Wingless Book Series (book 1) (17 page)

He explained to me how, although
it seemed like a money based business, this was just code for the
truth, and the truth was they were given names and it was their job
to go and create the situation for this person’s life to be over.
There was no way to stop them, and that is why the fear of the law
would never change what they had going on. He said the world saw
them as a bad thing and tried to punish them for something, but
they would never get anything to stick because it was the way of
the world.

I had a million thoughts in my
head as he told me all this last night; I wanted to know so much.
Things like, did they know when each and every one of us were set
to expire? Did he know when it would be my time? And Marcus. Was
Marcus taken away from us because of the way things just naturally
worked, or did someone decide they had so much hate that they
wanted to kill my brother? It was just so much to try to
understand. But I wanted to.

I didn’t see Evan as a bad person
anymore. I saw him as almost an Angel of Death who didn’t want to
be the way he was but it was just his destiny. He was a truly
caring person, and he cared about me. I didn’t even know how much
of our relationship was real to him and how much was just a ploy. I
hoped it meant as much to him as it did to me.

Staring at his face, he looked
peaceful. I could only imagine what was going on inside his head. I
touched his cheek, his skin was warm. He moved a little, his eyes
still closed. The house was quiet, not a sound. I hadn’t even seen
Ari. I sighed to myself. Things were going in the wrong
direction.

Evan finally opened his eyes,
looking around the room. “Have you seen Kenny?” he asked me,
sitting up, still half asleep.

“
No, still nothing,” I said,
getting up myself. I followed him out of the bedroom, curious to
see what was next. He dialed a number, waiting, and then shutting
his phone. His face was back to the same troubled look he’d had
before bed.

“
He’s still not answering.” He bit
his lip, staring off.

“
Have you tried calling Ari?” I
offered.

“
Yeah, I called her a few times
last night. I can try her again. I got a feeling she won’t know
anything even if I did get a hold of her.” He dialed the phone
again, waiting. Nothing.

“
What are you going to do?” I
asked.

There was a loud wrapping on the
door. I jumped. Evan walked over, peering out the peep hole. He
turned the lock real slow so to not make any noise.

Turning to face me, he brought his
finger to his lips. “Stay where you are,” he whispered.

The sides of the door were glass
so whoever it was at the door only had to peer through to get a
glimpse into the house. Evan walked a straight line away from the
door. I kept my eyes fixed on the glass waiting to see a face. The
knocking continued. Evan made his way to me, grabbing my arm. He
moved into the hallway toward his bedroom.

“
What who is it?” I asked, feeling
scared.

“
My dad’s
people. They’re here for Kenny, I know it. He probably didn’t show
up.” Evan crossed the room
and began
nervously pacing, biting his fingernail.

“
Can’t we just answer and tell
them we haven’t seen him?”

“
I really don’t think that is a
good idea.”

“
Well, don’t they know you’re
here? Your car is right outside,” I said, starting to panic. Evan
sighed, heading back out. I followed behind him.

“
Eve stay in the bedroom, I can
handle it,” he said quickly.

“
No. I want to make sure you’re
okay.”

He didn’t have time to argue.
“Hold on a sec!” he yelled, pausing, doorknob in hand before he
opened it up.

Two large men stood at the door,
their faces completely emotionless. Dressed in regular clothes and
looking a little rough around the edges, they didn’t look out of
the ordinary. The first man was equal to Evan in size, slicked back
black hair, with stubble on his face. The other man a little more
round, was bald with no facial hair whatsoever.

They came in without an
invitation, standing (more like looming) in the room. They looked
around the house and then to me, sizing me up from the looks of it.
I slipped into the kitchen, staying behind the counter.

“
Where’s Kenny?” The one with the
slicked hair asked Evan in a deep voice.

“
I haven’t seen him since last
night. He left. I’ve called his phone, no answer,” Evan belted out.
The men were quiet, looking at Evan.

“
Where is it you think we can find
him?” the bald one asked, walking over to the hallway that led to
the bedrooms. He looked down the hall for signs of anyone else and
then came over to me, blocking the kitchen doorway. I moved back,
feeling intimidated by his glare.

“
Have you seen Kenny?” he asked
me.

“
I saw him last night. He hasn’t
come back,” I stumbled, crossing my arms.

The man came closer to me, keeping
his eyes locked on mine. He stopped nearly inches from me, reaching
into his pocket. I looked down, hoping it wasn’t a gun and hoping
it wasn’t time to die. He pulled out a pocket knife, flipping it
open. Although it looked like a pocket knife, it was way
sharper-its blade glistening in the light of the kitchen. My whole
body tensed. I didn’t care to move for fear he would gut me right
there.

“
I’ve always thought of Evan as an
honest kid. Is there anything you want to tell me?” he asked,
studying his blade.

Evan seemed to notice instantly.
His face became enraged. “Leave her alone!” he yelled. It didn’t
seem to affect him at all.

The other guy grabbed a hold of
Evan, stopping him from coming to my rescue. He pulled a gun,
hitting Evan in the face. I screamed out in shock. Baldy seem to be
a little more upset at this because next thing I knew he’d knocked
me into the cupboards. I was no match for his strength and I hit
with such a force, it knocked the wind out of me. I fell to the
ground, crumpling in a ball. I didn’t care to see what was
next.

I heard Evan tussling and fighting
with all he had in him to get to me, but it was no good. Two men
against just him was not going to work. I kept my eyes shut,
waiting for gun shots or something. I didn’t think these guys even
cared if they killed us or not. I prayed Ari or someone would come
in at the right moment and scare them away. But if Tony sent them,
it probably wouldn’t matter.

