Page 34 of Caged Heart
Anything that I’ve done to Carmen, she wanted that to happen so I made it happen. Like I told her, I was no Adam seeking his Eve, I was the fucking snake ready to bite and release my venom into her veins so she could die to herself and become mine.
“She belongs to me,” I whispered my words out loud and released it into the world, not caring that we were practicing. “Even if she doesn’t know it yet.”
Like a swirling dust of a sandstorm, the feelings that I’ve kept buried about Carmen came up to attack me while one of my players, Tyler barreled full force toward me. There wasn’t any time to do anything but be on the defense. This was what practice was about, understanding that one moment of losing focus could forever take something away from us.
I planted my skates on the ice, firmly ensuring he understood what he had just done and how he was challenging me. The heavy snowstorm brewing inside me wasn’t letting up and neither would I when it came to this moment. I was born stubborn and I will never change how I am. The same storm was ever-thickening and it was quickly making my visibility of letting Carmen do whatever the fuck she wanted, a serious problem, especially now since my father was in town searching for something from me.
I didn’t need to go lurking to find out what it was. It was the initiation again. The years after where we welcome a new member into the fold.
The wick was formed to eliminate weak little boys and turn them into strong men. Men who wouldn’t have an issue fucking up the rest of the world. It’s an old practice and there’s nothing that can be done. For others, they want to destroy the Wick, form something else and make it friendly but I have no qualms about it. It doesn’t bother me. Not the rituals, practices, hell, even the fact that we swear part of who we are to them.
Crouching a bit lower and bending my knees, Tyler knocks into my shoulder just as I deliver a blow with the same shoulder and he goes flying across the rink. It isn’t because I’m some sort of god that it happens. It’s because he was going too fast with one thought on his mind, to put me down. But I won’t ever be put down. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the ice or anywhere else.
“20 Laps around the ice!Lows and Highs, Tyler, you’re the lead! Now!” the venomous look that Tyler shot me and the grumbles from our teammates were enough to have me smirking.” Come on, motherfuckers! Let’s learn how to not just be little shits and win this year.”
I removed my helmet, setting it down with my stick as I reached out, waiting for Tyler to take my hand. After a moment, Tyler smirked as he took my hand and I helped him up. He removed his helmet, setting it down along with his stick.
“Sorry, Capt.,”
Tyler apologized and began the 20 High and Lows. We all fell behind him as he shouted what we had to do. “High!” We skated regularly. “Low.” We crouched down picking up speed around the rink falling in unison; One team. One Family.
* * *
“She belongs to me…”
Artemis mocked me as I drove back home.
“Shut up.”
The anger that seethed through me made me dizzy and delirious. I don’t know why I was upset or this anger was eating at me but it was.
“You dare tell me to shut up, little brother?” Artemis’s anger was worse than mine. Even when she was alive. “No one cares about you but me yet you want to like this girl. Make her yours. Father will take her from you and make her his… just like everything else.”
She taunted me and I held on tight to the steering wheel. I couldn’t let her win tonight, I couldn’t succumb to the darkness.
“You’re not real.”
The words I never truly said out loud were now clear enough for both of us to hear.
Artemis chuckled as her head laid at a right angle, making her look lopsided, like something inside had come loose. And as I was losing myself in this moment, at this second, my phone rang through the Bluetooth. My eyes jerked toward the direction and I inhaled deeply, something had happened to me because Artemis was gone from my mind when I saw Carmen’s name printed.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Did you leave campus already?” She asked.
“I did.”
“Oh okay, I’ll get a ride with Monica then.” The disappointment laced in her tone, twisted and turned as they left the car speakers, making their way to my soul.
Before responding, I turned my car around, “I’ll be there in a bit. I’m not that far away.”
“It’s okay,” she said and unease rolled through me like a chilled, dark wave. I didn’t like the tone of her voice, and something was wrong and alarm bells rang deep in my soul.
“No, baby, I’m coming. Where are you?”
“I’m at the Telfer business committee’s building and just…”
“Goldilocks, what’s going on?” I didn’t know what it was that suddenly turned me into a protective shield that she needed, but I couldn’t help it.
