Play Me

by Ivy Knight

  "Wiped me out of existence, huh?"

  "I guess you can word it like that, but even then, it took a big toll on Dean and Anthony. They changed."

  "I think my death helped them, they were too soft then."

  "But you can't say you didn't love them the way they used to be."

  "I did love them. They were amazing brothers to me, but that softness was a weakness for the both of them. It would never help them in the field."

  "The Summer I knew would say that a little softness never killed anyone," he shakes his head.

  "She was also a kid who was never allowed out of her house alone. I only interacted with people I was allowed to talk to. Since when did you get so... bluh?"

  "Bluh? Really?"

  "Well that's how your words make me feel, okay?" I get up and take the bowl of peels dumping them in the garbage and wash the bowl. "Whatever. Forget about it and just tell me if you're going to the party tonight."

  "I am."

  "Is it formal?"

  "Yes."

  "What's the celebration even for?"

  "Your uncle and aunt's twenty-fifth anniversary," he informs.

  "Summer!" my head snaps to the door.

  "Amelia! Dakota! You're here!" I yell. Both of them sprint and enclose me in a tight hug.

  "Oh, guys," I wince as I feel the pain on every single wound still healing on my body.

  "Sorry," they both speak in unison. "How are you?"

  "I'm good."

  "You know we only left you for two weeks? I can't believe all of this happened."

  "I know, right? You missed all the fun," I claim joking.

  "Don't worry. We're back now and we're not leaving," Dakota says.

  Graham clears his throat gaining my attention. He lifts his empty bowl and I figure out that he's trying to get to the sink. I shove Amelia and Dakota to the side giving him room.

  "Guys this is-"

  "Graham?" Amelia finishes for me.

  Hearing her voice, Gram turns around. His forehead creases at first, but as soon as he realizes something, his eyes widen.

  "Amelia?"

  "Yeah," Amelia nods.

  "You guys know each other?"

  "Yeah, yeah we've... we've met before."

  "Really, how?"

  "It's not important. You live here?" the question is directed towards Graham from Amelia.

  "I crash here sometimes," he explains.

  "So you work for The White Dragons."

  Graham hesitates but nods. His eyes are glued to Amelia's unimpressed expression.

  "Mh," Amelia says. "Where's Alec?"

  "Uh- he... he's on the third floor, west wing," I inform. "Sixth door to the left."

  "Okay, I'm just gonna go see him. You wanna come along, Dakota?"

  "Sure," Dakota looks between Amelia and I.

  "Do you wanna freshen up or eat something first? It was a long flight."

  "No, we're good," Amelia answers for both herself and Dakota. Without much warning, she takes Dakota outside with her.

  I turn to Graham and find him standing still under some deep thoughts. I wave my hand in front of his eyes, but he doesn't budge.

  "Graham? Hey!" he snaps out of his haze. "What was that about?"

  "What was that about what?" he speaks gibberish. "Dude, I gotta go. I'm late for this meeting."

  "What meeting?"

  "This meeting for this thing with this person," he speaks fast as he walks away. "Bye!"

  "Well, that wasn't at all odd," I mumble.

  "Whatever," I huff. Looking at the time on the stove, I have four more hours until we have to leave for the party. Two and a half before I have to start getting ready.

  Since I didn't get to ask Dakota and Amelia if they want to come to the party with me, I head upstairs to talk them. On my way there, I look into Kai's room.

  His whole body shaking, I open his door.

  "Why did you do it?" he yells.

  "Kai?" I run up to him.

  "Why are you doing this to me!"

  "Kai! It's me, Summer. Kai," I try to hold him down, but the machines connected to his heart, start beeping loudly.

  I pull out my phone. Through his yelling, the doctor picks up the phone and I speak.

  "Kai's stuck in some sort of nightmare, I can't get him out."

  "I'll be right there," he says. I end the call and try to talk to Kai.

  "Kai, hey! I-it's me, open your eyes," I urge. I cup his face and make his head turn in my direction. "Look at me!"