I pressed my palms against the
floor, feeling the coolness, trying to get my mind away from what
was going on. I kept still, afraid to lift my head to even look. I
heard one of them tell the other to get his phone. Evan grunted and
groaned.

“
You, get up!!” He snatched me off
the floor, dragging me across the room to stand a few feet from
Evan. Evan was on his knees not being restrained anymore. I looked
at him quickly and then away as the bald man brought his face close
to mine.

“
When you see Kenny, you give him
our words,” he said, grabbing a hold of my hair so tight it felt
like he was about to rip it out of my head.

Evan shot up off his knees,
lunging for the bald guy. This time, the other man didn’t stop him.
Evan gave one quick punch to the side of his head and he fell at my
feet like a big bag of bones. I gasped, jumping back, tears
streaming down my face. Evan grabbed me, smoothing my hair, pushing
my head into his chest to shield me from everything.

“
Get him out of here. If I see my
brother I will be the first to mention it, believe me,” Evan said,
holding me tightly with one arm.

“
Look kid, I’m doing what I was
told.” the big thug said. I turned to look at him. He eyed me
nervously. I think now that he was the last one standing he didn’t
feel so tough. I moved away from Evan, feeling furious. I wanted to
get a good kick to the guy on the floor’s head. Evan grabbed my
hand stopping me from entertaining that thought. He grabbed my
waist, holding me close to him. I think he felt the anger. The man
got the other one off the floor, heading to the door. We watched
them head out before Evan let me go. I stood in my place quietly,
just staring. Evan shut and locked the door hurrying back to me and
he surveyed my face, head, back, all over. I swatted at
him.

“
I am so sorry!” he
said.

“
Stop,” I said, touching my head
with my hand to feel if he had pulled any hair out. It was all
still there, just tender.

“
This is all screwed up. I’m
sorry. I knew-“

“
I said stop!” I yelled at him,
crying some more.

Evan looked at me slightly
confused at my tone and tears. “What, Eve?” he said softly, coming
over to me. He didn’t touch me, just waited for a response from me
as to what to do.

“
I’m not upset
with you, I’m upset with Kenny. He left you to deal with this, and
because of him,
I
had to deal with them. It’s not your fault. When you find
your brother, I know you will do what you need to, but don’t be mad
at yourself. At least
we are still alive,”
I said, letting out a breath in between sobs.

Evan took me over to the couch. I
sat down without a fight, clutching a pillow. “Do you want me to
take you home?” he asked out of nowhere.

“
No.”

“
I don’t feel like I was there for
you. I should have killed them,” he said to himself.

“
This wasn’t the
time to be trying anything, they were here to do a job and I don’t
think it would have bothered them to kill us both.” I laid my head
on the pillow, trying to calm down. I wasn’t mad at Evan and I
wasn’t in fear of my safety. In any other circumstance, Evan would
have been the top dog, but in this one, there was no way. I slowly
realized he had been hit and turned to survey his head. He had a
large gash on his already bruised face. I touched it with my
hand
and he winced.

“
Let me clean you up,” I said,
wanting to help him. He shook his head. “Evan, let me clean you up.
Will you please stop feeling bad about it? I’m fine.” I pulled him
to me, kissing him, trying to forget what had happened for a few
seconds.

Finally, he kissed my forehead,
touching my face. “I don’t know how you put up with me.”

“
I don’t know either, but I do
because I care about you,” I said.

He rested his head on my shoulder.
“I care about you too, Eve.”

Chapter 17

Festival

Morning came very quickly; there
was still no sign of Kenny. Evan gave a few calls to various people
he thought Kenny would contact, but it was a lost cause. Every one
of them said the same thing- that they hadn’t heard from him at
all. Tony had contacted Evan as well. He’d made it a point to tell
him it was very important that Kenny be found soon. Evan kept quiet
about what Kenny had said before he left. He was unsure what he was
getting himself into by keeping this from Tony, but he wanted to
give his brother a chance, and he didn’t want the guilt of being
the one who got Kenny killed. I thought about that constantly, Evan
would feel bad, but all in all, Kenny had dug his own
grave.

Evan was already awake and not in
the bed like usual. He made quite some noise as I finally came to.
I rolled over, looking at the time. Seeing it was noon, I sighed
and threw the covers off of me. The house was so quiet with it
being just him and me in it.

Suddenly, Nessa popped into my
head and it dawned on me that it had been a long time since I seen
or talked to her. I started to feel bad. She probably thought I’d
left her. I grabbed my phone off the night stand, calling
her.

“
Hello?” she asked, a rather
annoyed tone to her voice.

“
Hey,” I said, still half asleep,
yawning.

“
Yeah, I heard you moved out with
some guy you barely knew. I went by looking for you and they all
filled me in, told me how you left and haven’t called in almost a
week.” She didn’t seem too happy about it.

“
Basically, yes. But you know me,
and I don’t just up and do something unless I really want
to.”

“
Yeah, I know that. I just hope he
is a decent guy. And hot.” She seemed to be easing up on me pretty
quickly.

“
He is. And I want to get together
soon. Maybe in a few days we can hang out?” I asked, hoping she was
still willing to tolerate me. I had no one else besides Evan to
count on.

“
Sure, you know no matter what, I
am always here. I figured seeing your parents were so spastic, that
meant you probably were fine.” We laughed. “So tell me about him,”
she gushed into the phone.

“
Um, he is tall,
muscular, really gorgeous and so sweet. I don’t know, it’s easier
for you to just meet him for yourself,” I said, starting to get
flustered. I wasn’t one to try to
get all
giddy about things.

“
Okay, well give me a call back
when it’s a good time to come see you.”

I felt relieved knowing she was
still willing to talk to me; it made me feel better about it
all.