Fear Me (20 page)

I was in the living room searching for my favorite writing pen my aunt bought me on one of her trips when I noticed the corner of something black peeking out from underneath the couch near the side table. I bent to pick up the object, realizing it was an envelope addressed to me.

There was a birthday card inside so I flipped open the card and what I saw caused my heart to stop and I felt gut punched. Inside was a picture of a little girl.

A dead girl.

Her hair was blonde and she looked to be no more than six or seven years old. The edges were ragged and worn from time or rough handling so the picture might have been a few years old. The bleeding hole in her head had me fighting back the need to vomit. I inspected the card but didn’t see any sign of a signature or idea of who the card came from. My mind raced to figure out who the card could have come from and how it got here.

The break in!

It was the only thing that made sense. Since then I have argued over the reasons why someone would break into an occupied house. They did it to leave this note. I searched the picture for a clue but came up empty. I was sure I’d never seen the girl before so why would someone leave me a picture of her corpse?

When a realization centered in my mind the envelope fell from my hand and drifted to the floor. This would mean the break in wasn’t random.
Oh shit.
I picked up the card and flipped it over to inspect the back and read the words that sealed my fate.

This is your only warning.

Regret and nervousness had me looking over my shoulder once again. “I shouldn’t have come. Why did I let you talk me into this?”

“Calm down, Lake. It’s Saturday and it’s just a football game. He probably won’t even be here. But if he tries to bully you we’ll leave, okay?”

How did I tell her that it wasn’t bullying I was worried about? That Keiran was using sex and death threats to torment me now? I agreed to come out here because I owed Willow and I missed her. Besides Keiran said he was going out of town. He didn’t say when he’d be back but I assumed it was for the weekend because I haven’t heard from him since he left me stranded in my house.

The house that had been too quiet and the guilt that was weighing in on me, not to mention the creepy birthday card all also caused me to break out of my cage. The house I shared with my aunt used to be my safe haven, but Keiran had managed to turn that against me as well.

I still haven’t told my aunt about the break in after she called again to check in on me. With her tour, I didn’t want her to worry or worse, cancel, so I put it off for now. Besides, I still believe that if she was gone she was safer where Keiran couldn’t get to her.

“Okay,” I finally replied as we entered the gate. There was no going back now, I thought as I released a heart breath. “But aren’t you avoiding Dash?”

“Yes, but I refuse to let him keep me from living.” Willow was right of course but it wasn’t that simple for me.

Keiran now controls every aspect of my life. Actually he always has. Every decision I’ve ever made for ten years began and ended with how best to avoid him, even though he always found me. Just like I knew he would tonight. I came because I owed Willow. Despite her understanding, I know it hurt her.

The area around the football field was crowded with what seemed to be the entire town as well as surrounding towns. Bainbridge usually had a great turnout because our school’s athletics are the best in the state. I’d only ever been to one game before and that was when Keiran was in juvie and Willow begged me to go with her.

“Do you see the crowd? Maybe you won’t even run into him, if he’s even here.” But what about the hundred or so other people in the past who would run to tell Keiran whenever I was in the vicinity? How did I dodge them all? “Sheldon wants us to meet her at the concession stand. She said it’s urgent,” Willow said looking at her phone with a frown.

It took us a while to maneuver through all the people but we finally made it to the concession stand that was also crowded by people. The smell of popcorn and hot dogs greeted me as we approached. Sheldon was standing there in her green and white cheerleading uniform with a bottle of water in her hand.

“Hey Sheldon.”

She looked up and quickly walked over to us. “Keiran is here and much worse, he knows you’re here. He’s coming for you.”

I stared at her, wordlessly. I wasn’t surprised. I knew this would happen. I didn’t understand it but I wasn’t surprised. “But we just walked in,” Willow stated, looking at me apologetically.

“You know Keiran has his goons posted everywhere. They probably spotted you and called him the moment you stepped foot in the parking lot.”

