I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 43

KEENON:

I got her call thirty seconds ago. I sped down the street toward her location.

"Hello?"

I mashed the pedal and spoke into the phone. "Yeah it's me. I found her, Brody. She just called to say they let her go and she's in an alley on Brooks Street. I'm about a minute away now."

"Be there in ten," was all he said before he hung up.

I arrived at the boutique corner and jumped out of my car, running to the alley. It was late afternoon now and dusk wasn't far away as I skidded around the corner and...

My heart shattered.

She was curled up on her side with her knees hugged to her chest, out of sight behind the dumpsters as she cried. Her sobs racked her body, her tiny, helpless little body. As I got closer I saw bruises and knots on the sides of her head with blood trickling down her temples and little pools of blood coming from her leg.

"Soda," was all I managed to croak out, but it was enough.

She looked up with wide, red rimmed eyes and once she saw me, she pushed herself up and held out her arms.

I had her in my arms in seconds.

I stood with her arms locked tight around my neck and her little legs wrapped around my waist as I held her in place with my arms folded beneath her bottom. It seemed that the tighter I held her, the harder she cried. I wasn't used to seeing her cry, and I doubted I ever would be.

"I'm so sorry, love, I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear, and she nestled into the side of my neck with only frantic yet silent nods that she heard me.

I ran a hand up and down her back as she began to calm down and the sobs stopped, leaving us in thick and incredibly depressing silence. My fingers found their way through her hair on a search for hidden knots.

"I- I remember e-everything," she stammered out in a wheeze.

I froze mid stroke and pulled away to look at her. "You...what?"

Her glassy eyes studied my face with a new zeal as recognition flooded her expression. "I r-remember. Drake, he made me remember it all."

I frowned. "Drake? Is that who did this to you?" I asked, anger rising in the pit of my stomach.

She barely had time to nod before-

"Get your stupid, filthy hands off my baby sister!"

We turned to see a seething Brody and furious Matt coming toward us down the alley, and Soda involuntarily tensed up in their presence. My instincts told me to put her down and scoot her over to them, but my heart told me to never let her go again, so I held her all the more closely.

"I was just trying to-"

Brody cut me off once he reached us. "Put. Her. Down."

I sighed and nodded my head, knowing he had every right to hate me now. I released Soda, and then awkward silence hung in the air.

She wouldn't let go.

"Soda love," I said softly, "let go. You're going home now."

She shook her head furiously against my chest and held on like a little monkey. "You're gonna leave me again," she whispered into my neck in a pained voice. "You- you left me last time."

My heart broke all over again and I bit my lip to keep all the feelings at bay. "Your brother is here to take you home, Soda. He knows what's best for you, so you need to let go."