Steal My Heart

Steal My Heart (12)

I seemed to have spent an awful lot of time with Casey, handcuffed to him. It seemed like he didn't really trust anyone else with me, which I guess made sense since the last time he wasn't paying attention to me, I had tried to escape. But now, escape was the last thing on my mind as we sat together on the porch, side by side, our wrists connected by that familiar metal.

I was never handcuffed to anyone else, something that Casey made sure of. It almost seemed as if having me handcuffed to them was some kind of privilege. Casey only allowed me to be handcuffed to him or Isis, occasionally allowing Jeremy to watch after me if either he or his sister were busy with something.

But I seemed to around Jeremy less and less after the day I helped him with his homework. It was Casey's decision, much like all the decisions that were made around here were, but i didn't know why he wouldn't have me around Jeremy, since he was the one person I knew the best and I'd known him for years. I assumed Isis had asked that of him because she was still paranoid about my relationship with him.

"Do you miss your family?" Casey asked one night as we sat out on the back porch, something we seemed to do quite often with one another nowadays.

I was caught off guard by the question, not expecting for him to ask me anything about my family, especially with who my father was.

"Uh," I blinked, swallowing when I realized how dry my throat was.

What was I supposed to say? Should I have told him the truth, or should I lie? Of course I missed my family, but the last thing I wanted to do was somehow say the wrong thing.

"I... do," I answered, deciding that being honest would be the best thing to do. "I miss them a lot."

Casey didn't look at me. I bit down on the inside of my lip as he stared out into the dark backyard. I was afraid I'd said something wrong.

I knew that Casey didn't like my father, it was obvious in the way that every single Bandit talked about him. My father was obsessed with catching them, and they were all well aware of that fact. He was enemy number one to them.

To be honest, in the back of my mind, I was always afraid that Casey didn't like me based solely on the fact of who my father was. Without my dad, the cops in our town would have been focusing more on other things besides the Bandits.

"The last thing I wanted to do was take you away from your family," Casey nearly whispered, not looking at me as he spoke. It caught me so off guard that I couldn't even say anything right away. All I could do was stare at him.

This wasn't the kind of response I was expecting from him. I knew that keeping me here against my will wasn't exactly what Casey had in mind, but there was nothing else he could do. I never thought he felt regretful about it.

Trying to find my voice, I found myself blurting, "Even my dad?"

I realized what I'd said after I had said it, mentally slapping myself in the face. The last thing I had wanted was to bring up my father, but I had done exactly that.

Casey seemed uncomfortable by my question, and I only felt even more regretful. Casey didn't like my dad, and even though knew that I knew that, he clearly didn't want to discuss it, since it was my dad and I obviously loved him.

"Sorry," I apologized, straightening out Isis's top that I was wearing for something to do. "I should have said anything about—"

"Losing a family member is hard," he mumbled, cutting me off as he stared down at his lap. "I wouldn't wish that for anyone, even the people I hate."