Holding On (51 page)

My dad starts towards me and I flinch,
I’m so scared of this man. I don’t even know him anymore, never
did. “Please, don’t hurt me. Please.” I mutter, hoping he can hear
me but not wanting to piss him off more by calling him daddy and
reminding him that he isn’t mine to call that.

“
No Mace, honey. I’m
freeing you. I’m releasing you from these binds, then turning
around so you can dress. One of these other mongrels will take you
to your lake. I will notify Peril and they will get you as soon as
you arrive there. When you get to the lake stay put, you will be
safe as long as you stay put and wait for one of Hem’s boys. Do you
understand?”

He moves my body but ensures the
covering blanket doesn’t fall. He lifts me to a sitting position
and turns to walk back to the dresser. He pulls out some men’s
clothes, I have no choice but to take them, I need to be
covered.

Before making it back to me, he stops
and puts his head down as he rubs the shirt in his hands. “Mace,
I’m sorry. I failed you, I know I have. Now you know I have. I’ve
failed everything and everyone that I have ever loved. You will
hate me now, it’s the price I’m paying for the revenge that I need.
All of my life’s unhappiness started with Hem. Everything I loved
and thought was mine, he took from me in some way by seeking Doc,
even as a child.”

He starts to look angry and vile again
so knowing I need to get out of here and quick because I need to
warn Hem, I expel a lie so big I’m unsure he will even believe
it.

I’m about to lie, never
have been good at it so I’m praying that my mask of sadness works
on him. “You’re my father. I would never hate you. You raised me,
loved me, provided for me, and gave me all I ever asked. I always
knew love growing up. My mother always knew love, and even dying
she knew you loved her. She told me that herself that last day I
saw her.”
Please believe me. Please
believe me
.

He puts his head down again as he
turns around and I start to dress quickly taking no time to look at
Grey as he lay bleeding on the floor. Warren hates him and I’m so
thankful for that right now, but it doesn’t stop my concern that
all this is a façade to get me to believe that Warren is letting me
go. If it is a trap then I’m playing right into it.

I jump as he starts screaming before I
can finish putting on this shirt. “RISK! CABLE! Get down here and
do what you’ve been told.” These are the men that are taking me to
the lake. Oh God, he’s really is letting me go.

They enter the room as I finish
buttoning the man’s dress shirt I was given. I have nothing else
on, nothing underneath and I’m now well aware of this as they stare
at me in hunger.

“
Unless you two fucks want
to end up like that boy Grey, I suggest you fuckin’ wise up right
now and keep your eyes off my
daughter
!”

I breathe noticeably as he annunciates
‘daughter’. He said that for me, so they would know not to touch
me. Finally he turns around and motions for me to come to him,
likely for the last time. These feelings I’m having so perplexed.
He’s going after Hem, but I know Hem will handle him. He’s no
longer my father and if he and Hem go toe to toe, Warren will be
the one to die. Hem won’t stop until he’s dead. I feel like I
should say something more before leaving. I don’t get the chance
though. I’m hurled into a tight hug by Warren, wincing slightly as
my ribs ache.

“
Go, stay at the lake like
I told you. Protect yourself from what’s to come. What’s more, know
that I loved you and your mother. All your life Mace, you really
were loved unconditionally by us both. Your mother spent your life
hiding this secret, medicating her guilt with her drink. At times I
know you saw the real woman she was, as did I. She’s at peace now
and I’m thankful for that but I need peace too, I need revenge on
Doc whether he’s alive or dead. Hem must go away, for
good.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to talk
again and takes my upper arm and gives me to the big tattooed scary
man with scars on his face that mirror something from a slasher
movie, “Take her gently boys, do not fuckin hurt her. The lake, you
know where it is. Not one hair on her head is to be touch, you got
that?”

Scarface takes my arm from Warren
giving him just a nod and leads me through a scary maze into the
outside. It’s so dark. I’m waiting to just wake up.