  His eyes open. The beeping of the machines, lowers as he keeps his eyes intact with mine.

  "I'm here, Kai. It was just a dream."

  I watch as his irises shed the dark colour and become lighter.

  "G-get out," I hear him speak through the oxygen mask.

  "Kai," I sigh.

  His hands lift, ripping mine away from his face. He takes off his oxygen mask.

  "Kai, don't."

  "Get, out," he breathes sternly.

  "Kai, I'm-"

  "Get out!" he yells with all his force. He takes a gasp of air and puts his oxygen mask on finding it hard to breathe.

  His chest expands and compresses as he tries to catch his breath. I stand there foolishly unaware on how to respond.

  This isn't even about me, it's about him and he's still refusing my help.

  He doesn't want you, Summer.

  I feel the sweat in my palms grow and my eyes blur with tears. His head pivots to the other side avoiding to look at me.

  I clear my throat and exit the room. I'm not causing him more pain. If he doesn't want me near him, then I'll comply with his wishes.

  And that's a lot more than what he's ever given me.

  "K -Kai's awake," I inform standing at the door of Cole and Alec's room.

  "He is?"

  "Yeah, he... he doesn't want me there so if one of you could just stay with him until the doctor gets here, it'd be a lot of help."

  I finally find the courage to look up through my teary eyes.

  "Amelia and Dakota, my room is on the floor above, east wing. Third door on the right. Just meet me up there in a couple of minutes?"

  "Yeah, uh -sure," Dakota answers.

  "Thanks," I force a smile and head to my room.

  Get yourself together, Summer.

  I enter the guest bedroom that I'm staying in and lie down on my bed. I reach for the pillow and press it against my face as I scream into it.

  I knew he wouldn't talk to me. I just fucking knew it. I should've never kept my hopes up.

  I throw the pillow to the side and put my hands on my face blocking the light from eyes.

  "Fuck!" I yell. "Ugh!"

  I hear a soft knock on the door. Sitting up, I blink several times trying to dry the tears clean. Using the back of my sleeve, I wipe my cheeks and voice for the person to come in.

  Both Amelia and Dakota enter. They take light steps and hold gentle expressions on their face.

  "You wanted to talk?" Amelia speaks first. Both of them stand in front of me and I look up at them.

  "Uh..." I try to remember what I needed to talk to them about "Oh, yeah. My uncle and aunt are having their twenty-fifth anniversary celebration tonight and my father wants me to go with the rest of the family. I was hoping one of you would like to come along."

  "Sure, sounds like fun," Dakota smiles.

  "I think I'll skip this one," Amelia says sounding a little exhausted.

  "Is it about what happened between you and Graham?"

  "No, it's about this," she lifts up her shirt and I see a bandage soaked in fresh blood.

  "What happened?" I gasp.

  "The Russian's were onto us. When we received Alec's call a couple days back, Amelia was still in the hospital. That's why it took us a while to come here," Dakota explains.

  "The stitches opened on the way here," Amelia adds.

  "Well, the doctor's coming so I'll get him to check up you too."

  "Thanks," her lips form a
thin line as she takes a seat on the bed and puts her feet up. Her back leans against the headboard as she closes her eyes. "I think I lost a lot of blood, I feel really tired."

  "Most likely. There's painkillers in the drawer next to you and water right on top as well," I mention getting up from the bed. "I'll tell the doctor to meet you in here. Until then, Dakota and I are going to head to her room and get ready for this thing. Do you mind if I go through some of your clothes and pick something out?"

  "No, just don't touch my cash."

  "Gotcha," I smile. "If you need anything, there's a phone right there and a list of numbers. You can call for food or anything you could possibly want. You can talk to Alec or Cole as well."

  "Okay, thanks Summer."

  "Welcome," I say before taking Dakota's hand and heading out.

  We walk a couple of steps down to reach Dakota's room.

  "Why didn't you tell me she was shot?" I question Dakota as she takes her suitcase and puts it on the bed.

