Page 76 of Forever Filthy

Chapter Thirty-Five

Hayze

Three weeks later…

Every day I wake up with this ache in my chest. It feels like a bullet has lodged itself inside me, every minute of every day I’m filled with pain. Every time I close my eyes all I see is her face, the way she looked at us that night was how I have always dreamed of her looking at me with nothing but love and devotion. Then, she ruined it when she went behind our backs and had Alexander and his fucking bitches drag us out of there.

When I woke up I tried to fight to get free but they had my hands and ankles bound. Ez and Archer were both bound like me in the back of the van. I’ve never felt so powerless in my lifeuntil that moment. Alex took us to Vox. The second he saw the three of us being lifted out of the back of the van… he knew.

He knew we failed him.

We promised him that we would save his twin and bring her back to him but we didn’t. When we argued last year and everyone went their own ways it was different. We all knew deep down that we would come back together after we had a chance to cool down, but not this time. The three of us stood there waiting for him to throw punches or scream and yell but he didn’t do any of that.

It was much worse.

He didn’t say a single word. A lone tear traveled down his cheek and the sight of that shit broke me. He turned his back, hopped in his car with Nova and left. On top of losing my girl, I lost my brother as well and this time we have no one to blame but ourselves. The fucking feds forced us out of Hollow Hills and threatened to arrest our families if we didn’t return to CHU. None of us wanted to leave without her but we also couldn’t let our families pay for our fuck up.

Every day the guys and I have tried to call Vox—he sends our calls to voicemail. Nova sends us updates on him but none of them are good. He tried to give up his place on the team but Dawson refused to allow it, the fucker wouldn’t even let us. Our original thoughts about him seem to have been wrong, the guy comes round every afternoon and drops off tapes of previous games, food and he even invited us to his family's cabin for Thanksgiving. None of us agreed.

We’ve all been running on autopilot. We get up, train, go to class, train, come home and then do it all again the next day.

“Did you see how he blitzed them at the fifty yard line?” The sound of Dawson’s voice pulls me from my inner thoughts. I look up at the TV and frown, I didn’t even realize he had put a tape in of some of the games from last year. I look across at the room,both Ez and Archer are sitting on three seaters gazing out the window, lost in their own thoughts.

This is our life.

We are shells of the men we once were because without her, we are nothing. We are empty. Soulless. She was our light and now that she isn’t here, we have nothing to look forward to. Football doesn't even make me happy. The only plus side to practice is we get to see Vox. He doesn’t glare or try to fight us, he just keeps his head down and stays silent. Even on the field, he doesn’t utter a single word.

Dawson sighs when he looks over at the guys. I don't know what this dickhead's deal is or why he is even here and trying to be our friend. A knock sounds at the front door and I furrow my brow. Ez and Archer both look at me but I’m not moving to answer it, unless it’s Vivian on the other side of that door, which I know it isn’t because my body isn’t on fire like it always is when she is near. Dawson grumbles and mutters something under his breath as he stands and goes to answer the door.

“Hello?”

“Hi, my name is Carmichael Lockery and I am the attorney for Mrs. Vivian Tempest—” At the mention of her name, the three of us are jumping over the sofas and running to the door. Dawson sees us coming and his eyes widen in surprise before he jumps out of the way. Carmichael looks frightened at the sight of us charging toward him.

“Where is she?” I snap. The guy jolts and opens his mouth but no words come out.

“Speak up!” Archer snaps.

“Where is my wife?” Ezekiel roars. The guy takes a step back and before I can rush him, Dawson cuts in front of us and raises his hands.

“How about you guys take it down a notch and invite Mr. Lockery inside so he can explain why he is here?” Dawson peers over his shoulder at the guy. He forces a nod and gulps.

“Y-yes,” he stutters. Dawson nods then turns back to us.

“Guys, have a seat and I’ll walk him in, huh?” Fucking beats me why we listen to the idiot but we all turn and storm back into the living room. The three of us claim the sofa and sit there, waiting for the other two. The second Dawson enters with the fucker he offers him a seat. I’m about to start screaming at the cunt soon if he doesn’t start explaining why he is here! I can feel the tension wafting off the guys, we all want answers.

“Thank you for seeing me. We can begin as soon as Mr. Hatchett arrives,” the fucker in a suit that doesn’t fit him properly says.

“Vox?” Ez asks.

Carmichael nods. “Yes, this involves him as well and per Mrs. Tempest's instruction this must be read whilst he is present.” The guys and I share a look just as the front door opens. In true Vox fashion, he saunters into the room with a hard look on his face, Nova trailing in behind him. He stops at the edge of the room and looks from us, then turns to Dawson and Carmichael. Nova interlaces his fingers with hers and I see him relax slightly. Envy rears its ugly head inside me.

“What the fuck is this?” Hearing Vox’s voice after so long is like a balm to my battered spirit, call me crazy but just being around him at practice seems to ease some of the pain in my chest. In the brief moment he’ll look at me, I see her in his eyes. They are twins and have the exact same shade of color. Knowing that he is her exact other half makes me feel closer to her and I know that’s wrong and unhealthy but I am fucking breaking, I’m dying slowly without her. I’m not the only one, Archer and Ezekiel are exactly like me. They do nothing except try to searchfor her. We all reached out to Alexander and asked for Halo’s help in tracking her.

After the threats we spewed at them I was sure they would tell us to get fucked, but Alex said he felt just as responsible for her going missing. She told him that she had made a deal with the feds and that she would be released in a day or two after giving her statement, but it’s been three fucking weeks. Halo has had no luck in tracking her. He said she is being hidden. There was another option but we refused to believe that she was gone. We would fucking know if she was… I push that thought away and focus back on the man with the briefcase sitting on his lap.

“Would you please have a seat?—”

Vox cuts Carmichael off. “No, you better start explaining why the fuck I was dragged here by my girlfriend?—”

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