I have nothing to do but wait for him. He’ll come. It’s not the matter of if, it’s the matter of when he will come. It takes him all of two days. On the second night, he crawls through my bedroom window while I sit on the bed waiting for him to stand. My door is locked, and my father is home. He’s quiet as he climbs through just as he always does. His silence is deadly, yet it turns me on. Fuck my life.

“Mouse.” His voice sends shivers through my body. His arm where the bullet grazed him is not visible, but my eyes go to that spot anyway. He stands tall, his perfect jaw structure on view. His perfect hair messed on the top of his head, to his perfect green eyes, to his ultimately perfect fucked up heart. All of those things are in front of me making me feel dizzy, and I’m fucking sitting.

“Wolf,” I say back to him.

His eyes search around my room before they land back on me. “Has she been here?” I nod, and he raises an eyebrow, waiting for me to tell him more.

“Mouse,” he warns me, stepping closer.

“She’s been bad, Wolf, so fucking bad.”

He shakes his head, then he’s on me, pushing me back into my bed, his body hovering over me.

“Where is she, Mouse?”

“She tried to kill me twice this week. Did you know that? One of those times she used Taj as bait. Can you guess what she did to him?”

Syler’s off me and standing. He turns, walking straight to the window. I watch as he goes to climb through it.

“Syler, just this once, don’t rescue her. Choose me.”

He looks back to me, while he’s half out the window. “I’ve been choosing you. It’s the reason she’s in the situation she’s in.” He watches me and steps away, disappearing into the darkness. Grabbing my shoes, I run to the window and chase him out, running to his car which he’s already in. Pulling the passenger door open and getting in, he doesn’t say a word as he starts the car and drives. We sit in a comfortable silence, both of us not knowing what to say to each other. Or maybe I don’t know how to speak to him. Did I ever, though? He’s always been a man of few words, and those words he’d give me were few and far between. I soaked each and every one of them in like acid. He’s my fucking acid, and the burn feels so good coming from him, even when it shouldn’t. Even when the burn should stop.

“You know he has her?” I ask him as we drive up to Taj’s estate. He drops the car back a gear, slowing it down as we near the gate.

“She’s my sister, Mouse. I will not let Taj kill her because I know that’s exactly what he has in mind.” I laugh at his words. It’s funny when you think about it. I’m sitting next to him, and I want to kill her. She could already be dead for all he knows. A part of me hopes she is.

“Maybe I haven’t trained you right, Mouse. Maybe I was too easy on you.”

My laugh stops when we arrive. Standing out front is Taj who seems to be expecting us. He’s dressed in an all-black suit, his hands in his pockets as he waits for us to get out and walk up to him.

“I didn’t think it would take you this long, Syler.” Taj’s hand touches the stubble on his face.

“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to take my sister.”

Taj laughs at Syler’s words, then his eyes skim to me.

“You don’t remember yet, do you?” My eyes squint when I look at him. “You should really try harder, Jaya, a lot harder.” He turns, walking back up his steps and inside his house. “If you can make it in time you can save her. She may already be dead, but she’s at the dump.”

Syler doesn’t wait for me to get into the car and I have to run to catch up to him. The second I slide in, he drives fast, spinning around the corners. I wonder why I’m sitting next to him or even going with him. Am I that much of a sucker for punishment that my mind goes to the only option of being with him. Right now, I’m going to help him save his sister when all I want to do is push her off the cliff at the dump and never see her ugly face again.

“Stop!”

He doesn’t listen. His driving is fast, and my hands are gripping the door and the seat.

“Stop. The. Fucking. Car.”

He slams the brakes so hard that if I didn’t have the belt on it could have been very dangerous. I slam the door shut the minute I’m out, then lean down so I can see him.

“Fuck you.”

Then I walk away, hoping home isn’t too far because I have no idea where the fuck I am. Time to leave this fucking town and never come back. All this is, is a fucked-up mess and it’s not good for my soul.

***

IT’S DARK, AND I’M lost. I forgot my cell in my rush, and I’m pissed off well and truly.

Why did I get in the car with him? He never needed me, not as much as I thought, but I needed him. He’s always on my mind even when he shouldn’t be.

Syler is the devil I didn’t even know I needed. But he also came with his own personal Hell Hound, and she was determined to rid me of him. I should have never told him who had her, I should have kept it to myself and let Taj finish her off. We all know if anyone deserves to die it’s her, for sure. She’s taken her fair share to hell without their permission.

Tires screech behind me. The road is dark, and the night is black. I don’t see the car coming up although I can hear it. I step off the side of the road hoping to avoid it. It’s a pretty safe city, my father would never live here otherwise, even with his job. But in the night creeps your nightmares, and mine right now is coming to me fast. My hand goes up, but it all happens so quickly. First, my legs give way, and I feel my body hit the car, then everything goes blank, but I start to remember.