"Is Makenzie here?" I give her no time to make niceties.
"What?"
"Makenzie? Is she with you?" I try to stop myself from pushing the door open so I can look for myself.
"Come in please." She holds the door open and walks away while still talking to us. "She was here but I think she went home with her friend afterward."
"How long ago was that?" Kane is the one who asks this time.
"Probably about an hour or so ago. She asked me to give you this back." She holds out the ring I put on Makenzie's finger while she was lying in the hospital bed. I stare at it and try to figure out why it seems so wrong that it’s not on her hand any longer.
"I realize you can't remember much from the time you were in the coma but I do wish you would remember the connection you have with Makenzie. It was strong enough to keep you anchored to her while you haunted her, it should be strong enough for you to realize what she is to you now."
What is she talking about? Normally I would call her a freak and walk the other way but something about what she says makes me want to understand more, makes me want to try to remember why. "Haunted?"
She nods, "Mmm, you were so attached to her that when I first came to see her, you were right by her side. She told me you would stay with her at night when she slept in the round room at the top of the tower."
Round room at the top of the tower? That's my room. She slept in my room? Like she felt it too. This string connecting me to her seems to have always been there.
"She said it's the first place the two of you ever...,"
Her words fade as I think about our firsts. The first place...I ever...tasted her. How the hell can I tell what she tastes like if I've never met her before? Celeste's words fade away as memories of being wrapped around the tiny blonde with the curls that bounce around her face when she's excited or I push myself against her when she's cumming bombard me.
My little doll. The woman who woke me up with a kiss and who accepted me when I was...nothing -literally nothing because I couldn't touch anything...except her. The memory of the flavor of her bursts on my tongue and sets a fire inside my belly, "I have to find her!"
"Oh good, you remember!"
I do remember but is it too late to make it up to my little doll? Can I reach her in time to keep her safe from my own fucking brother?
Chapter Twelve
____________
Makenzie
Another knock comes about an hour later when we've drunk at least one more rum drink. Talia rolls her eyes and heads for the door. If this is another welfare check they really need to communicate better with each other.
Before she can make it all the way to the door, it's kicked in and an angry-looking man steps into the room. He shoves Talia out of his way, knocking her against the wall where she hits her head hard before sliding down to the floor.
"Talia!" I start to run towards her but the man aims a gun right at me, stopping me in my tracks. The last thing I want is for him to shoot at me and hit Talia by accident. I've already gotten her hurt.
"You stupid bitch! I had everything going just the way I wanted and you had to fuck it all up!" I have a pretty good guess who is currently standing in the room with me. He's tried to hide his face with a ski mask but I recognize his voice from when he walked me through the house. "You had to fuck it all up!" he repeats it like it's hard for him to believe.
He doesn't look anything like his brother. Where Sterling is tall and commanding, this man is short and square-ish. He’s not impressive at all and if we were out on a street I wouldn't look twice at him. His eyes are all wrong too. They're small and beady like a rat's instead of warm and electric like Sterling.
"I...I don't know what you’re talking about...Emery."
He rips the mask off his head. "Why? Why did you stick your stupid nose where it didn't belong, you dumb cunt!? You had the house - why would you fuck it all up?" he waves the gun at me with a little too much ease for my comfort. He looks like a man who knows how to use the weapon and doesn't give a damn if something happens -like it going off accidentally and hitting me before he's ready. "Why would you fuck over a good thing?!"
Surely someone has to have heard him break down the door and start screaming. The only real question is whether the police will make it here in time to stop him from shooting me or is it too late? I have to think of something -some way to stall. Even with everything that's happened I don't want to just accept my demise and be done with life.
"Because...because it's the right thing to do...and because....I love him!"
Who cares if Emory knows how I feel about his brother? If this is the end then at least I can die knowing that I told one person how I feel. At least I said it out loud once even if it’s not to the man I really need to tell it to.
"Love him?! Love him?!" His voice rises every time he says it. "You’ve never even met him. You two don't know each other - he doesn't care who you are! Your just some bitch who squatted in his house for a few weeks. You're nothing to him. He could care less if you live or die!"
His words hurt. They hit too close to home to not hurt. Especially when Sterling woke up and forgot everything we had together. It was like it never even happened, except for me.