Protect My Heart

Chapter 35

Clover

The pounding in my head woke me from my slumber. My eyes were dry and groggy, difficult to open. They expanded slowly, taking in my surroundings. I lay in a rusty, old basement; faded, scraped iron bars hung from floor to ceiling at the entrance. An ironed door blocking me from the outside world or whatever lay behind that door. Spider webs sat in each corner with flakes of the brick walls fallen on the ground.

A dead, flat voice greeted me. "It's been a long time, Clover."

My head snapped up so fast. The man I feared had changed drastically. He was bald with an enormous amount of facial hair. A scar ran from his eyebrow to his cheek. He'd gained plenty of weight, but his arms had remained huge. Somehow, he'd grown taller too, even towering over Logan.

Out of instinct, I backed closer to the wall, my breaths rapid. "What do you want from me? Where am I?"

"Oh, Clover, we haven't seen each other in a decade, and this is how you greet me?"

"Sorry. What I meant to say was: burn in hell, you disgusting bastard!"

He didn't get to treat me as he had all this time ago. I'd grown up. I wasn't his toy anymore, his punching bag. He had no power over me.

"Feisty as ever." He smirked. I remembered that smirk from all the times he put his hands on me. I shuddered at the memory, but I couldn't let it affect me.

He crouched in front of me, touching my face, and I twisted away. "I was actually hoping for a proper greeting."

I felt nauseated by the meaning behind his words. "Go to hell, you piece of shit."

His fingers traced my chin. I had nowhere to go. "We can up for lost time. Don't you remember? Don't you remember that night?"

No. Don't think about it.

Logan said it was all right to forget. He said the past didn't have to define me, that if I thought hard enough then Jackson had taken nothing from me. As long as I stayed brave, he'd have taken nothing from me. I could make myself believe the inevitable.

"You're pretty forgettable."

My head whipped to the side from the sharp sting on my cheek. I tasted blood.

"You little bitch!" he yelled, grasping my chin. "I bet, Logan would be glad if I got rid of you."

"I strongly doubt it since you will be taking away the thing he loves," I said. "The only thing."

He slapped me again. He was strong, stronger than anyone I knew. His rage had probably built over the years. Then he lifted me and pushed me roughly against the brick wall. "He doesn't love you. You are a distraction to him. For him to deny what he truly wants!"

A soft groan left me as I bent to the ground, pain erupting through my lower back.

"You seem too hung up on the guy you call your brother and his wife. Doesn't that ring any alarming bells? You're obsessed with our goddamn life. Why the revenge? You could move on and be happy. We gave you an out and you didn't take it."

"Because you took him from me!" he shouted in my face. Little dribbles of spit landed on my cheek. "You ruined everything! He was mine before he met you!"

Well, that sounds way too perverse, I thought.

I slumped against the wall when he walked out.

Life isn't easy. It has ups and downs. You need to find the right level to reach the top, the tip of happiness. I have found my level, but we have a long way to go.