Obedience Lessons

Chapter Forty-four

Dylan's POV

I jumped when the phone in my room rang and scrambled to get to it wondering what my father wanted now. Maybe they were getting room service and mom had reminded him I was alive.

"What?"

"Mr. Ryman? A strange man is in the lobby he's looking for your son." A courteous male voice came over the phone.

I deepened my voice a little more since he had already obviously mistaken me for my dad, "What's his name?"
"Andy Burrie, sir."

Andy! Initial happiness at the news of him finding me died and decayed inside of me in a split second. "Please send him to a standard room, but he's not spending the night." I really did not need to cause a scene that my father's men would need to hear about.

"Right away sir, he can have room 104 back on the fourth floor." The man asked if I needed anything else and when I didn't respond he wished me a good night.

Not likely. I listened against my door for any movement outside before wrapping my robe closer to me and slipping out. It was all clear and the socks I wore to sleep made my movements even quieter. Mom was still passed out on the couch but I couldn't hear my father. He was probably asleep. Abusing me is exhausting work, you know? The poor baby. For a moment I considered, actually considered what it would be like to stand over him and smother him with a pillow.

I really do deserve the asylum.

I told myself that it was the stress of it all and being betrayed by Andy that had me thinking crazy thoughts. But these were my thoughts every day. I couldn't blame Andy or anyone but my father for this side of me.

I shut the door to the suite quietly behind me and got into the elevator, punching the buttons savagely as I rehearsed in my head what I could possible say to Andy. I hated the tears I felt welling up. I will not cry. I refuse to cry. This is just how it always is... I'm used to losing to my father. I'm used to...

His golden brown eyes were only a few feet away from the door, where he stood awkwardly waiting for me. He breathed a small sigh and spoke, "Thank god it's you. Dylan I am so sorry. I'm so sorry for lying to you! I promise you I was only doing this to-"He went on and on while the words only blurred and swirled in my head without me hearing them. Seeing him was too much, so I looked away. It was too much for me to hear him so I didn't listen.

When I heard him approaching me I spoke. "Fudge."

He stopped. It was instant and devastating when the silence whooshed up around us both and I turned to him. I had said the one word every dominant feared. I knew that he would understand what I meant even though we weren't doing a scene right now. But he was doing something I really didn't like. He had lied to me.

Golden orbs filled with pain pleaded silently for me to understand but he still said nothing.

"No more," my voice came calmer than I thought it would. "I want you to get out. And I don't want to have to see you... ever again."

"Dylan-"He tried again, arms out towards me. He had an envelope like those that held my pictures that my father had taken and I remembered.

"Are those the pictures my father is looking for?"

"Not exactly..." He said, then when he saw that I was waiting for him to explain he rushed ahead to get the words out. "The pictures you'll need are at the Clarke manor, Louisa told me you needed them for your father. But these are..." He hesitated, looking uncomfortable. "These are pictures of Liam. And maybe... maybe you shouldn't see them at all. Shit, this was a stupid plan."

"Liam? What do you mean pictures of Liam?" What the fuck? I grabbed the envelope from him and brushed him away when he protested to get them back. I turned away and opened it, then ended up gasping for the air that was knocked out of me at the sight of Liam.

Liam on the floor with the noose around his neck and blue eyes wide open. Liam half covered by the blankets I'd used. Liam spread out on a gurney with all the cuts and bruises to his flesh.

I couldn't help it. I threw the pictures at Andy and screamed.

The tears I promised wouldn't come streamed down my face until they wet my arms. I pushed away Andy every time he tried to come close and hugged my arms to my body. Why would he do this to me? Why did he have to bring those pictures? What the hell, what the hell, what the hell!

"You're a fucking monster," I screeched at him through the tears. "You. And my father. And Louisa, all of you! Fucking monsters! Why do you have those?" Wild sobs and hiccups ripped out of my chest and I advanced on him like a madman. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to pummel his skin with my fists and leave bruises that would never heal. The kind he'd left on my heart.

"Dylan I'm so sorry," he was crying too. I hadn't even realised it before now but those were tears coming down his face and his eyes were rimmed red. "I'm so sorry, those pictures weren't for you. They came from-"He sniffled, "A buried federal and post mortem report. Louisa told you before but you never believed her. You don't remember..." His hands came out to me again and I flinched away from his touch. He let them drop like autumn leaves. "Your father killed him, Dylan. Your father killed Liam and I don't want him to take you from me too."

He gathered up the photos while I sat on a chair. The pain inside me numbed. I felt it all becoming dulled and distant as I pushed it away from me. It was all nonsense. I'd like to blame my father but Liam killed himself because of me. That was the truth.

"Dylan, listen to me, please," I heard his voice like an echo from far away although he now kneeled next to my chair. "I know I'm the last person you would ever want to trust right now. Especially now," he amended. "But I promise you, I never meant to hurt you. And everything that I did I believed it was for you. I-I love you ...."

I didn't respond. It didn't matter. He would have left me eventually anyway. Why not now? Why not on my terms? "Go. Leave me alone, Andy."

I thought that would be enough. But he surprised me when his voice filled with insistence and strength. "I'm not leaving you. And I'm not going until you listen to me."

"It's over, Andy."

"You wanna break up with me? Fine. I can respect that much, I wouldn't wanna date a liar either, but I can't watch you sucked in to Ryman's games. I can't... I can't bear to hear that you disappear one day. Your father is capable of murdering his favorite son. I don't want to calculate your odds." He held up the envelope. "We have a plan that could work to get rid of your father for good. I promise you that this is what I'm staying for, and if you still want me gone after... after this is all done..... then..." His throat worked as he struggled to get it out. I hurt me even more to see him hurting like this. I closed my eyes and shut my mouth. "Then I'll go. I won't bother you anymore."

I didn't look into his eyes because I might have changed my mind otherwise. Instead I remembered the marks on my face and who put them there. Wasn't I thinking about getting rid of my father just minutes ago? I took the envelope. "Tell me what the plan is."

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A/N: Break up scene! Woo-Woo! I love this part, it really stokes my inner demon's fire. Angst born from love. Oh! Food for the soul.

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Stay Golden

- Ender Xen