  "All of you had tons on your plate to worry about and anyways, she's alive," Dakota shrugs. She throws the hood of her suitcase back and starts going through her clothes. "So, what do you think, periwinkle or something darker?"

  "Darker," I reply. I stand next to her and go through her clothes.

  "Oh, this'll look gorgeous on you," I pick up a dark blue velvet dress. It's a full sleeve dress that ends probably halfway down her thighs. It's simple, but the the low front with strings gives it just the perfect amount of detail.

  "I actually love this dress and Amelia has one just one like it in black, you could wear that. It's paired with a choker and doesn't have the low stringy front. It's flat cut, full sleeve," Dakota says as she picks up Amelia's suitcase.

  She hunts through her clothes and pulls out the black dress she was telling me about.

  "Oh, wow," I look at the dress with puppy eyes wondering why I don't own it myself. "I'll take it."

  "Okay," Dakota laughs.

  "So how much time do we have?" she queries.

  "We're supposed to be ready by seven."

  "Oh, it's only four we have plenty of time."

  "No, we actually don't. I gotta shave my legs and take a shower."

  "You weren't expecting to go out, were you?"

  "Not at all," I say as I head to the bathroom. "Don't mind me using your bathroom."

  Chapter 47

  "Dang, we look good," Dakota hoots as we look ourselves over in the full-length mirror.

  "Haha, yes we do," I smile. I look at the white bandage on my collarbone and groan. "Really hate this though."

  "Think of it as an accessory."

  "It's an ugly accessory."

  "Can't argue with you on that," she admits sheepishly.

  "Thanks," I sarcastically reply.

  "You know the dark hair really suits you. Welcome back to the brunette club."

  "Haha, thanks," I laugh.

  The dress fits perfectly around my body. As someone who works out, I have a curvier figure than most would. I get it from my mom and couldn't thank her more for it.

  Since I'm back to being Summer, I decided that I should start letting my natural features show and not hide under a fake appearance. I really did hate being blonde. Not to say that blondes are horrible, I just hated how the blonde hair automatically made people believe that I'd be dumb. That isn't true and I don't know why people still use it as a joke.

  Honestly, I would be rich if I got a penny for every time someone cracked a dumb blonde joke on me.

  "Ready to go?" Dakota asks.

  "Yup," I say as I touch up my nude lipstick. Dakota told me to go with black for the lip colour, but that's a little too bold for me. "Let's go."

  As we head out, I grab a small black side purse with a gold chain and hang it on my shoulder. My hair straightened and all brushed back, I push any lose strands behind my shoulders as we walk down to the main floor. Despite my protest, Dakota managed to persuade me into wearing black laced heels. The clicking of the heels, as we walk, makes my ears hurt, but I manage to grow to the sound after a while.

  As we walk down the last flight of stairs, I see Vince with his friend Rob, Dean with Zeke and Anthony with Felix, Lane, Graham and Calliste. All of them are either busy on their phones or talking to each other, so they don't notice us as we approach.

  "Everyone ready to go?" my father walks in through the front door.

  "We're just waiting for Summer," I hear Dean reply. Father furrows his eyebrows when his eyes meet mine through the crowd.

  "She's right there," my father answers. Not only Dean, but everyone turns around looking at Dakota and I.

  "Ho -ly," Lane breathes out.

  "Shit," Felix comments.

  "Fuck," Calliste loosens his tie.

  "What are you wearing?" Anthony makes his way out of the crowd and stands in front of me. His head tilts down and slowly rises as he carefully assesses what I'm wearing with disapproval.

  "It's a dress."

  "I know it's a dress and you, are a kid who should not be wearing clothes like this," he states.

  "In other words," Dean takes a stance next to Anthony. "Woman don't dress like sluts in this house."

  "Except for the whores, you bring home every night," I correct ending with a forced smile. When his features darken with anger, I look at Dean with a bored expression. My eyes hover past him finding father. "We're ready to go!"

  I take Dakota's hand and try to walk past Dean, but he stops us.

  "No, we're not. You need to go change and it's an order."

