Page 102 of Call You Mine

Beside me I hear Ruby gasp as Wynter’s voice continues to flow through the room, the agony in her tone now so audible you can feel the sorrow she felt like she was in the room with us. The way she lived in horror for three years until the night she escaped. The night he almost took advantage of her, and she attacked him in self-defense.

My body and mind go numb when I hear her mention Luke and how he helped her escape, only to end up back at my doorstep. She told them about our ploy to fool her mother with our fake relationship in order to save her from another horrendous arrangement. How the whole time she plotted to make me believe what we had between us could be real, only to be rejected countless times by me.

She confessed to being tormented by who she believed to be Enzo—her supposed to be dead husband. The text messages, thepackages, the way she felt like she had to always be looking over her shoulder. If only she knew her mother and Luke, who was supposed to be the man who helped her escape, were in reality the ones behind her torment.

The moment she says my name, recounting last night and how I reacted when she’d told me she was pregnant, I yank the phone out of Scarlett’s hand and end the recording. Falling to my knees, my chest heaves as my vision blurs, threatening to black out completely.

“Damon,” Ruby cries out, falling to her knees beside me. She throws her arms over my neck and cradles me into her, but I don’t hug her back. I can’t move. My beautiful Wynter’s voice breaking as she admitted she was scared shitless about the whole thing, about telling me she was pregnant. How I became furious and blamed her for planning it all along and doing it on purpose. How I continuously reminded her we were nothing but a contract, a fake relationship we’d both agreed to.

I see now for what it all was—lies I tried to make myself believe. But I couldn’t. Not once did I truly believe what Wynter, and I had wasn’t real. I couldn’t get myself to admit it to her then, but I see it now, regardless of the version Willa and Luke gave me. I believe the truth I hear coming from Wynter’s lips even if she didn’t admit it to me.

Being with Wynter was the only thing that had ever felt real. It was like a part of me, a part that was always there, just lay dormant until she awakened it, was suddenly the only thing I could feel. I might have tattooed the words mine on her upper thigh, but she carved her name into my heart, branded herself into the depths of my soul. And now, she had a piece of me, a piece of us, growing inside her.

How could I be so blind, be so cruel to her when all she’d done was to be by my side and tried to make things work between us?

“Damon, please say something.” I hear my sister plead as my body shakes vigorously in her grasp. I became another monster for her to fear, the cruelest of them all because I made her hopeful, made her trust me willingly. Made her feel like she’d found something real, someone to love, who loved her back, and then I went and told her it was all fake.

I’d hurt her physically, but worse, I’d broken the already broken girl who felt alone all her life. I proved to her that her fears were real.

Just then, another voice enters the room as Kai comes barging in through the door of my bedroom and sees me down on the floor, succumbing to the agony I’m currently fighting. “Ruby, Scar, can I have a moment alone with my brother,” he tells them, and although Ruby’s not so sure about leaving me in this broken-down state, Scar leads her out leaving me alone with my brother—my best friend.

Kai doesn’t ask me to get up nor does he try to force it, no my brother joins me on the floor and allows me to fall apart before him. Minutes go by, the two of us succumbing to the silence, him giving me the time I need, while I’m too lost in my thoughts to even fathom a word to say to him.

Finally, he speaks first. “Do you remember what you told me when I was in denial about being in love with Stella?” he asks, but my mind can’t think past the torture Wynter lived through these past three years while I resented her for moving on and living her life. “You said you saw the way I looked at her, the raging jealousy when someone else was near her.”

I don’t respond, his words cutting deep into me because I know it's the truth. “You told me I didn't have to throw my life away because I thought I didn’t deserve to be happy, Damon.” Memories of that night come back to me. I’d taken Kai out to a bar on the outskirts of Providence, a rundown town a few hours away I’d visited when the trail of my mother, which I’d followed,led me there. He was in denial about his feelings for her. Kai grew up in a situation similar to mine in that neither one of us had caring adults to look after, care and guide us. He’d pushed Stella away, repeatedly, with the excuse of her being too good, too pure for him. He knew he’d taint her, ruin her in the worst way, though all of us knew she was exactly what he needed to heal. I’d even gone as far as faking interest in her to get him to see how he truly felt about her. I guess Wynter wasn’t the first time I faked a relationship, though with Stella it never meant more than a ploy to get my brother to open his eyes to what was in front of him.

