Page 49 of Volatile Waters

I rolled my eyes. “You only knew him for a few weeks.”

“I was a fucking kid, you heartless bastard.”

“Meh.” I shrugged.

His lips flattened. “Maybe I’m trying to make up for the promise you broke. Have you heard anything about Sam?”

He was chasing ghosts. He was chasing a redemption he would never find. “You can’t save her. She’s gone.”

Crash stared off into the darkness in more way than one. “Is she alive?” I stayed silent. “Has her owner bought another?” Crash was smart. If her owner bought another, chances were, she was being replaced due to being deceased. When I still didn’t answer, he quietly said, “Please.”

I did my best to remind myself I was a professional and not emotionally involved. “He has bought another.”

Refusing to look at me, Crash nodded, sadness blanketing his expression. “I will never forget what you did.” Then he pointed to the house where we just came. “You should know, I’m fighting for her.”

“I can see that.” I exhaled a long breath. “Then let me take Reether.”

His reaction was intense, and I was clueless about what I was dealing with. “Are you insane? He has nothing to do with this!”

“He overheard a ‘conversation’ you had with your father.”

Crash blinked but stayed stubborn, shaking his head. “No way. I just met him. Never knew I had another brother.” He glared daggers at me. “So, fuck you, Yury. He stays with me. Reether doesn’t even know who I am to him. He’s innocent.”

In the corner of my eye, I could see Kirill and Adrian trying to reattach their jaws. Not only was I now understanding why Reether looked so familiar to me, but I was captivated by the fact Crash was clueless to who his biological mother was.

Barely recovering from the shocking news, I sneered, “A drug dealer’s son is innocent?”

“Are you listening to me, fucktard? He doesn’t know who his dad is. My dad doesn’t know about him, either. The woman he fucked must’ve kept the pregnancy to herself. Can you blame her?”

Pet has been a very bad girl.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

For many nights, we watched as Crash kept his word, sitting in the Summers’ backyard, literally watching over Whitney and his brother. I say literally, because Reether was there, too, clueless of his impending danger. All the while, Whitney was oblivious to the triumphant efforts taking place below while she slept.

From the woods, I was too far away to hear but was so curious to what Crash and Reether talked about for all those dark hours, how they found Whit to be enough of a common ground that they learned to join forces against her threat. Their undying dedication spurred curiosity in me. I had never experienced such devotion and wanted to understand something I could only witness in other’s actions.

There was something else I wondered about, also—if I were going to be able to watch Whitney dance again. Still entranced and desperate for more, I found myself preparing to sneak into her high school. Adrian hated the idea. “And if you get caught?”

At the hotel, I had asked Kirill to get his little stripper to call the school asking for a Whitney Summers. She was told she was unavailable due to being a part of an audition in the auditorium.

I got out of the SUV parked across the street of the school’s parking lot, but before I could shut the door, Kirill chuckled. “Look who likes them young now. No?”

Ignoring their remarks and accusations, I traveled across the school’s property. Since the school doors were locked and ringing the bell to say, “Hello, my name is Yury, and I am a human trafficker. May I please come in to spy on one of your students?” didn’t seem wise, I decided to be patient and wait. As a student exited, I smiled and held the door open for her, then slipped inside to follow signs to guide me to the Auditorium.

A piano was just starting to play a haunting song as I approached a side door to a stage. Peering through the little window above the handle, I found her; the one who made me ache for peace. On the stage, all by her lonesome, was Whitney. With no self-control, my hand opened the door. Before I knew what I was doing, I was standing in the wings of the stage, completely enamored. Fire burned from her soul as she danced from one part of the stage to another. Grabbing her chest through expression, I found myself once again grabbing my own.

In disbelief, I glanced down to my hand. It was the first time I had felt my heart beating in years.

I would’ve watched her to the end of times, but I was suddenly in the presence of another. Crash glared at me as we stood shoulder to shoulder. Causing a scene wouldn’t have benefited me in the least. It was time to exit, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

I mouthed, “Fuck you,” to Crash before I left.

As I slipped back through the stage door, the music came to an end. In the school hallway, I pressed my back against the wall to catch my breath from seeing her so close. Within seconds, the door started to open, so I raced around a corner. I could hear Crash quietly growling, “Tell me I’m still not alone in this! Ignore me if you will, but don’t fucking lie to yourself.”

My stomach soured to know he was already so close to the dancer who silently sung to me. So, when I heard a door opening and saw a teacher exit a classroom, I approached him, acting as if a concerned bystander. “Sir, I think there is a student being rough with another.”

As if on cue, Whitney shrieked, “You’re still not alone! I shouldn’t, but damn…”