Chapter 5 Emmi- Meeting The Wolversons

• I sit watching as Bear disappears through the door, the rage still building - but more at myself for this stupid move. Some of the rage is directed at my mother too, for lying over what the party is for. She wouldn’t have told me; no, she would have let me go and just waved me off at the end of the fucking night! I stand and walk towards the door, and I don’t even know why because I can see the lift needs a card, and I don’t have one. The door to the stairs clearly needs a key too. Walking back through, I go into the same room as before, my eyes on the windows. I glance out. It’s a balcony. Opening the door, I step out and glance down.
• It’s at least a 20ft drop. Maybe a bit less if I can use the balcony and dangle from the bottom? I grab my bag, deciding to try to call someone, anyone. I glance at my phone and quickly give in. I can’t, how can I? No one is going to go against two fucking cities to rescue me. I scream slightly and kick the railing.
• “Who the fuck are you?”
• I jump and spin to face a man. My mouth opens, but all that comes out is stammers and confusion because I have no idea who the hell this guy is, or who I am anymore. Not really.
• “Well?” he growls, stepping forward.
• “I’m Emmi.” His eyes widen, and if I thought he was angry before, I was mistaken because now he looks like he could really just give me a nudge and push me over this railing.
• “Who the fuck brought you here?”
• I stand looking at him, confused. He isn’t like Gunner and Bear. They are so eager to have me here but this guy, no, he looks like me been here is the worst thing in the world. “Bear brought me,” I say, hoping he takes my answer and leaves me the hell alone. I was scared of Gunner because something about him screams crazy. This guy, though, is different. His eyes are dark, and all they show is hatred, pure rage and hate. I breathe a sigh of relief as he walks off towards the kitchen just as the door opens.
• I watch Gunner and Bear walk out with another man, all carrying plates.
• “Why the fuck is she here?” The guy points back at me.
• “She has a name!” I glare at him.
• “Don’t fucking push me, Princess, because I’m not as welcoming as this moron.” His words are venomous.
• Bear simply places the plates down and sits, which only seems to push the guy into a more anger-filled rage. “Bear? What the fuck did I say about the deal?”
• I step into the room now, and they all turn to look at me.
• “Sit, little lamb and eat.” I glance between them all. I don’t want to. That guy seems to hate the idea of me being here, and the other guy who came from the kitchen? I can’t read him. He is quiet, just staying out of their argument. “Now!” I jump at the loudness of Bear’s voice and walk forward to take the seat next to him.
• “Bear.” I hear the ragged voice from behind us. Is Bear really going to ignore him?
• “Sit, Dante. I think we should sit and talk rather than start a war between ourselves with our own rage.” Finally, the other guy speaks up. Is he the calm one among the crazies? It seems that way, I hear Dante shifting, and slowly he sits opposite us. Yet his eyes are still full of hatred, nothing but pure hate. Great, so I’m hated and yet expected to live here?
• “Okay, little lamb. You know Gunner and me. That is Dante, and that is Zane. The other two brothers.” Bear points out who the two men are calmly, as if Dante isn’t trying to kill him with his eyes.
• “It’s nice to meet you, Emmi.” I turn and look towards Zane. He is the first person to call me by name, no little lamb, Princess, or something else. He says it like I am a person, an equal, which I like. He says it like I’m not tied to my family or to the city.
• “I said not to bring her here and forget the deal.” The words of Dante have me turning from Zane to look at him. His eyes are still fixed on Bear.
• “The deal needed to be upheld. People would ask why it wasn’t.” Bear says back while eating his food. His eyes now looking at me. “Eat.” Does he order everyone around like that? I decide not to argue and eat because, well, Dante is already taking up enough of the room with his anger and argument.
• “Don’t get attached, Bear. I said it over and over, this deal is stupid. No woman is coming here. No woman is living here, and no woman is marrying any of us in this way.” I look at Dante.
• Part of me wants to smile because he’s trying to stop this happen. But it isn’t for me. It isn’t because he doesn’t believe in it, or he thinks it is cruel. He just hates women. That much is clear by the way he snarls the word every time it leaves his lips.
• So, I sit and eat quietly and listen to them arguing over this agreement. Dante is standing his ground in that he wants no woman here, ever. Bear is standing his ground that the deal was made and should be upheld, or they take Jamie but, well, Dante’s shocked look at that is far worse than having me here. I keep my eyes on Dante at the mention of him, his eyes locked on Bear’s.
• “No.”
• Is that all he can say? No? What does he have so against Jamie?
• “It is your choice, Dante. Her, or him. Choose.” Bear looks at him, waiting.