*****

--HEM--

Fuck I’m going crazy. It has been
seven fuckin’ hours and my sister is out there with that crazy
lunatic. His trail is clear, no signs of either Mace or Greyson
Meyers. I literally have no one to call, no one to question. Fuck,
I know I should call Warren. That man is so fuckin’ broken over
Mama that I’m unsure of any help he could be though.

Shame is on lockdown. Brother went
fuckin’ nuts after he walked in on Peyton and her hysterics while
she told us about Mace and Greyson. He lunged for her, doubting he
would hurt the woman but in that state she was in, she was already
scared. She would have never been able to finish telling us what
happened. Gunner and Raider have him locked in the shed out back,
like an animal. I need his head in this and he will kill me when I
free him, I know he will try but I can’t have him creating havoc
while I’m trying to find my sister.

Going back to thought, I am going to
call Warren. He has connections in the law. He can help us get some
more men on it at least. People who are good at their jobs, who
know the protocol and they can work with my men with
this.

Grabbing my cell phone and looking
down trying to find contact information to Warren, it rings in my
hand. ‘WARREN CALLING’. What the fuck?

“
Warren.” I try to keep
calm, he has never called me. Our hates for each other match, bit
by bit.

“
Patrick.”

“
What you need? I’m busy
right now.” I want him to tell me the reason for his call first
before I unload on what’s happened to Mace.

In a calm tone, as if he’s telling me
the weather forecast he mutters, “She’s at the lake.”

My bones fuckin’ chill in my skin. No
way did he just tell me where to find her and he is this calm. No
fuckin way.

“
Did you not fuckin’ hear
me you pathetic son of a bitch! GET TO HER NOW! My boys have
confirmed she’s there right now.”

His boys? What the fuck? I do not
fuckin’ understand this. He doesn’t have boys!

Moving the phone down from my ear,
covering it to avoid Warren hearing anything being said I scream,
“HONOR, get Shame out of his cage and then gather some brothers and
head to lake. I have report that Mace is there. Same as Cherry, you
proceed with fuckin’ caution. You decide if she needs hospital or
home. Trust you brother but get her and you contact me as soon as
you know.”

Picking the phone back up I can still
hear Warren’s breathing. He’s remaining completely quiet and calm.
I’m trying to listen for half a second, placing where he could be
but all around him is silent. Where the fuck is he and what’s he
getting at with this?

“
Patrick, this is what is
going to happen. You have 24 hours to make a decision. Listen real
fucking good you Goddamn worthless scum. Mace lives, you die. You
give your life for hers and no harm comes to her, ever. I will see
to it. You don’t give your life to me, surrender of sort, then all
you love disappears one my one. I do mean Sadey, baby, Shame,
Mace…. Should I continue or have you got my fucking
point?”

“
I hear you loud and
fucking clear, Warren.” I hear him, yet the words sound completely
insane to me. I have so much information to process but he’s not
finished with this call.

“
24 hours, I expect the
call back. You for them. Confirm or deny. You will decide
everyone’s future with this call. Wouldn’t bother looking for me
son, I have hits out on each of you if anything happens to me.”
Click. The line is dead.

“
FUCK ME!” I scream into
the room, no one is around. That fucker will die. He will bleed out
by my hands. Do not fuck with my life, this lesson will be
learned.

Chapter
Twenty
:

“
She was sitting up now. My arm was
around her and she was leaning back against me, and we were quite
calm. She was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking
that made you wonder whether she really saw out of her own eyes.
They would look on and on after everyone else's eyes in the world
would have stopped looking. She looked as though there were nothing
on earth she would not look at like that, and really she was afraid
of so many things.”   

--Ernest Hemingway

On the drive to the lake I sit in the
back seat with my hands bound and think about Warren and how lonely
his life was all these years, being married to a woman who loved
another man enough to have his child and protect that child from
the life he led. I’m angry at Mom for Warren. Whatever Warren is
planning against Hem will fail. Hem will never allow himself to be
put in harm’s way knowing he has Sadey and that baby to love and
protect for the rest of his life.