“I should go,” I finally replied.

“You shouldn’t have come in the first place,” his deep voice said somewhere behind me. Willow and Sheldon jumped in surprise and I slowly turned around to face him. He was in the shadows, leaning against the back of the metal stands and dressed in a red, long-sleeve shirt and black jeans. He looked mouthwatering.

He swaggered over to me, grabbed my elbow, and walked away with me without another word. It took a second for me to realize that it wasn’t to the exit. I looked back, helplessly to see that Keenan and Dash had also appeared out of nowhere.

Keenan looked like he was chewing out Sheldon and I knew it was because she was helping me. Dash had Willow pinned against the wall of the concession side. They were hidden in the shadows but a little glimmer from the stadium lights allowed me to see that he had her hands pinned above her head and he was saying something to her.

They quickly disappeared from sight as we rounded a corner so I focused my attention back on Keiran. His face was set in a hard mask and his shoulders and back was tense as he walked. The sound of the game—
and the witnesses—
seemed far away when he led us a short distance away from the stands.

I immediately noticed his car parked near the back gates as we headed to it.
So that’s why I didn’t see his car.
We reached his car and he walked to the driver’s door, pulling his keys out. “Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you home.”

“What? Why?”

“What did I say to you when I left last night?” he asked instead.

“To stay put.”

“And?”

“You would be back.”

“And did I come back?”

“No.”

“So what do you think you should have done?”
Run far away from you.

“
I don’t know what should I have done?” I asked my voice dripping with bittersweet sarcasm. He gripped my upper arms and hemmed me up against the hood.

“You should have fucking listened,” he whispered against my lips. His unexpected kiss was surprisingly soft yet it still took away all the breath and strength I had, as always. But the pleasure I felt from having his lips devour mine wasn’t real. It was another mind game. One that had lingering effects on my mind and body.

I fought against it, forgetting the consequences of resisting him. A quick bite on my lip and his hand gripping my neck in warning caused me to soften against him with a needy moan. His touch put me on edge but his aggressiveness was what pushed me over.

I liked his kisses and his taste far too much. I shouldn’t like them
at all but that didn’t keep me from standing on my toes so that I could reach more of him. He groaned and pulled me closer, pressing his erection hard against my stomach. I’d forgotten that he was angry with me. We didn’t feel like enemies right now. We felt like lovers.

“You should have listened,” he repeated absently, breaking our kiss just when I was ready to beg for more. “You should have stayed sway…”

His voice sounded strained while his lips trailed down my chin to my neck, biting and sucking. My head fell back, exposing more of my neck in surrender as he continued to bite his way down. When his lips reached my breasts he lifted his head and the cold look in his eyes caught me off guard.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t fuck you right here,” he barked. Before I could respond he flipped me around and pressed my upper body against the hood.

“Someone will see!” I blurted out in a panic, my voice a shriek in the night.

“Let them. I want them to see.”

“Why?” He pulled my hair back from my face and braced his hand on the hood by face.

“Because then they’ll know who owns you,” he whispered in my ear, surprising me with the possessiveness evident in his voice. I almost asked him to repeat it so that I could be sure. He was quiet now but I knew he was watching me. “Why did you come here?” he asked while his other hand ran down my back.

“I wanted to see the game.”

“You wanted to see the game,” he repeated slowly. “Who is playing tonight?” His hand touched my lower back and I could feel his thumb rubbing the dimples I had in my back.

“Piney.”

“Wrong.”

“Uh, Carver.”

“Try again.”

“I don’t know!”

“Why did you just lie to me?”

“Why can’t I be here? There is nothing I could do to you here.”

“Did…you…just…lie to me?”

“I – Willow wanted me to come.” I finally admitted.

“Willow.”

“Yes, my best friend? My
only
friend. Do you remember her?” I knew I was being defiant but didn’t care at moment.

“Yes, I’m starting to remember.” The ice in his tone was unmistakable. “So, you disobeyed me because Willow asked you to?”

