The Victim (Book #1)

Chapter 18

I nearly sprinted to my room when the session ended, but unfortunately ran into Caleb in the upstairs hallway.

"Hey!" he said with a big smile once he saw me.

I nodded a greeting but tried to brush past him, only feet from my doorway. He stopped me with a hand to my shoulder. The touch was gentle, but I wished he had let me go. I wished I had the strength to pull away.

"Are you okay?" he asked, confused.

I looked up from the ground and brushed my hair back behind my ear, showing him that I had been crying. His eyes immediately grew sad and he dropped his hand to grab one of mine.

"What's wrong?" he asked sadly.

"Nothing." I lied instinctively.

He tilted his head up in protest, his lower lip jutting out just a little. For a guy pushing 6 feet, he seemed much younger than I think he wanted to. I chuckled a little at his pouting expression.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, nodding a head towards his room.

"No." I said, pulling my hand away and shaking my head.

His eyes tightened up at that, as he thought.

"Okay." He replied, nodding, making me breathe out a sigh of relief. "Then do you want a distraction?"

I cocked my head to the side and smirked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"...Okay." I gave in after a moment of silence, wondering what he was thinking.

His grin stretched wide and pearly and I smiled back reflectively, happy that I had made him happy in any capacity.

He grabbed my hand and turned back down the stairs. Then he started running. I let out a laugh as I struggled to keep up down each of the steps and through the open front door, until we reached the car. I tried to slow down my breathing as he opened the passenger door and leaned in to talk to someone.

Damon looked up from the front seat of the car and raised an eyebrow at us.

"She's coming too?" he complained, maybe teasing, maybe genuinely.

I looked at Caleb, about to reply that I wasn't, when I saw a look of ferocity that I had never seen on him before. His blueish eyes glowed with the anger of an aggressive puppy, but the line between his brows and tightened jaw told me that he was getting his way.

I turned to Damon and saw him smile and hold up his hands as if he surrendered. Caleb smiled at that and opened the door to the backseat for me. I hopped in and we sat in the back together, as Brooklyn came running out of the house and got into the passenger seat.

"Hey My." he said happily. I gave a shy half-wave back, happy that I wasn't as big of an interruption to the event as I thought.

Damon started the car and put us into first gear as we rolled off the driveway and into the street.

"Dominic isn't coming?" I asked as we headed away from the neighborhood.

"Nah, he doesn't hang with many of the people we know." Brooklyn replied. I chewed the inside of my cheek at that. I didn't know that we were spending time with other people, too. Caleb must have noticed the fear emanating off of me because he grabbed my hand and said "Don't worry, Maya. They're nice people!"

I nodded, gulping down my fear but then turned to the rearview mirror. I had a perfect view of Damon shaking his head and mouthing "No, they're not." I went pale as he laughed.

Brooklyn noticed and slapped his shoulder, making him grab it in pain.

"They'll love you, Maya. And if anyone says anything or is mean to you, we'll hurt them." Brooklyn said, facing me with a wink.

"Well don't do that!" I admonished him. He chuckled and said, "It's a miracle you're as strong as you are, when you can't hurt a fly."

I frowned at that. "I could hurt a fly if I wanted to!"

"Too bad you don't have the strength." Caleb replied bored, eyes on his window.

I slapped his arm in protest and he laughed, grabbing it.

"Oh right," he said, going along with it. "It's Damon who doesn't have any strength."

"Hey!" Damon said, lifting his head to look in the rearview mirror at his little brother. "Don't make me come back there."

Brooklyn and I laughed as Caleb discreetly licked a finger and then crept it up slowly before jabbing it into Damon's ear. Damon screamed like a girl as the car swerved before finding its proper lane again.

"THAT'S IT!" Damon shouted. "I'M TELLING TRICIA THAT YOU STILL HAVE MOM MAKE YOU EASY MAC."

I clutched my sides in stitches at this point, as Caleb said "Then I'll tell Camille and Payton that you had to repeat fifth grade. You failed ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, bitch."

Damon gasped at his brothers betrayal and I leaned over to him. "What'd you forget, the colors of the rainbow?"

Brooklyn wiped away tears from his joy and Caleb gave me a high five as Damon reached one arm back, attempting to slap either one of us. We ducked to either side of the car, pulling in tight against the doors.

Brooklyn turned up the radio to ignore the sound of us squabbling, and a song I had never heard before but almost immediately loved came on. Damon pulled his arm back to turn it up, then slid down the windows on all sides of us. I pulled my hair into a ponytail behind me as the wind whipped around us and sun came down on my face.

We shot down the highway going way too quickly, as I left behind me the problems of the girl that I didn't want to be. Maybe, even if it was only for an hour, I didn't have to be.