I felt completely wiped out at that point and couldn’t even be bothered to argue so I sat back down silently. I saw relief in Dom’s eyes as I watched his Dad take a seat opposite me.
“Ok, so what has he done?”
Still looking at the floor I muttered. “Bruised wrists and maybe I think two broken ribs.”
I heard his Mum gasp, she had been staring at me in shock and sympathy since I told them why it was my fault.
“You think?”
I shrugged. “I heard two cracks, but I’m not really an expert so I don’t know for sure.”
I glanced up to see Dom clenching his hands together and frowned when I could have sworn his eyes flashed yellow, but his Mum nudged him and they were green again. Shaking my head I looked at the floor again before Mr Lewis said.
“Roll up your sleeves.”
I did as he asked revealing black and yellow hand shaped bruises imprinted into both of my wrists. I shrugged at him. “They are just bruises, they will go away. Same with the ribs. Everyone knows that you can’t do anything for broken ribs.”
“Stop talking and let the Doctor work.” Andrew whispered.
“He’s gong to tell me exactly what I just said.” I mumbled.
I saw his lips twitch as he said. “She’s right, but I need to check your ribs to make sure they aren’t going to pierce a lung and you definitely need bed rest for a few weeks.”
“I’m not staying in bed for weeks!” I blurted.
He groaned. “Just let me check your ribs and we’ll get to that in a minute.”
I raised my eyebrows. “How are you going to do that, do you have x-ray vision or something?”
He cracked a smile then. “No, but you’re going to need to take your shirt off.”
I gaped at him before standing up and heading for the door shouting. “Bye!”
Before I could even reach the doorway the warmth of Dom’s arm was wrapping around my waist and holding me in place. I struggled against him, but flinched as my ribs protested at the movement and gave up.
“Where are you off to so fast?” Dom whispered in my ear sending shivers down my spine.
I swallowed. “I just remembered I have something really urgent to do.”
“Really, and that is?”
“Leave this house?”
He chuckled and pulled me back towards his father.
“I’m not taking my t-shirt off!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, we aren’t going to look.”
“No, you’re not because you are leaving and so is Matt.” I stated crossing my arms loosely.
“What about Andrew.” Matt protested.
I shrugged. “He can stay if he wants.”
“How is that fair?”
“He likes dicks not tits, now get out.”
Everyone chuckled before Dom grabbed Matt and shoved him towards the door. Matt groaned.
“Oh come on, are you telling me no one has seen you in a bra before?”
“Oh yes, plenty of people, but you aren’t among those people.”
“Plenty of people?” Dominic asked and his voice sounded similar to a growl than an actual human voice. He turned towards me, but Matt dragged him out before he could say anything else.
I rolled my eyes and sat down again before staring at Andrew.
“You better be gay because if I do this and then find out later on that you are straight I’m going to be very angry.”
He chuckled raising his hands defensively. “I really am.”
I glared at him trying to see if I could see any hint that he was lying before looking at Dom’s Dad again.
“Ok, now what.”
“Why have plenty of people seen you in a bra dear?” Dom’s Mum suddenly asked me as I reached for the hem of the t-shirt.
I rolled my eyes. “I was joking, no one has, well except probably my Mum.”
She smiled seeming satisfied by my answer, but the moment I pulled my t-shirt off her smile vanished as she took in the bruises splattered all over my ribs.
“Shit.” Andrew murmured.
Dom’s Dad didn’t seem at all bothered by it, but then I guessed if he had been a Doctor then he had most likely seen a lot worse. I lay down on the couch after he instructed me to with my head on Andrew’s lap.
“How do we do this?” I asked.
“I need you to close your eyes and try not to feel this because it’s going to hurt.”
I swallowed. “Thanks, but I’d rather deal with the pain, if I close my eyes I’ll only think about things I’d rather not.”
He hesitated before nodding and pressing his fingers against my ribs. I flinched and tears stung my eyes before they started to run down my face, but I held in the scream that wanted to escape my throat. Andrew grabbed my hand and he didn’t even object when I squeezed his hand so tightly that it was probably going numb. It felt like hours later, but it must have only been a few minutes when he pulled his hand away from my ribs.
“Take slow deep breaths Cayla.” Mr Lewis told me.
I did as he told me and it wasn’t long before my breathing returned to normal.
“You ok?” He asked.
I nodded and sat up slowly before pulling my t-shirt on quickly and wrapping my arms around myself as if to push the pain away. Dom’s Mum sat next to me and started rubbing my back gently and it was difficult to hold more tears back as memories of my Mum doing the exact same thing when I was upset flooded my mind.
“Good news is they aren’t broken so no lung piercing, but they are cracked so they will take time to heal and they are going to be painful for a while.”
I stared at him in shock for a minute before I yelled unable to contain my anger. “You’re telling me you just put me through agony so you could tell me they were painful? Are you kidding me?”
Matt and Dominic burst in the room then before Dom explained. “We heard yelling.”
“You bought me to get my ribs checked out and all I got was they are going to be painful Dominic! What sort of diagnosis is that?”
Mr Lewis seemed amused before he said. “Calm down Cayla, I had to make sure that your ribs weren’t broken, it wasn’t pointless.”