Oh shit.
I just remembered that I wasn’t supposed to be friends with Willow anymore. “No that’s not what I meant. We –”

His hands gripped my ass, spreading my legs farther apart before his finger slid into my panties. I started to panic when his finger bypassed my pussy and lingered somewhere forbidden.
No freaking way.
Just when I felt a full panic attack emerging he moved his finger back.

“So explain to me why you’re bent over my car with your ass in the air, about to be fucked, if you didn’t disobey me because Willow asked you to?”

“Because –” his fingers were now at my entrance and the words I would have spoken gave way to a breathy moan.

“I’m waiting.”

“I can’t talk with you…doing that.”

“Doing what? This?” A long finger entered me, followed by another, until he was torturing me with the slow thrust of his thick fingers.

“Please,” I heard the desperation in my own voice as I began moving my hips against him. We both knew what I was begging for.

“Come here,” he said, lifting me up until my back was against his hard chest and I melted into him. The sounds of the game were drowned out by what he was doing to me, making me forget that we were in a public place.
Or I just didn’t care anymore.
“Do you remember what I said would happen if you lied or disobeyed me again?” The ominous threat in his voice was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the fire he built up inside me.

“You said I would be sorry,” I answered, reluctantly.

“That’s right.” He kissed my cheek but it felt cruel. “And you
will
be sorry.”

* * *

The game was drawing to an end with both teams tied. Keiran was standing by the players on the bench talking to a few guys. I noticed they liked to look to him for playing advice and tips even though he wasn’t a football player. It’s amazing the type of admiration he gets around here. But then…I was the only one he was ever cruel to. Sure he’d been in many fights but what guy hasn’t? Still, Keiran was looked up to as some kind of role model and I didn’t understand it.

After he promised to punish me, he walked me over to the stands with an order not to move. I looked around for Willow but didn’t see her in the immediate area. I wasn’t able to call her since Keiran had taken my phone yet again. I did, however, see Dash standing by one of the cheerleaders with his hand on her ass. I shook my head in disgust at him, Keiran, and most of all myself. I knew how they were using her for payback against me still I didn’t warn her away. I really felt as if I didn’t have a choice. I just prayed Willow would forgive me in the end. It was the only way to protect them both.

“Lake?”

My name was called and I instantly recognized the voice followed by a sense of dread.
This day couldn’t get any worse.
I turned my head to the sound of the voice and saw a lanky form with a mop of brown curly hair, wearing a green and blue plaid button up and distressed jeans, standing at the end of the stands. A wide smile spread across his face when my eyes met his.

“Don’t tell me you forgot about me already,” he joked when I continued to stare at him. I knew who it was but I was silently praying it wouldn’t be him.

“Jesse?” I asked, reluctantly thought I didn’t have to.

“You are correct, but I’m hurt.” He placed a hand to his heart and made his way up the bleachers toward me.

“Wh – what are you doing here?”

“You just keep digging the knife in deeper sweetheart. Maybe you should give it a little twist. I missed you too,” he said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, Jesse. You can’t be here. This isn’t a good time.”

I looked around nervously but Keiran’s back was still turned. He was talking to one of the coaches. I didn’t see any of his henchmen anywhere but I couldn’t take that risk, not after how he acted at my job…or rather former job.

“Because of him? Where is he anyway? I’d like to meet him.”

“You can’t!”

“Jeez, Lake. You’re fucking shaking. Did he hurt you?”

“No, Jesse. Just please go. You have to understand.”

“I understand alright. What is he doing to you?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“What do you mean you can’t answer that?” His voice had risen, causing a few people to turn around. If he got any louder Keiran would hear him eventually.

“Lower your voice. I’m fine. He hasn’t hurt me.”

“Willow said it was a risk bringing you here but I didn’t expect…I thought he was bullying you again. There is something else isn’t there?”

I didn’t answer him and instead kept an eye on Keiran. “I can help you, Lake.”