Embry’s POV
Day 12
My body shivered slightly with the coldness that enveloped it from the wet hair that sat heavily against my shoulders. My fingers continuously stroking the soft fabric of the dress, the feeling seeming foreign to me after spending so much time without it. That ended today, Noah had woken me up early enough, elation rolling off of him as he explained how we would be leaving today. I would finally get to leave this basement after God knows how long.
I was at long last able to wear proper clothes again, hence my excitement with the dress, as well as a wool cardigan to keep the frosty January air from irritating my skin. I even had shoes. Small black pumps. “I was thinking of two French plaits, what do you think, little bug?” Noah questioned, already parting my hair as I gave a small nod.
“Words baby” he scolded as I hurried to fix my mistake, “French plaits would be nice, thank you Noah” I smiled, humming along to the playlist Noah had playing from his phone. “Good girl” he leaned over, kissing my right temple. “Are you going to be okay going on a plane or do you need to be put asleep for the journey?” Frowning at the thought of missing the scenery I quickly replied, “no, no, I’ll be fine, I promise.”
The excitement was pouring off of me, the whole time I was in the bath Noah had been telling me stories of how we could go outside whenever we wanted at our new home because there wouldn’t be many people around. A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled the rest of his story. His father owned most of the island so of course his men worked there, and according to Noah they weren’t very nice.
I was sure he was over-dramatising it so I would be careful but my stomach couldn’t help but churn as I thought about what he said could happen to me, vile things which I would never repeat. I felt sick even visualising the words, but I would be okay. The words he had assured me over and over again calmed me down.
“I will protect you Embry, you never have to worry about hurting again when I am here”
“And done my beautiful wife” a wide grin plastered to his face as he pulled me from my seated position to give me a little twirl. “I think we are ready to go, everything is packed in the car” he scanned the small, bare room before taking my hand in his. His warm skin feels nice against my own. It made me feel safe. It made me feel as if loneliness was not a feeling I would ever have to experience again.
“Can I say goodbye to Evelyn?” I wondered, climbing the stairs for the first time in a while. The grandness of the house amazed me once again. Although I guess it wouldn’t take much to amaze me after being in that grey box of a room. “No baby girl, you can call her from the plane, remember what I said, we can’t bump into Sebastian or he’ll try to hurt you again” his dark eyes met mine as I felt small against the tone of his voice.
Noah had made sure to thoroughly explain how Sebastian was still adamant on his plan to get back at him and how at this point he was just going to ridiculous lengths. The realisation wasn’t new to me but it hurt all that more seeing every dot of his plan align perfectly. “You don’t want that, do you little bug?” Noah had stopped at this point, his head turned down to face me as his hand rested on my cheek. A look of sarcastic pity on his face, gulping I shut my eyes knowing he knew what was best for me when it came to this house and these people. I only had to think of how much pain I was in because I ran away from him after the wedding. “No” my voice was croaky as I fought to hide the raging emotions of sorrow inside of me.
“That’s my girl” he bent down towards me, his lips catching my own in a power hungry kiss. It made me feel weak. Not the kind of weak in your knees type feeling of weakness, rather the pathetic, helpless form of weakness. But Noah was the only person who was there for me right now so if this temporary feeling was one he gave me every so often I would take it any day over the feeling that staring at my bedroom ceiling every night with the stinging sensation of dried tears on my cheek gave me.
“Lets go” he smiled, placing a guiding hand on the small of my back as he opened the passenger seat of the car for me. This time he was driving the car, the duty of music selection falling into my hands. “We should be on the plane in about an hour and a half, we have to go to a different area considering an incident that occured at the last one” he clarified, hitting his fingers against the wheel with the beat of the song.
“And she has good music taste, damn baby what is it you can’t do” he smirked, gently squeezing my hand in his quickly before he moved it back to the gear stick. “A cartwheel” my tone was serious as I looked at him with a neutral face. It was true, I wasn’t a very good gymnast, I wasn’t a gymnast at all. “Wow, I think I’ve just lost some respect for you there little bug” he jokingly shook his head, a smile creeping onto his face.
“Oh dear, how will I ever go on?” I rolled my eyes playfully, clicking onto the next song. “I guess I will just have to rid the world of all those who can do a cartwheel to spare myself such embarrassment” I dramatically sighed as his smile turned into a full blown smirk. The happiness reached his eyes. The conversation didn’t change its course much during the ride, us filling any possible silence with our jokes and laughter.
We had spent the journey just being kids. Because that is what we were, just some random eighteen and nineteen year old duo who forgot far too often that we were kids. Who forgot far too often how to be kids.
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Noah’s POV
“Come on baby, I can practically feel the tiredness rolling off of you, just go to sleep, I promise you aren’t going to miss much scenery other than the same clouds you have been staring at for the past forty minutes,” I gave a disapproving look as her droopy eyes shot open once again. Reaching over I unbuckled her belt and lifted her from her seat, placing her down on my lap.
As if she even had the energy to fight me on this. “I promise I’ll wake you up as we are landing so you can look out the window, okay little bug” I gave her a serious look, as if daring her to argue with me right now. No matter how much she denied it, I knew she didn’t sleep well down in the basement, her nightmares had stopped after a couple of days but I knew her mind was constantly buzzing with life, even as she tried to sleep.
“I’m not sleepy I-” her words were cut off by a yawn as I rolled my eyes at her stubbornness. Guiding her head to rest on my shoulder, I undid the plaits from her hair, scratching my nails gently against her scalp. Resisting the urge to laugh as she sighed in happiness before cuddling closer to me, “get some rest baby girl” I whispered, using my other hand to rub circles on her back.
“I love you Embry” I mumbled into her hair as I planted a kiss on her cheek. The flashing of my phone screen disturbing my peaceful moment with my beautiful baby, careful not to disturb her I lowered the brightness of the screen, scrolling through the new messages.
Five missed calls from Sebastian and twelve new text messages. Oh yes and I am the unhinged, obsessive one. A satisfied smirk lifted on my lips as I read through the new messages from my beloved brother.
“Noah, what the fuck, where is she?”
“You’re a fucking prick you know that”
“Did you even tell mom and dad, I swear if you hurt her anymore than you have, I’ll murder you”
“You think just by up and leaving without telling anyone, you can keep her from me”
His weak attempts at intimidation were laughable to say the least. Most of his messages reiterate what he said in the previous ones, but that last one left a bad taste in my mouth. As if he ever had any claim to her. She was mine. She has always been mine and she always will be mine.
Scrunching my eyes shut I focused on controlling my anger knowing if Embry woke up now she wouldn’t be getting any sleep until tonight, and a cranky Embry certainly is not what I wanted to be dealing with at the moment.
“Hmm I guess you were too late my dear brother, maybe next time our plan shouldn’t involve leaving her with me for twelve days, sad to think about how I am the only one in the family with brain cells, don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep you updated on how content she is here with me”
With a cunning smirk, I shut my phone off fully, not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction any longer. He truly did underestimate my power. Embry didn’t want him anymore, no I had made sure of that. To think she had been so confident in her identification of manipulation, and yet she had just been so easy to convince while mentally weak from being trapped in that room.
Reminding her every day of Sebastian’s wicked plan for her helped significantly and the fact that there was nobody else to convince her otherwise. Just as it always should have been. Her and I.
Just the two of us.
Forever and always.