CHAPTER SIX
Bryce
I held Emily as she cried. I rubbed her back as I whispered reassurances to her. Seeing her like this made my chest tighten. But I also felt angry at her parents. I had always hated them and how they controlled Emily and now I felt that rage return. I knew they were insane but weaponizing one daughter’s disappearance to control the other was on a completely different level.
Emily’s sobs slowly subsided, but she didn’t try to move from my arms. Instead, she leaned against my chest. “I’m sorry for losing it on you,” she said. “I’ve made a mess of your shirt.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said firmly. “Never apologize for this.” I rubbed circles on her back. Despite the circumstances, I enjoyed having her in my arms. I was glad I gave her some sort of comfort.
“You know, after Julie disappeared, my parents didn’t want me to leave the house for anything except school and extracurriculars,” I said. “They drove me to everything and chaperoned every event to keep me in their sights. Any time I asked for a little freedom– even going to the movies with friends– they reminded me of Julie. They told me the Demons would get me like they did Julie and that I must not have cared about Julia at all if I wasn’t willing to learn from her carelessness.”
“That’s all a bunch of bullshit,” I said. “It doesn’t even make sense.”
“It doesn’t matter if it made sense or not. They told it to me over and over until I believed it. And they knew… they knew she had run away the entire time.” She pulled away from me and wiped her face. “Let’s get out of here. There’s nothing left here.”
I nodded and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
I led the way downstairs. We were almost down when I heard the sound of cracking wood and Emily’s soft gasp. I turned just in time for her foot to fall through the stair. I grabbed her waist to hold her up. She looked at me with wide eyes. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve got you.” Gently, I helped her out of the broken step. Without hesitating, I lifted her up in my arms and carried her down the rest of the steps. Once we were at the bottom, I set her down carefully. “Can you stand?” I asked. “Does your foot hurt?”
She took a couple of experimental steps. “No, I’m okay. I think it just got a little scraped up. And it startled me.” She looked at me and chuckled slightly.
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s just somehow you’ve changed so much since middle school but at the same time, you’re the same person.”
I smiled a little. “I hope the changes are good.”
She nodded. “You seem happier and surer of yourself. But you’re still so protective of others.”
“Protective?” That surprised me. “You always thought I was protective?”
“At least you were around me.” She looked down, blushing. “You know, you were the reason no one bothered me at school. One of the school bullies told me that later. Even though I dressed like a prude and spent my break times studying instead of talking to people, no one bullied me because they thought you would kick their ass if they tried.”
“They’re right,” I said. “I would have hurt everyone who hurt you.” I grabbed her hand gently. I wasn’t sure why I did but it just felt right. “Did it get bad for you after I was taken away?”
She shrugged. “Bullies came out of the woodwork, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I was more worried about you in juvie.”
“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” I reached up to brush a strand of her hair out of her face. Part of me expected her to jerk away in surprise but she didn’t.
“Do you regret it?” she asked. “Do you regret getting into that fight?”
‘Fight’ wasn’t the right word for it. I had beat one of my classmates, Steve, into a pulp. I barely remember doing it because I was so enraged, but they went over the injuries at the trial. Broken ribs, broken collarbone, fractured nose, and a major concussion. I had done a number on him. “I don’t regret it,” I said. “I wish it didn’t take me away from you, but there was no other way that could have played out.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why did you get into the fight?”
My jaw clenched as I remembered. “Steve was getting recruited by the Demons,” I said. “I heard him talking on the phone with them in the bathroom. Apparently, they wanted him to break the law and send them proof to make sure he wouldn’t ever betray them. So, he told them what he was going to do, and I overheard everything. He was going to attack you…hurt you. Said he had been wanting to do it anyway and this was just a good excuse. He talked about it in detail.” I felt a little sick even remembering it. “Something inside of me snapped and I just started hitting him over and over. All I could think about was making sure he wasn’t capable of hurting you or anyone else.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t I ever know about this?” she asked. “I know I never talked about you but I watched your trial on TV. Why didn’t it come up?”
“I never told anyone,” I said. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Everyone knew the police were in the Demon’s pocket. Besides, if it got back to your parents that a dangerous troublemaker like me cared about you and was spending time with you, then they might have punished you.”
She bit her lip. “You spent so much time protecting me. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to protect me so much.”
“I wanted to protect you. Emily, you were the only good thing in my life.” I realized I was leaning down, my lips mere inches from hers. Her eyes lowered to look at them, but she wasn’t moving away from me. Would she really let me kiss her? Why the fuck would she want someone like me to kiss her?
My phone rang before I could go through with it and I pulled away, muttering a swear. “I’m sorry,” I said, turning away. “I have to take this.”
It was Chase. I answered the phone immediately. “Hello?”