• “You really want me to choose one?” Dante glares over at Bear, and all Bear does is nod back. “Fine, her. A warning though, sugar, stay the fuck away from me.” He stands up, pushing away from the table, and storms out. I want to ask why he hates women, but I decide against it and ask another question.
• “Why do you all hate Jamie?” I glance around, and Gunner laughs.
• He slams down a dagger, and my eyes widen. One, because it is beautiful and two, because why has he put a dagger on the table?
• “You like daggers, little kitten?” He grins at me.
• Shuffling, I feel up my leg for mine, and it isn’t there? I look down, trying to find it, but it has gone. How and when?
• “Looking for this, little lamb?” I turn to Bear, and he holds up my dagger. I go to snatch it back, but he pulls it away. “Tomorrow, you can have it back when I know you won’t attack us with it. Now onto your question.” He places my dagger next to him on the side furthest away from me, and Gunner seems to have a glimmer of interest in his eyes.
• “Jamie is well known, Emmi. He thinks everyone believes he passes out punishments, but everyone knows he is too scared to. If we won’t do it ourselves in our city, we won’t ask anyone else to. Jamie, though, pretends he is beating someone and torturing them for information, for payback, all those things, but in fact, he gets someone else to do it and walks away. Then he pretends it was him. He would die over here within an hour.”
• I stare at Zane. He has that wrong. Sure, the city punishes people and things but not that far. Never have I heard anyone go that far. Surely, they are wrong, and surely Jamie isn’t that weak? When I saw him chase away guys, was it really show and then he got someone else to threaten them?
• “Look, little lamb. Your city does things hidden. Your city tries to portray it as good, and everyone follows the rules, and no major punishments are needed. Ask Jamie, what you saw me do is no secret in our cities. I guarantee in your own city, others are dealt the same fate. The difference is, we don’t hide it. We don’t pretend to do it and get someone else to. That is his weakness, and one day someone will use it. Someone will confront him when he is alone, and then what? He won’t do it, and the city will turn on him.” I listen to Bear’s words. I knew people were warned off. Hell, I knew people were killed, but I just assumed they were killed quickly, not tortured slowly and painfully like Mich was at Bear’s hands.
• I don’t even know what to say other than I want Jamie to stay on that side. But, if everyone knows, then one foot over that line, and he is dead. Then what? What will happen to my mother? Sure, I hate her, but I still love her.
• “You seem to know how to fight, to stand up to people. Yet you had no idea what really went on in your own city? So, tell me, little lamb, how far did your freedom go?”
• “I didn’t have freedom. I was only allowed in one bar and one store without my parents. Even as I got older, that rule stayed. If I tried going into others, the workers and even customers would freak out and tell my parents that I’d been there. They limited where I could go, and who I could meet and be near. If a guy showed interest, he would disappear. Those who didn’t disappear just avoided me. Friends didn’t stay long. The rules my parents had for me rolled onto them when they were with me, and it was always too much. Twenty-four years, and while I snuck into places, I was never free. I’d try to kiss a guy, and everyone would freak out and tell them.”
• And when Paul had offered me a way out, I’d said I would give him money to escape. He flies a few smaller planes for deals the city makes between others. So that was my escape. He could fly us away from these two goddamn awful cities and give me freedom.
• “You’re telling me you have never kissed a guy?” I hear Gunner’s words, and I laugh.
• “Oh, I have.” Then they run because, well, who really sees anything like kissing worthy of death? No one.
• “But you’re a virgin still? The strict rules, the lack of freedom, the fact people knew who you were, and the deal with us made people refuse.” Gunner’s words are all true, but I want to lie. I want to say I’m not, but how can I? They will ask who and no doubt kill the person, but I am not that cruel to send an innocent man to death. All three pairs of eyes are on me in interest, and I feel eyes on the back of me Dante is stood in the hall, looking at me with pure interest and lust? He meets my gaze and quickly he turns back to that cold, hateful guy. But everyone else is looking at me in wonder. I feel my face heat up. I don’t know where to look in the silence of the room.
• “Why is there a guy strapped up in your room Gunner?” Dante breaks the silence and changes the subject, which I am grateful for. I now let my eyes go to Zane and finally take him in. He isn’t as big as the others, at least in height. Yet his muscles are just as big, if not bigger. His strong jawline is perfect. Yet, he is covered, his shirt buttoned all the way up, almost as if he is hiding something. What though? In those deep brown eyes, though, is pure warmth and love. I look towards Gunner. He is all muscle, big, and his blue eyes are mesmerising yet full of crazy; even I know crazy when I see it. I stay looking at him as I replay Dante back. He is very much like Bear, but with green eyes, his hair long and tied back. They all have tattoos, the same ones, I am guessing that climb up their necks. I can’t be sure as most of Zane’s is hidden. Bear’s eyes are just like Gunners, blue and mesmerising.