Much like I think he’s trying to do with me now.

“I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t the same thing,” he says, knowing exactly what I would have said if my mind was doing anything other than obsessing about how I ruined everything between us. “But it is. Damon, you are the most loyal, protective, and loving friend I’ve ever known. You may not always show it, or say it, but it’s in everything you do. You’ve spent you’re whole life protecting Ruby, then took on the burden of dealing with our demons on top of your own, and now, now you’re going to let everything fall apart, all of your deserved happiness because you think you’ve fucked things up further than you have.”

From my peripheral vision, I catch him running his hand through his shaggy hair. “I’m sorry, man, sorry for not being there for you through all of this. Everything with Stella and the baby. I was so preoccupied in trying to keep them alive and safe…”

“Don’t fucking apologize for that, ever, Kai.” I get a few words out when I see my brother beating himself up for being there for his family like he should have been.

“I know, man. But fuck, how did I miss so much?” Kai pauses, his warm eyes meeting mine as his expression softens. “I hadthose thoughts too. How the fuck was I going to be a dad when I never had one to look up to, at least for me, one that wasn’t a complete and utter monster. Thoughts of how I’d already fucked this child up so much and it hadn’t even been born yet. I blamed myself for the complications we suffered. Stella was bedridden for weeks, my sweet Ember born early with a heart condition they’ve luckily now cleared her of, but I blamed myself for it. Because I wasn’t fit to be a father, that was my punishment.”

“Kai…” I say, but he shakes his head and doesn’t let me finish.

“I know, I know. That was nothing but me being selfish to think that I mattered that much to the big guy upstairs. It was life, a shit part that I’m lucky to be in the clear of now, but I had those same fears and doubts running through your mind. The demons, those wicked voices we have up their living for the thrill of making us doubt everything good in our lives. They don’t make it easy. But Stella, she drowned them out for me, much like I know Wynter does for you. Look man, I don’t know everything that happened between the two of you, but I know this…That woman was the best thing that has ever happened to you. Whatever it is she’s done, she deserves the chance to make it up to you, because if we’re utterly screwed, that poor girl is fucked beyond repair. We had the blessing of not growing up with our parents, who would have hated us our entire lives, but she grew up with them poisoning her for her entire life.”

Just as I’m about to speak, accepting that all Kai’s just said is the truth and I’m only hurting myself by not at least hearing her out, we’re interrupted when Scarlett frantically rushes into the room out of breath with Ruby on her tail.

“Damon,” she shouts, her face growing pale as she stares down at her phone.

I snap out of my daze and stand, rushing forward and yanking her phone from her grasp.

“It’s Wynter, she’s gone,” Ruby says, when Scarlett is too stunned to speak. “Ace said she left a note, said she was going to put an end to all of it and leave once and for all, the way she should have since the start.”

“Where is she, Scarlett?” I shout, fear crippling me as I stare into her eyes.

“I don’t know, but I think she’s in danger.”

“Fuck,” I curse out loud, aching to throw something or punch my fist into someone. I know exactly where she’s gone, and if I’m right, I hope I’m not too late. I turn to Kai, and he silently nods, letting me know he’s got my back in whatever I need from him. Looking back at a panicking Scarlett, I hand her back her phone. “Call Ace. Tell him to take backup to this address.” I pull the small card Willa sent Wynter and hand it to Scarlett. “If she’s gone here, we better hurry.”

“Backup? What kind of backup?” Ruby asks, looking just as worried as Scar.

“The devil’s whole fucking army.”

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