Sixteen
Player
“Follow me,” I said as I leaned down and whispered in my brother’s ear before heading upstairs to my bedroom, eager to check on Layla. Since she had been found, she hadn’t said a single word. She just laid there staring at the ceiling, the walls, out the window, you name it. Every time I tried to talk to her, she would close her eyes drifting off into someplace unknown.
The only time I heard anything out of her was when she was sleeping. Only then, when she was unguarded, did her nightmares take over. Too many nights, I was awakened to her screams, pleas for help, begging anyone to save her. Whatever happened during her captivity was so horrendous that it even made me shiver.
Closing the door behind us, my brother whispered, “What’s going on?”
“We need to get Layla out of here. We can’t tell anyone where we’re going. Only you and I will know.”
“Is this because of Kitty’s letter?”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. I knew that Reaper had called church earlier, but I refused to leave Layla alone until I knew she was sleeping. Only when Reaper sent me a text and ordered me to the basement did I go. Typically, Healer left me to care for Layla since it seemed no one could get close to her without her freaking out. Healer said she imprinted or some shit like that. Since I was the only, she would allow to touch her, her care became my priority.
“I wasn’t there for the letter, remember. All I know is that Reaper wants Layla gone from the compound. He wants her hidden, and he doesn’t want to know where we take her. All he asked is that wherever we go, she needs to be protected 24/7.”
“Well,” Massacre rubbed the back of his neck. “Where are we gonna take her?”
“Home.”
“Well, the house isn’t set up for her, but we could make it work. Would give us time to work on it.”
“Not our house. Home. I want to take her home.”
“Are you fucking crazy!” Massacre shouted, then quickly lowered his voice. “We can’t take her there. Do you know what would happen if he found out who she really is? And that’s just her. If we step one foot in Chicago, he said he would kill us.”
“No, he won’t. Besides, I can’t think of a better place to hide her. No one will think to look for us there. No one knows our past but us, Dwayne. We kept it hidden for a reason, and I still agree, that was the best option, but now it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. Besides, my gut is telling me we may need his help.”
“No, we don’t. That’s why we left in the first place. Besides, Mom isn’t going to be happy with us if we show up unannounced. You know she’s all about her appearances and parties.”
I knew this was going to be a hard sell. But it was the only place on earth that I could think of where Layla would be protected and safe. Yes, I was taking her straight into the lion’s den, but no one in their right mind would ever think to look for any of us there. It was the perfect place. Now, I just had to sell my brother on that, because I couldn’t go back there without him. Something to do with that all for one and one for all crap. “I wasn’t planning on taking her to Mom’s.”
The second those words left my mouth, I knew my brother would rebel.
It was his nature.
He didn’t think reasonably.
Nope, where I thought things through, my brother preferred bruit force. We couldn’t be more different if we tried.
“No,” Massacre shook his head. “No. No. No.”
“Oh yes,” I grinned, my mind made up.
I knew going home was the only logical thing to do. Reaper wanted Layla hidden and safe. Well, taking her home would achieve that. I was basically killing two birds with one stone.
“And just how in the hell do expect us to get into Chicago, get to the compound, make it through the damn gates and into the main house without being killed? Because from where I am standing, I don’t see us surviving once we leave the airport. That’s why we never go on runs to Chicago. We avoid that place at all cost.”
“I’ll call him.”
Massacre laughed. “You’ll call him? And what? You’re just going to pick up the phone and say, hey, man, kind of in a jam, care to help me out?”
“Well,” I muttered, then whispered, “Yeah.”
“You’re fucking crazy, you know that, Reginald. First off, he will answer the phone because he’s a polite bastard like that, but his words will be anything but cordial. Then, if you even get the chance to speak, he will laugh at you before hanging up on your ass. Trust me, Reggie, he won’t let us come back home.”
“Yes, he will,” I grinned. “Because we have something he’s always wanted.”