Matt, Andrew and Dom were shaking with silent laughter.
“This isn’t funny!” I insisted stamping my foot.
“Oh, come on leave the poor girl alone.” His Mum insisted.
“Thank you.” I said. “And now I’m going home.”
Before I could reach the door Dom stepped in front of me.
I groaned. “Oh come on, I did what you asked as pointless as it was.”
“Do you really have to go home?”
“Yes.” I insisted. “No move or I’ll just jump out the window.”
“I think she’s serious.” Matt chuckled.
“I am, now move.”
“Fine, but can I drive you?”
I tensed up a bit and ground my teeth together before remembering that they knew everything anyway. “No cars.” I mumbled.
“You don’t go in cars?” He asked.
I shrugged. “Not unless I have to. Now I am going to walk home. Are you moving, or am I using the window?”
His Mum chuckled. “I like her.”
Dom glared at his Mum before saying. “Fine, I’ll walk you.”
“Ok, bye everyone and thank you for your doctoring Mr Lewis.”
He chuckled. “No problem, but I think you can call me Mark outside of school hours now.”
I smiled. “Ok then, bye Mark and Mrs Lewis.”
“Call me Denise.” She insisted.
“Bye Denise and I’ll see you tomorrow Andrew and Matt. Oh and Mark, I’ll see you tomorrow too.”
“No you won’t, I told you bed rest.” He objected.
“Nope ribs aren’t broken so no bed rest.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
I grinned. “I know, but it’s what I said. Come on Dom.” I called before making my escape via the front door.
“I thi
nk my parents like you.” Dom said on the way back to my house.
I snorted. “I basically told your Dad his doctoring skills sucked and your Mum just feels sorry for me.”
He sighed. “True and true, but that doesn’t mean they don’t like you.”
I paused then. “Why did we just leave Andrew and Matt at your house?”
He shrugged. “They are staying the night, you were invited, but you insisted on going home.”
“I have to.” I mumbled.
We walked in silence for a few minutes before I looked around. “I wonder where my black cat is.”
Dom smirked. “Your black cat huh? I thought you found him”
I shrugged. “Well I figured he’s mine, he follows me all the time.”
“Is that right?”
I nodded. “It’s like a stalker cat or something.”
He chuckled. “I’m sure he’s not stalking you.”
There were another few minutes of silence before we reached the apartment building where he grabbed my shoulder and turned me towards him.
“You know what happened wasn’t your fault right?”
I looked away from him, but he put a hand under my chin and turned my face back towards his making my skin tingle.
“It isn’t your fault and I for one am glad that you didn’t die.”
I sighed. “He was three years old Dom, he should have survived, not me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that Cayla, I wish both of you and your parents had survived, I wish you hadn’t had to suffer so much loss.”
“I feel like I don’t deserve to have people like you, Matt and Andrew in my life. I’ve only been here a week and you guys make me feel like I’ve known you forever.”
He smiled and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “You deserve to have people who treat you good Cayla. As much as you don’t want to believe it, it’s true and I hope that you’ll realise that someday.”
I closed my eyes and looked at the ground cutting off the warmth his touch had sent through me. “I should go inside.”
He sighed. “Ok, take care of yourself. If you need anything call one of us.”
I nodded and he kissed the top of my hair gently before letting me walk inside.
My ribs throbbed and once again I was thankful to the elevator. I really hoped that my Uncle would be in bed by now passed out from too much drink yet again. Luckily the soft sound of his snoring as I walked past his bedroom door confirmed that he was.
Feeling dirty after walking around in the woods for so long I stripped off my clothes and took a quick shower. It was difficult to ignore the pain in my ribs, but I tried as hard as I could. I dried my hair before pulling on a too big t-shirt and lying down on the bed. Sighing I closed my eyes remembering the feel of Dom’s warm hands against my skin. I didn’t want to have feelings for someone when I knew how much losing them could hurt.
Despite being determined not to feel anything for him, for the first time since the accident I drifted to sleep and found myself dreaming about Dom instead of having the nightmare that I thought would be haunting my sleep forever.
Chapter 5
Lack of oxygen woke me up suddenly; I couldn’t breathe around the tightening in my throat. Trying to draw in my breath I snapped my eyes open to see the eyes of my Uncle staring straight back at me. It took a moment for my sleep fogged brain to put two and two together and realise that my Uncle’s hand was around my throat. Panic ran through my body and I began to struggle against his iron hold. Kicking outwards I managed to hit him between the legs sending him stumbling away from me.
I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and launched myself across the bed, I had to get away from him he had tried to kill me this time. My ribs were killing me and running was painful, but I just about managed to make it out of my bedroom when my Uncle recovered and started after me. Pressing the contacts on my phone I clicked Andrew’s number as his name was the first one on my list. My Uncle grabbed my foot and I tripped letting out a scream as I tumbled to floor, at the same moment Andrew picked up the phone when it fell out of my hand.
“Cayla?” He asked sleepily.
I tried to reach it, but my Uncle was dragging me towards him.
“Let me go!” I screamed kicking at his hands.
“Cayla?” I heard Andrew’s voice again and this time he sounded more alert.
