Chapter 11

Erik

I jerked around in my sleep, my skin sticky, my heart racing. My dreams had never been so bad. I wasn't even capable of telling that they were dreams anymore.

"Where is she?" I glanced around the living room as my father stood over to the side of the room, his arms wrapped around his chest, his skin ghost white.

"I don't know, son." He brushed his fingers over his mouth and walked out, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Delaney was missing, her dolls all over the floor. A splattering of blood covered the floor beside the doll house, leaving me with one conclusion. Someone took her.

Turning, I jogged out of the room and screamed at my father. My teenage voice wavered as emotions pounded against me.

"Dad! What the fuck. There's blood on the floor. Where is she?" I screamed as my hands begin to shake.

He glanced over his shoulder, his demeanor far too calm for the situation.

"I told you. I don't know." He walked into his office and closed the door as the world grew dark around me.

Someone had my sister. My sweet little sister who wouldn't hurt a fly or talk down to a flea.

"Erik?" Her voice was thick as if there were something caught in her throat.

"Delaney?" I turned and stiffened, my blood running cold. A young girl stood in a body bag, blood and black grime smeared from the inside. I couldn't make out her face, nor would I want to. I'd been there that day they pulled her out of the river.

There was nothing left but hair, bone, and teeth.

Bile rose in my throat as my voice broke. "Please don't do this to me. Please."

"Why didn't you save me? You had two weeks. I was alive for two weeks while they abused me, Erik."

"Stop!" I covered my hands over my ears as tears burned my eyes. It was a dream. It had to be a fucking nightmare. I turned to run and found myself knee deep in the river just beyond my house, the water icy cold. "No. Please. Fuck."

Her body bobbed in the water just a few feet from me, her long silky hair matted and tangled. Her little arms were pale with splotches of skin missing.

"God." I turned and ran out of the water, dropping to my knees as I vomited until my sides hurt. I'd been the one to find her, to first see her dead and decimated. "Please make it stop."

My voice grew deep, my hands larger and I sat back on my heels. I wasn't a boy anymore, but a man. Had I been the man I was now, she never would have been taken. I could have saved her.

A cry ripped from my throat, and I dug my hands into the dirt as anguish and disgust rolled over me in thick waves. I had no one left but the ghosts of those I loved and lost.

"Erik." Soft, wet hands touched the side of my face, and I screamed and jerked up.

"Fuck. Fuck." I got out of the bed and walked around my room, my body covered in sweat, my heart racing as if it were trying to get out of my chest. I'd had plenty of dreams about my sister over the last ten years, but none so vivid.

My bedroom door opened and my father walked in. "Erik. What's going on?"

"Bad dream." I reached for my pillow and covered my nakedness before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I was there again. At Delaney's death. It was horrible. Disgusting. I hate myself for leaving her that day. I knew something was off, Dad." I glanced up to receive the same stony look I always got from him.

"There was nothing you could have done. Believe me." He let out a long sigh and glanced around the room. "Why are these dreams fucking with you so much now? Did something happen?"

"No." I flopped back on the bed. "I'm fine. Seriously. Close the door behind you."

He did, without another word. I needed to start staying at my own place. My father's house had too many demons, but it was closer to Grace's apartment, and I was so fucking weary the night before after leaving her place.

Grace.

Just the thought of her brought a warmth racing through my chest that scared me. I'd never been in love before.

"And you're not now, pansy-ass." I chucked the pillow and got up to get dressed. She was a pretty set of tits and a fine ass to tap. Period.

"You almost make my heart stop every time I see you." My voice echoed in my head from the night before. It was the truth, but saying it out loud made it that much more real. I had to walk away. I had to force myself to grow the fuck up. A man like me couldn't have a woman.

"Or next time you're down in the river, it'll be your girl swimming with the fish just like they did your sister." I ran my hands down my face as fear filled me. I hadn't stopped looking for Delaney's murderer though the cops called it a pre-teen suicide and blamed it on us losing our mother the year before. Nothing could have been farther from the truth, and the part that nagged at my soul was that my father didn't fight, didn't look. He fucking gave up. Why?

I dressed quickly and walked out into the hallway, making my way down to the large living room near the front of the house. I needed to get my mind off my nightmares and not have it move to me falling in love with Grace.

I kissed her. Fuck me. I shouldn't have.

Breaking my own rules meant I was in deep. How it happened, or when it happened was beyond me, but I had to reconcile it. I wasn't a boy anymore, and my lust and desires could fuck off if it meant keeping my girl safe.

"You look like shit." Kane glanced up from eating something from a bowl. "That you screaming like a bitch down the hallway?"

"Yeah. Let's have someone take the person that matters most to you, fuck her for weeks, cut her up and dump her remains in the river out by your house and see how you fare." I walked by him and popped the bowl, flipping the cereal all over his lap. "Fuck you too."

"Erik. Come on, man. I didn't mean any of that. I just-"

I flipped him off and walked to the breakfast bar in the kitchen, taking a seat. Lizzy was busy making eggs and bacon, the cute Swedish girl glancing over her shoulder and smiling brightly at me.

"Morning. Want something to eat?" She turned and put a hand on her hip. My father had hired her a few years back, and we all remained respectful to her. She was a good woman... too good to be involved with a depraved bunch like we were.

"No. I'm good." I ran my fingers through my hair and glanced over at Kane as he walked in. It was hard to ignore the desire in Lizzy's eyes when I was around her, but having Grace front and center in my mind helped. My father would cut off my feet if I touched his staff. I'd lost interest the moment I stepped foot in the library anyway.

"Dude. I said I was sorry." Kane walked to the sink and tried to wash his shirt and pants off.

"Something happen?" Lizzy glanced over at me, her long blond hair in a playful ponytail.

"No. He's just being his usual dickish self. No biggie." I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and let my animosity go.

"We got a hit this morning." Kane glanced over his shoulder.

"We?" I snorted. "Since when do we work together?"

"It's one of the three guys that took money from your father. I did my research, and none of the assholes have the money to pay him back, so you're up. Grab your gun and let's get going."

"Fine." I got up, grabbed my gun from my bedroom and met him outside a few minutes later. "Who are these clowns? Did they know they were stealing from us?"

"Hell no. They're just college idiots." He got into his side of the car and buckled up.

I took a deep breath, trying to let the stain of my dreams fade before getting in the car beside him. It was going to be a long fucking day having to deal with Kane and ignore Grace.