Page 101 of Fangs
“I havealwaysbeen a thing, a weapon, a pawn, abounty.” I hoped the eavesdroppers downstairs heard that one. “Do you have any idea how it feels always beingusedby people to get whatevertheywant?”
His face contorted as though he was in physical pain.
“And theonlyperson I knew for sure didn’t see me that way is fuckin’ dead.” Angry tears rolled down my face. “And for some stupid fuckin’ reason, I still haven’t learned that nothin’ is ever gonna change.”
“Shortcake,” he said quietly, taking a step toward me, but I threw my hand up, halting him.
“Don’t,” I choked out. “Go away. I don’t want to see you.”
“Emmy,” he tried.
“Donotcall me that,” I hissed, pointing at the ladder with a shaky hand. “Get the fuck out.”
He stood still for a moment, staring at me, but I went back to violently scrubbing the floor, pretending I wasn’t still angrily crying.
“Alright. Well. If you need anythin’, I’ll be at the bunkhouse,” he finally said.
I listened to him going down the ladder. There were a few mumbled farewells from Wolf’s crew, and then the door shut, leaving behind an awkward silence.
I continued to scrub the floor, eventually managing to stuff the anger and the hurt back down to a simmering emptiness. I was dreading someone coming up the ladder and trying to talk to me, but to my relief, no one did. It wasn’t until the dinner bell rang about an hour later that Lee’s head cautiously appeared.
“You want to go to dinner?” he asked.
“No.”
“Alright,” he hesitated. “We’ll bring you something back.”
I didn’t answer, and eventually, I heard him go back down the ladder. It sounded like Wolf’s whole pack had left, and I waited for several minutes before venturing down the ladder. The clinic was indeed empty, so I used the outhouse and drank some water before pulling the ladder up with the new pulley system. Once I was safely curled up on my mattress under Trey’s quilt, I let myself cry.
I longed for Trey so much it hurt. It stung that he hid this from me, but at the same time, I knew he would have told me on our way back if I hadn’t been drugged the whole time. He wouldn’t have made me stew about it. He would have beenhonestbecause that’s who hewas—maybe the only honest person left in the world, and because of me, he was dead.
I knew I was spiraling down a dark hole, but learning Dune lied to me was awful enough, and nowthis?
About an hour later, I heard Wolf’s crew come back. Someone quietly called my name from downstairs, but I pretended to be asleep, and eventually, they seemed to give up. I could hear them talking for a long time, but they kept their voices carefully quiet. It didn’t matter. I knew they were talking about me, probably making their own plans for what they wanted to do with me because it didn’t fucking matter what I wanted. It never did.
17
Icould feel the sun and the gentle wind on my face. The air smelled sweet and floral. Slowly, I opened my eyes and blinked at the landscape around me. I was standing in a mountain meadow, surrounded by wildflowers. The sky above was a bright blue with no clouds in sight. A light breeze blew, making the flowers bob and sway and playing with my hair. I slowly turned, and my skirt swung around my legs. I realized I was wearing a simple but pretty dress made from a fabric with small flowers printed on it.
Something in my chest seemed to tug, pulling my attention away from the flowers to look out into the distance. I froze, my heart pounding at the sight of a figure striding down the mountainside toward me. They were walking directly in front of the sun, making it impossible to see any features, but I immediately knew who it was.
I started to run, and so did he, and by the time we crashed together in the middle of the wildflowers, I was sobbing.
“It’s alright, darlin’,” Trey murmured, his voice rough with emotion. “It’s alright.”
“No, it’s not fuckin’ alright,” I sobbed furiously into Trey’s shirt.
“I know,” he said softly, his strong arms wrapped around me. “I know.”
“Please, Trey, I can’t… I can’t do this without you.”
“You don’t have to.” He pressed a kiss into my hair. “I’m always gonna be with you.”
“That is such a load of shit,” I sobbed.
He laughed sadly. “I know, but it’s the best I can do.”
I couldn’t speak anymore, sobbing too hard for words. My arms moved up to twine around Trey’s neck, trying to pull him closer as though I could physically keep him here with me. He held me just as tightly, and it felt like I was somehow shattering and being pieced back together at the same time.
