Page 4 of Complete Me
The front door is kicked wide open as fire rages behind Camden. He walks out of the house with my sister’s limp body cradled in his arms. Her head hangs back at an angle that’s all wrong, arm hanging lifeless toward the ground, the clothes left on her body ripped and dirtied, and I know the truth before they get any closer.
All the life drains out of my body. I crumble to my knees, an animalistic wail echoing through the night as my soul is torn in two and my heart shatters into a million pieces. Like the devil himself plunged his cold, dead hand into my chest and obliterated everything good that was once there, I’m left empty and devoid of any light, any good.
She can’t be gone. My sweet Lena. So full of life. Her sweet, infectious smile. The laugh that could turn anyone’s mood around. She had her entire life ahead of her. My vision is clouded, darkness creeping in at the edges as he walks toward me. Everything is silent around me, moving like a slow-motion picture, while I spiral out of control. I heave in lungfuls of air, my knuckles rubbing the spot where my heart used to beat.
Camden’s leather boots stop in front of me, and he drops to one knee as he places her in my arms. I sink further into thehard ground as I hold my sister close. My eyes trace over her lifeless body, taking in the bruises marring her once-flawless skin, the blood that tracks down her thighs, the cuts, her busted lip. I push the wet strands of hair out of her face, looking into familiar green eyes that life no longer dances behind.
I run my hand over her eyelids to close them. Screams rip from my body as I rock her in my arms. Begging, praying to whoever will listen to take me instead. For whatever being that exists above to bring her back to this plane. To let her live. She deserves to live.
The fear she must have felt as they raped and beat her before stealing her precious life from her slams into me. Sobs wrack from my body. I was too fucking late. Too preoccupied with my own shit to realize she had gone out. I didn’t even know she was with Camden’s brother; I would have stopped it.
I could have prevented this.
Why didn’t I prevent this?
How did I not protect the one person on Earth I would gladly die for?
“Wh-where’s Lucas?” I don’t recognize my own voice as the words struggle to come out between labored breaths.
Camden’s face pales further as he finally stands, but he holds stoic in his position as our leader, even though it’s his brother I’m asking about.
“He can’t be recovered. They burned him alive.”
“FUCK!” I scream until my voice runs hoarse.
Tears continue to pour down my face, dripping onto Lena’s, the wet droplets leaving track marks over the dirty flesh of her body.
“We need to move, Rogue. We gotta get out of here before the police arrive.”
Camden moves to reach for Lena, and I jerk out of his way with a snarl, pulling her closer to me, an inhuman growl leavingmy chest. He puts his hands up defensively, and I know he means no harm, but no one will take her from me. No one. Camden squats down to my level again, and I know what he’s gonna offer before he says it.
“We’ve got two options, and you need to make a decision quick or I’ll make it for you. One, we take her with us, we give her a proper burial on our grounds or somewhere pretty, but she’s just gonna be a missing person from here on out. No one will know what happened to her but us. Two, we leave her here for the cops to find, and your parents will get closure and eventually find peace. But they’ll know every terrifying, brutal detail of what happened to her tonight.”
I look down at my sweet little sister, and I know I would rather die than leave her in the hell that took her life from us. I also can’t bear my mom’s pain of knowing the truth about her only daughter’s fate. I would rather her live with hope in her heart that someday Lena would be found. It wouldn’t bring them closure; it would kill both of my parents just like it killed me.
Forcing my legs to work is a strength I pull from some unknown place as I cradle her close. Chaos helps me get situated on my bike with her wrapped tight in my arms. It takes all my strength and balance, but I follow the rest of our crew out of this shithole and back to our clubhouse on autopilot, holding my lifeless sister—my best fucking friend—in my arms. I’ll never recover from this.
I feel like I’m drowning, the weight of Lena’s death holding me under the water like an anchor, knowing I’ll never be able to come up for air again, but not putting me out of my misery and ending it. I walk into church and am thankful to find that it’s only me and Chaos right now.
I drop my cut onto the table in front of him, and the seriousness and finality of what that represents sucks the air from the room.
“I want out.”
Chaos stands, resting his hands on the table as he peers down at my cut.
“You’ll never be out, Rogue. You know what you joined. You’re a Hell’s Heathen. Only way out is through Hell’s gates, and you’re not dying today.”
“Camden . . .”
“No!” he snaps loudly, slamming his fist down onto the table. “In here, I’m your president. You aren’t the only one who lost a sibling that day. I feel the weight of that shit every single moment. Lucas was . . . fuck!” His spine straightens as he pushes his hair out of his face.
I know this eats up Camden every day, but he and I both know it’s different. We all know it could have been any one of us. Lucas had earned his cut, and he knew the risks just as each of us does. But Lena? Lena was innocent. Lena was pure light and everything good in the world.
“You’ll never beout,Rogue. Ever.”
“Chaos . . .” I plead.
“When I gave you your road name, I didn’t think it would mean what it’s about to. You’re not out, but I’m letting you go. Show up for church when I need you, be there when we call, but you can leave,” he says, pushing my cut back into my arms.