I finally broke the grip he had on my foot before scrambling to my feet, grabbing my phone and running down the hallway. Opening the apartment door I slammed it behind me before leaning against it as I tried to take deep breaths.
“Hello?” I panted into the phone.
“Cayla, what’s going on?” He asked sounding panicked and I heard shouts in the background.
“He tried to kill me.” I gasped. “Meet me out front ple-“ My sentence broke off into a scream when my Uncle barged the door slamming it open on me before I hit the opposite wall.
I glanced at his face to see him fuming with anger. Completely uncaring of the fact that all I was wearing was a t-shirt I ran to the elevator and pressed the ground floor button repeatedly.
“Come on!” I yelled at it and surprisingly they closed just in time for my Uncle to smash into the doors face first.
It was a few moments before I heard the faint sound of Andrew’s voice on my phone so I lifted it back to my ear.
“Hello?”
He sounded relieved then he replied. “We are on our way, are you ok?”
“I’m fine.” I breathed, but my eyes widened as the elevator doors opened and I came face to face with my Uncle again. “Oh, shit.”
How had he moved down the stairs that fast? He charged towards me in the elevator, but I moved to the side resulting in him running straight into the back of the elevator. Before he could turn around I ran out of the elevator, past the wide eyed receptionist and out of the building into the cold night air.
At the sound of a car I looked in that direction, but seconds later the wind was knocked out of me and my ribs screamed in protest as my Uncle smashed into me at full force and pinned me against the apartment building by the throat.
I heard the faint sound of girls giggling, but I thought that was just my fuzzy head hearing things as it was starved of the oxygen it so desperately needed at that moment. Lifting my hands up I tried to pry his fingers off of my neck and kick outwards, but my feeble efforts didn’t do a lot. I was sure I was about to pass out when I felt his grip suddenly loosen and I sunk to the ground panting.
It took me a moment to recover enough to find Dom towering over my Uncle in anger. I had one glimpse of his face once again certain I had seen yellow eyes there, but that wasn’t important at the moment he looked like he was about to kill my Uncle.
I stumbled and grabbed Dom’s hand to pull him away.
“Dom don’t, it’s not his fault. Don’t hurt him”
My Uncle got to his feet and it looked like it took a lot of effort on Dom’s part to take a step away from him. I let out a relieved breath and only then noticed Andrew, Matt and Mark close by. Shaking my head I looked away from them to stop myself from freaking out after I saw yellow eyes similar to what I had imagined Dom’s were like.
Suddenly there was a scream and I looked towards my Uncle who had somehow got hold of a knife and had Maddy in his arms with the knife pressed against her throat.
“Uncle, let her go please.” I said stepping towards him.
Dom grabbed my hand, but I shook him off.
“Cayla, don’t, do you really think she would help you if the roles were reversed.” Andrew hissed at me.
“That’s one of the reasons that I’m nothing like her.” I murmured before taking another step towards him.
“Uncle, let her go.”
“This is your fault you bitch!” Maddy hissed at me. “Your whole family is crazy!”
“Shut the hell up.” I yelled at her losing my patience.
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth again.
“Say one
more thing Maddy and I’ll walk away from here and let you die.”
She paled and her mouth closed slowly.
I took another step towards him. “Uncle, let her go, it’s me you want not her.”
“My son is gone, the world deserves to pay!” He yelled.
I shook my head. “No, it doesn’t. The world didn’t kill your son.”
His grip loosened on Maddy a bit. “It didn’t, who did then?”
I swallowed. “I don’t know, I’ll help you find them.”
His grip tightened again and he yelled. “No, that’s not good enough, I need them now.”
“Ok, ok, I’ll tell you the truth. I killed your son ok?”
Dom groaned behind me, but I ignored him taking another step towards my Uncle.
“It was my fault, if it wasn’t for me Toby would still be alive. Now let go of Maddy, she’s innocent in this.”
He hesitated. “Well, maybe I should kill the people you love, like you did to me.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Trust me, I don’t even love her a little bit, just let her go.”
The minute he removed the knife from her neck I grabbed Maddy’s hand and shoved her behind me.
“Now, give me the knife Uncle.”
He shook his head. “I need to kill someone you love.”
I gave a hollow laugh. “The minute I felt the pain of the loss of everyone in the accident I cut off my feelings deciding it hurt too much to lose the people you love. You won’t find anyone I love to kill. They are already dead. Please just give me the knife.”
I held out my hand towards him, my Uncle looked lost for a moment and I thought he was going to give in. Before I could even blink my arm was grabbed and I felt the cut of a knife pressed against my throat. I groaned, I was so damn tired, it was the middle of the night and I just felt exhausted. Why the hell did Maddy have to be walking around in the dark?
“Uncle, what are you doing now?” I sighed.
“Since you don’t love anyone, I’m going to have to settle for killing you.”
“You’re really going to kill you’re only remaining family?” I asked.
Everyone was tense as they stared at us silently.
“I have to kill you, you killed him.” He insisted shaking me and making me wince as the knife cut into my neck slightly.
One Of The Enemy (Hidden Descendant Series, Book 1) Page 5