  "Let go of me," I demand looking him in the eyes.

  "Go, and change," he restates letting go of my arm.

  "Get the cars out, I'm ready to go," I word without taking my eyes off of Dean.

  "Summer," he turns his whole body.

  "Let it go, bro," Graham steps in.

  "It's between me and my sister, Graham. Step back," Dean warns. Graham looks at me sympathetically as he takes a step back from Dean. "Summer, I have no problem dragging your ass back into your room and keeping you locked in their until you change."

  "It's not the clothes, Dean. It's about who I am and what my body can do. Should I rip White off my name? Oh wait, I still have the blood of a White running through my veins. What about a blood transfusion? At least that way it won't be pure. But then I have the features to worry about. My dark eyes and hair, they make me look like mom. Maybe I should get plastic surgery so no one can recognize who I am."

  "Summer."

  "Hello to you too, Dean. I can change my clothes and even wear a bag over my head if that's what you want, but you didn't lose me to a man three years ago because I was wearing slutty clothes. You lost me because of who I am and what I mean to this family. Just because I've grown to wearing dresses that express my love for my body, doesn't mean I'm asking for sex or even attention. So no, I won't change out of my clothes. I'm comfortable in what I'm wearing and if a guy can't keep himself composed, it's really depressing to know that he'll have to suffice with a cold shower tonight. I really don't give a fuck about what you think, so either get out of my way or tell me that I'm not going to the party," I end and wait for him to reply. His shoulders are tense and I can see the anger growing inside him.

  "Get out of the way, Dean," my father says.

  "Pater, how can-"

  "She's right, Dean. Nick didn't come for her because he wanted to hurt her. He wanted to hurt us. What she wears or what she does isn't going to change anyone who already has their mind set on something. If locking her away in the house would help, I would've never asked her to come to this party," my father states.

  Dean doesn't reply, but looks like he's thinking everything through.

  "It's hard to face the fact, but what happened three years ago wasn't my fault," I end. I make sure that my shoulder brushes his aggressively as I walk past him displaying that he isn't the only one who has the right to be angry.

  I head outside with Dakota following. When I see
a whole line of cars parked, I walk up to the first one in line. Dakota doesn't need to be told and takes a seat in the passenger’s seat as I enter the driver's side.

  The key already in, I twist it letting the engine come to life. Noticing that the GPS is already set to the venue, I press down on the pedal and drive out.

  "Are you sure that was a good move?" Dakota asks as she does a shoulder check.

  "They'll know where to find me."

  "Mm," she says pulling on the seat belt. "Your brothers seem protective."

  "Anthony and Dean always were, they're just more protective now."

  "Didn't they refuse to believe you're their sister?"

  "The DNA results came in this morning."

  "That explains it."

  "Eh," I shrug. "They're just making themselves more vulnerable by being so protective over me. I don't want history to repeat itself, so I need them to either hate me, or understand that caring isn't going to help anyone. You know, like you and Alec."

  "Yeah, but that's different. I didn't make him believe that I died for three years. We're always honest with each other no matter what the topic is, because we know we could lose one another at any given moment."

  "Well, it's not like I chose to be kidnapped."

  "But you did choose to not go back home. No matter what the reasoning, they're your family and your decision clearly hurt them."

  "I get that, but-"

  "Summer, sometimes there's just no reasoning that can take away the pain we cause people. I can tell that you're mad, but so are they. Not admitting that you're responsible for their pain and anger, isn't going to help anyone."

  "Okay, then what should I do? I get that my brothers are mad and they have the right to be, but they need to understand why I did what I did. If any one of them were in my place, they would've done what I did."

  "Three years of their life, they spent thinking that you were dead. Realize that time is a big part of our lives and you didn't just take yourself out of the picture, but you made them believe that you were dead. They probably spent three years ripping themselves apart thinking that they're responsible for what happened to you. When you walked back into their lives, it reminded them of all the pain that your fake death caused them. Your death made them into the people they are today and these aren't the people they wanted to be when you were in their lives, I can guarantee you that."