I’m thankful to Warren for
interrupting the vengeance I was about to be dealt at Greyson’s
dirty hands. That man is a psychopath who played me to get close to
Hem, for Warren. I spent two years loving him and never knew until
the end what he really was. I tremble inside with fear.

Scarface pulls me out of my dark
thoughts, “Here now, out.” He comes around to my side of the car
and opens the back door, yanking me with more force than necessary.
Fuckin’ bastard, I will remember him as I wince and try to pull
this shirt I’m wearing down with bound hands at the same time.
Shame will kill him.

He sets me near the lake, taking out a
knife and quickly cuts through the material binding me, telling me
to sit tight and not move and that he’s going to be watching.
Fearing a setup, my mind immediately races and tries to think of a
way I can subdue this scary man. Coming up with nothing I nod my
answer and he turns around, gets back in his car and drives away. I
make my way to the Treehouse, from where I was put it is a hike and
I’m risking that asshole coming back for me. Oddly though, I
believe I have the upper hand. I heard my dad, well Warren, give
the orders I wasn’t to be hurt so I’m less afraid of
Scarface.

After about twenty minutes, I’ve
finally reached the Treehouse. I haven’t cried, broke down, or
froze since this all started. The familiarity with Greyson, Dad,
the lake, and now treehouse has kept me constant. It isn’t until I
hear the engine and see the headlights approaching in the distance
that I’m allowing myself to begin my descent into
sorrow.

It feels like it is taking forever for
the car to reach me. I can see its Hem’s truck coming at me and my
fear is beckoning again. If Scarface is here, he can see Hem. Will
he take a sucker shot to kill him? I stand waiving my hands
frantically in front of me and the truck stops about half a block
in front of me. No one exits and I can see Raider in the driver’s
seat looking around outside. He doesn’t look scared but he looks
pissed off. Next I see Shame fighting in the backseat with the
doors. He’s rocking the entire truck back and forth as he uses his
body to try to break the door open. Honor pops out from the front
passenger side and opens Shames back door from the outside. Shame
immediately pushes the door onto Honor roughly and Honor goes
flying to the ground with the force that Shame has used. Shame
doesn’t hesitate a single moment. I can see him running straight
towards me. If I am to believe my Dad then I don’t think Shame is
in any danger. He’s running and I’m not moving, my vision is
impaired and my ribs are screaming now that I have finally started
to accept this situation. I should be running for him now I am
trembling uncontrollably. Shame finally makes it to me, but doesn’t
touch my body at all. He’s in shock.

Looking down on me with fear, “Baby.”
It’s all he can get out. He’s looking at me up and down as he
stands no more than two feet away from me, still afraid to touch.
He has been around a long time and he knows what Cherry went
through. The rape. He’s asking silently for me to answer his unsaid
question. He sees I’m broken.

“
Shame I’m okay. He didn’t
rape me. Greyson, he beat me and I’m broken but he
didn’t…”

I’m enveloped into Shames arms
immediately. He’s forceful but still gentle not to hurt me. He’s
sobbing, I can hear him above my head. He’s tucked my face into
this neck and he’s holding the back of my head to him, his other
hand is in the middle of my back holding the rest of me to him. He
still hasn’t said a word other than the initial endearment. I try
to pull back but he won’t let me go. Although my body is screaming
in pain, I give him a few minutes to gather himself.

“
Shame, we need to look at
her. She’s hurt. She needs clothes. C’mon man, let her go and let’s
get out of here.” Honor is talking to his VP as if Shame’s nothing
more than a prospect. He’s taking charge of a situation that Shame
can’t handle right now.

I pull my head back again and look at
Shame, in his eyes. They are running over with tears but his anger
is palpable. He’s barely holding on and my fear is that when his
anger is released it will Honor, Gunner, or Raider that takes the
thrashing.