more comfortable place. “What are you doing, Ryan?”
“I want to kill them. I have no reason to stand back and let you take all this on. I should be the one. You have a family, Nick. I have…” Ryan says to me through his gritted teeth.
“You have everything. Don’t you ignore the fact that my family is your family. Losing you is not going to be any easier for them. I don’t have a choice, Ryan. Savage wants me, not you. You going rogue will only cause our family to lose us both. They will be left, vulnerable and subjected to God knows what before they are killed. Do you really want that?” He pushes me away angrily and staggers back to his feet. “I know how you feel, but you have to be cautious and think clearly before you make any decisions. Everyone is going to depend on you. You are the only one that can protect them, and you know it.”
Ryan slams his fist through the wall and screams in frustration, “I hate them! I want …”
“To kill them, yes I know. I want nothing less myself, but in order to do that, we must first figure out who they are and how best to destroy them. How to destroy them so that it hurts.”
“I want it to hurt. I want it to be so painful that they will beg for death,” he says, and I nod. “What’s your plan then? Are you going to continue with this chair yourself and battle Savage?”
“I don’t know who the greater enemy is anymore. Now it seems we have others coming after us. We may need Savage. He has offered to bring me in sooner so we can battle our enemy together. With him, they don’t stand a chance,” I say, avoiding his eyes on me.
/>
“With him, you don’t stand a chance, Nick,” Ryan says.
“I don’t trust him, but I do know he won’t hurt me. He needs me for some reason. I don’t know why yet, but I am sure I will find out soon enough. Until that time, we can use him to help get rid of our mutual enemies.”
“He needs you to be his personal killer. He wants to turn you into him, an unfeeling monster.” Ryan kicks the chair in front of him and sends it flying into the wall, causing it to break into pieces. “What makes you think he won’t want to kill me? If he doesn’t know about me yet, he surely will find out now.”
Chapter 19
Ryan
I wish I had the strength to put everything behind me. I wish I could move on, find a way to help Nick and Kayla and get Savage, but every time I try, I think of Sam. I think of my mother and my father. I can’t imagine what I would do if I lost my brother, or hell, if I lost Kayla and the boys, too. I think I would prefer to just join Savage and be numb to the world. Hell, if he decided he would rather kill me, I don’t think I would fight him. All I want to do is lie in bed and never wake up, but I promised my mother I would live my life to its fullest and never, ever give up on it. I promised her I would fight every day just like she did. I wonder if my fight will do any more than her fight did for her?
“Ryan?” Franky slowly peeks through my door, allowing a bright light to sharply break up the darkness within my room. “Would it be okay if I came in to talk to you for a moment?” I nod, but I am not real interested in encouraging too much conversation. She comes in and, thankfully, shuts the door behind her. “I know you are having a hard time right now, but I thought maybe I could help. I am a good listener, and I am a doctor. I have been trained to do many things that might help you.”
“I don’t need a doctor, Franky. What I need is my home back, with my fiancé in it.”
“I understand, maybe for now I can just lie here beside you and take your mind off things.” She immediately finds her way under my covers so she can lay her head on my bare chest. “Now this is much better. Wow… do you have a trainer like Nick?” She feels up my chest and my arms.
“Franky, what do you want?” I say, pushing her hands away from me.
“I don’t mean any harm. I am only trying to take your mind off things. A little flirting never hurt anybody. I promise I won’t seduce you. Although, I guess you would be much better at that than I, seeing how you are a Savage.”
“If anything, I am a Jayzon, but I go by my mother’s name, Milio. I am not a Savage,” I snap at her.
“Okay, calm down.” She is quiet for a few minutes, and I have to admit, having her lying against me reminds me of Sam. She always stayed close to me all night, she never wanted to wake up and not have me there. I learned that the hard way. I snuck out while she was asleep one night when I had forgotten to pick up something for Nick and I knew he would be all over me come morning if he found out. I wasn’t gone long but long enough. I came home to her crying and calling out for me. She panicked because of a nightmare, and when she couldn’t find me, she became disoriented and lost her phone to call me. I heard her yelling for me as soon I pulled up to the house. I ran in, thinking someone was hurting her, but it was only her own fear that had her scared. I didn’t realize that bastard she was seeing before me would purposely leave her alone and move everything around on his way out to try and teach her to be independent. Who the fuck does that? Who treats a blind woman like she is a joke, like she is some kind of game to be played with? When I ran inside, I found her on the floor, searching for her phone that she had dropped. As soon as she heard my voice, she reached out for me and didn’t let go. I felt like a complete ass. I held her all night, trying to comfort her. The only way I could get her to smile again was to promise her a dog. She hadn’t had one since she was rescued from the fire at her parents’ house; she wasn’t able to keep him, and that dickhead wouldn’t let her have one when she moved in with him because he was allergic. I feel terrible for leaving her that night. The fear in her face crushed me, and I couldn’t do enough to make it up to her. And that was just leaving her without letting her know. Letting her be trapped in an explosion, in our burning home, I don’t know how she could ever forgive me.
