One Dance for Case (Possessed 2)

“Ah, ah, ah,” Bradshaw tsked from his position.

It was like everyone had forgotten that Case had Brooke in his sights. A sick smile formed on his face delighted he’d be able to take them by surprise.

“Don’t be a pussy, Bradshaw. Do it,” he heard Dee taunt.

“Quiet,” Dom snapped at her.

“Listen like the good little bitch you are.” Brooke laughed.

A small twitch of his hand grabbed Dom’s attention quickly, letting his friend know he had the bitch. She was his; she just didn’t know it yet.

“The police are on the way. This is your one and only chance to let them go. There’s no negotiating,” Dom tried to advise them both.

As their laughter rang out, he reminded them again, “I warned you.”

Dee yelled to Jax, “Close your eyes, baby,” just as Casey squeezed the trigger, hitting Brooke right between the eyes killing her instantly. Her gun and body dropped just as Jax jumped into his arms.

Relief flooded him that it was over.

“Lacey, you can’t keep doing this!”

Evelyn Moore was the younger sister. She shouldn’t be looking after her older sibling as if she were a child anymore. She was tired of the life she was living but was stuck.

Stuck in a shitty apartment that barely fit her bed, and there were three of them living here.

Stuck in a dead-end job stripping.

A job that only wanted her because of her unique hair color. When she was little, she loved how it was so blonde it could almost be called white. The way it made her azure blue eyes pop. She’d been told many times how beautiful she was. That she could be a model. She’d never paid any attention to the comments, though. Didn’t feel she was worthy of them.

Her shorter stature seemed to make her stand out even more. With curves that played on a man’s most fundamental weaknesses, she was quintessentially perfect to bring in the high-paying clientele her boss seemed to crave.

Being a high school drop-out left her with no choice but to endure the daily scrutiny. The attention of men who didn’t deserve to be in a woman’s presence, let alone enjoying her love of dance. “Evelyn, it’s my life, stop trying to be Mom.” Lacey said. The dig hurt.

Evelyn was the youngest at twenty-three. She was also the one their mom chose to abandon once Lacey moved out when she was eighteen and Ev was twelve. The abandonment sent her straight into a broken foster system that cared more about the little money they received than taking care of the children brought into their homes.

Not all of the people were bad. Once in while she would find a nice enough family. One that fed her regularly and put clothes on her back. But none that ever felt like home. She’d gone to a new foster home nearly every six months, sometimes more, until she ended up in one when she was sixteen where the dad and the uncle liked to abuse the kids…in any form.

She lasted a week before she ran, dropped out of school, and lived on the streets and in shelters for two years. There were times she wished she’d stayed in the system—like the cold winters and the blistering summers. Strangers trying to “get to know her”.

It was just as hard to trust people on the streets as it was in foster care. Everyone was out for themselves. If you couldn’t give them something they needed, then you were expendable, and she found that out the hard way when she mistakenly trusted a woman who said she wanted to help her. Turns out, she expected Evelyn to turn tricks. She was fresh meat after all.

Since that day, she’d kept her head down and her ears open. No one had proven themselves worthy of her trust ever since. She hid so much of herself from everyone around her that she feared her heart had closed off for good.

“I’m not trying to be, Lacey, but it’s not just you anymore.” The implication was clear as she looked to her two-year-old nephew Andy as he colored on the table. He was the sweetest boy Ev had ever known, but he was a handful. When she had suggested ADD, Lacey lost her shit, smashing anything she could get her hands on in the apartment. Pushing Ev so hard she cracked the wall. She’d learned that day to keep her thoughts to herself.

“You know nothing of what it’s like to be a single mother, Evelyn, so don’t you dare fucking judge me!” Lacey got nasty when she felt someone was judging her…or disagreeing with her…or anything else she didn’t like.

Ev had nothing to say to that because it was true. She wasn’t a mother, let alone a single mother. All she wanted was to make sure Andy was taken care of, and it seemed like she was the only one with that objective.

Speechless and helpless to take control over anything in her life at that moment, she stood in the middle of the living room watching as Lacey slammed out the door. Leaving her to take Andy to his Mommy and Me class that he loved so much.

When Ev found her sister a year ago, she wasn’t sure what to expect from her. Would they connect? Would she even want to see her? She had gone searching for her with the hope of being able to feel again.

Loved. Valued. Wanted.

In turn, what she actually felt was used.

Neither of them knew who their dads were. Their mom had been a drug addicted whore sleeping with anyone for a quick buck or fix. How they were never taken away from her by the state still confused Ev.