• “Little lamb?” I turn and look at Bear, who is now standing. Shit, I didn’t even hear anything. “Come on, I’ll show you where you can sleep tonight.” I get up and follow him through the house. Stopping at the door, he opens it and I walk in. My eyes take in the beauty of the room.
• “Thanks.” That is all I can say because while I am getting sent here and expected to marry one of these crazy idiots, he left me. He didn’t ship me straight back home, and in a way, this is freedom, even if it still involves me being locked up. It is freedom from my city.
• “No problem, little lamb, here's one of my shirts for you to sleep in.” He hands it to me. “I got a message to your brother and mother that I was in your city and bumped into you and we got talking. No one will know you tried to escape,” he explains before walking out.
• He didn’t need to do that. He could have told my mother and had her deal with me when I got home. It makes me feel almost like a child. I’m twenty-four. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I am still treated like a child, and I hate it. Walking farther into the room, I see the bathroom. I walk into it and strip, slowly stepping into the shower and letting the water run over me. There is no way out of this. I have no choice but to make this work, to get to know them and just hope I feel something for one of them because if I don’t, they will go for Jamie and him in this city is a disaster waiting to happen.
• I know I won’t have freedom. It will be just the same as living in my city. Unless maybe I will? Maybe once I marry one of them, I will get the freedom to move around, even if I have to have a guard at my side? I climb into the bed, and hours seem to disappear as I struggle to fall asleep. I want a drink, but I’m too worried about seeing Gunner. Actually, I’m more worried about running into Dante. But this is soon to be my house, so I need to be willing to walk around.
• I climb out of bed and walk out of the room, slowly through to the kitchen. I grab a glass and fill it. Laughing, I pick up the bottle. I may as well take the whole thing with me. I doubt I will fall asleep quickly, and if I drink enough, that will help. I open the door but stop when I hear voices.
• “For me? Do you really think that? That having her here is easy for me?” I hear Zane’s words.
• “You sure seemed fucking calm.” Dante's harsh voice is still full of anger.
• “Because we have no choice but to be. She isn’t my past, and she isn’t yours. To punish her and be cruel because of our fucked-up minds is wrong. She won’t understand or know why,” Zane explains.
• “The whole deal should have been thrown out,” Dante says.
• “We tried, Dante. Dad tried before he died.” Zane sounds frustrated. “We don’t, then what?” he asks.
• “Does it matter? It has nothing to do with us how they run their city, how they treat their family.” Dante is right.
• “Come on, Dante, you know full well she wouldn’t be here if her mother-” I move by mistake and the door moves. The talking stops. Shit, and shit. I glance around, and there is no way out, just that way. So, I quickly move across the kitchen and stand there, drinking while cuddling the bottle as if it would somehow save me.
• I watch as the door opens, and they both stand looking at me, confused.
• “What the fuck are you doing?” Dante looks furious. I move and hold up the glass. Pouring it down my throat, I refill the glass and stand up straight.
• “Don’t worry, just getting something to help me sleep.” I push past them both and walk back to the room I’m sleeping in. Sitting on the bed, I fill up the glass and drink. My mind is on everything, on the fact that my mother isn’t refusing and fighting against this. That she seems almost happy to have me come here. On Jamie and how he has acted and pretended like he is someone strong, controlling my life when he isn’t.
• After hearing everything, I have probably punched more men than Jamie, and that is crazy considering the fact I hardly had freedom. I feel like I need to stand up and ask why. Ask just what happens in that city. Is this why I’m restricted so much? To keep the truth hidden from me? I knew things were bad. I knew people were scared of us, scared of what my family would do when it came to me. I didn’t ever consider how bad it was, though. The way Ethan acted when everyone thought he had touched me tells me it wasn’t just my family that was the issue, but these Wolversons too. Those from my city knew not to touch me. They knew I was theirs.
• They know now that no one dared to touch me and that I’m still a virgin. But I’ll fix that. Even if it takes paying someone, I will fix that. I will get the freedom of choosing who I fuck and lose it to. Though, I don’t know how to.
• I want to see Ethan. He was a friend, albeit from a distance. He was the only one to give me any freedom. Sucking up my pride and wiping the tears, I walk out towards the main room. Bear looks up at me as I enter.
• “You should be asleep, little lamb.”
• I hold in my anger and rage that wants to scream at him over him for calling me ‘little lamb’. “What is happening to Ethan?”
• He smiles. “Do you really want to details?”
• Do I? I nod and wipe the tears from my eyes.
• “Why are you crying, little lamb?” He stands up, looking at me confused.
• Does he even need to ask? This whole situation is why I am crying, and I just got Ethan a death sentence. I know I have. I hate myself right now.