My calm silence seems to have given Franky reason to believe I want her to stay. She begins trying to entice me, but I stop her hand before it gets too far. I don’t bother to say a word to her. My growl is enough to give her the point. She backs off, with apologies.
“Sorry, you are hard to resist, you know. A girl can get carried away.”
“Go get carried away with someone else! As far as I am concerned, I am still engaged to another woman.” Franky nods, smiling.
“You know I could help you be with her again.”
I sit away from her, instantly, and reply, “What? What is wrong with you?”
“No, I don’t mean kill yourself. I mean I could sort of hypnotize you and let you go back to being with her. You can use me as her during your hypnosis. You will think you are with her, you will feel her, smell her, and you will believe you are with her. It will be a chance to be with her again. Maybe say goodbye in a better way.” She takes my hands with a smile. The idea of being with Sam again is tempting, beyond tempting actually, but maybe I should let her go and not continue to try and hold on to a ghost. The debate in my head bounces around for a while until I shake it all off.
“Thanks for the offer, Franky, but I don’t think it is a good idea,” I say to her. “If you don’t mind, I would like to be alone now.” She gets out of my bed but continues to rub her hands along my chest.
“Sure. I understand, but if you change your mind, let me know,” she says, leaning in and kissing my cheek. I close my eyes, and for a brief moment, I feel like Sam is here. I open my eyes quickly to verify, but all I see is Franky, smiling at me as she exits my room. Strange, very strange.
Chapter 20
Nick
Ryan was right. The only way I know how to ensure his safety right now is to make sure Savage understands his value. I arrange for a meeting with Savage and bring Ryan along with me. Ryan is tense the moment we walk into the house and seems to dislike the interior décor as much as I do.
“I feel like everything in this room is alive and watching me. I have never been more creeped out in my life,” Ryan says, sticking to me closer than usual.
“Come in and have a seat,” Savage says, waving us into his office. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting, Nicholas?”
“I wanted you to meet my brother, Ryan,” I say with shaky hands. Savage glances at Ryan, and I see the bloodlust in his eyes. “He is my father’s son, and I would do anything for him. I would die for him and him for me,” I say, breaking the concentration on my brother.
“Close are you? Why are you telling me this now? Why not continue to keep your secrets from me?” he asks, setting back in his chair and seemingly willing to listen to me.
“Someone is after him and clearly knows of him. They blew up his house and killed his fiancé. His survival is crucial to me; he is a part of me, and I won’t stand by and watch his life be threatened by anyone.”
Savage sits forward, and replies, “What do you mean?” I silently sit back in my chair, unafraid of his hardened glare. “You think coming here and facing off with me is going to convince me to spare his life?”
“With him watching over my family, then I don’t have to worry so much about them and can concentrate more on my duties, to this family,” I bargain.
He sighs deeply before standing and pacing in front of us. He suddenly grabs Ryan and jerks him out of his seat. I quickly take action and grab him, “Calm down Nicholas, I am not going to hurt him. I am only testing him.” Savage looks into Ryan’s eyes as Ryan fights to push him off of him. “This one has potential actually,” he says, seeming surprised. I ease back as he eases off Ryan. “I am not sure why you would hide him from me, Nicholas. There is strength in him, an unwavering strength within him.” He rele
ases him with a smile. “I am surprised you haven’t noticed that your brother is just as strong as you. Sad that he has wasted all this time, and hasn’t realized his potential yet. Release that protective bubble you have put him in Nicholas, and you might be surprised.” He looks upon Ryan with a hunger, and now I have no fear of him killing him but taking him for his own use. “Have you killed before, Ryan?” he asks, looking away from me.
“Yes,” Ryan says calmly.
“Not with a gun, with your bare hands with the fire inside you. As a part of this family, your hunger is satisfied when you take a life with that power within you,” Savage says with a glare that craves the information he wants to hear.
Ryan glances my way as he sits up straight and turns his focus on Savage. “I have killed in many ways, and I will kill however I need to in order to protect my family and the men that follow me.”
“You are with family now, my son. I assure you; you are welcomed to claim your birth right as much as Nicholas is.” Ryan doesn’t answer, and Savage doesn’t push him, for now. He simply laughs to himself as if he expected the response. “Ryan, do you understand who our family is and what our responsibility is to this world? What your future could hold?” He asks him but doesn’t give him much of a chance to respond before he goes into details of the realm our family sees to and the other Lords who oversee the other realms. I told Ryan some, but now, he knows exactly who he is. The expression on his face mirrors mine when I found out.
Our meeting has taken an unexpected turn, and one that has me wondering about my brother. Maybe I have been overly protective of him and missed all the potential he possesses. Savage invites us to his study where we are instantly greeted by naked women who have no shame or boundaries. Savage freely lets the women take his cock out and grasp it with their moistened lips.
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