When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

“I want to see Luna and Joshua,” I urge, tired of listening to him spew his garbage. Larry always did have such a huge ego. I apparently just didn’t realize how large and twisted it ran.

“Too bad you aren’t the one in control right now.”

“You can either show them to me, or I’ll kill you now and find them myself. My guess is since you’re a dumbass they’re still here, probably behind that wall right there that used to be the stage. I’ll have them and you’ll just be hitting the floor by the time I get to my family.”

“You could try it,” he laughs, but I can see the nervousness that enters his face. I see the bead of sweat that drips down his forehead. Ole’ Larry is starting to regret the fact that he killed all of his help before he got out of here.

Sucks for him.

“I could do it. Now bring Luna and Joshua out here. Me seeing them and them being unharmed is your only hope of getting out of here alive,” I tell him. “In case you have trouble counting right now it’s three against one. Now show me my family.”

“You really should be careful what you ask for, Gavin. I’m going to make you fucking eat your—”

Larry doesn’t finish his sentence. He can’t because there’s a bullet in his brain. It didn’t come from me and at first, I don’t understand. I look at Kingston and Dern to see why they would have fired, but I see the same surprise on their face.

Then, I hear the one voice that I never thought I would hear again. And I realize things went from bad to a whole hell of a lot worse in the blink of an eye.

“Hello, Brother.”

My gaze turns back to stare at Atticus, skinnier, older, but still him and that hate he tried to keep hidden when we were growing up is shining bright.

Son of a bitch…

Luna

I can’t help but jump when the shot goes off so close to me. I scream when I watch Larry slump to the floor, dead before he even hits. You can’t hear my scream because Atticus gagged me. God, I hate him. I’d forgotten over the years just how much I did, but it’s coming back to me quick.

“That’s better. I swear I’ve gotten so tired of his fucking voice,” Atticus says, sounding extremely proud of himself.

“Christ, I thought you were dead,” Gavin says.

“The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Atticus laughs. “I wish I could say it was great to see you again, Brother, but we both know I’d be lying.”

“On that at least, we can agree.”

“The last time we saw each other, you weren’t doing so well,” Atticus brags. “I almost killed you then. If you hadn’t gotten that lucky stab in, you would be feeding the worms right now, just like dear old Dad.”

“I see I gave you a nice new scar on your face. Too bad it doesn’t make you look a bit better,” Gavin taunts.

I watch them go at each other verbally and I can see the way Gavin’s body tenses. He may be appearing to be relaxed, but he’s definitely not. He glanced at me once, and I could read the emotion on his face. He’s blaming himself, and that’s the last thing I want.

“This old thing?” Atticus replies, while moving his fingers up and down his jaw, tracing the jagged scar just above his cheekbone. “The ladies seem to like it and that’s all that matters, right? Do you know that I can’t count the number of times I’ve wished I could go back and relive those moments I had with you, Gavin? I really don’t have many regrets in this life, but I definitely regret not ending you that day. But all is not lost.” he smiles. “I’ll get you today and then Luna, little Joshie, and I will board a plane to somewhere far, far away.”

“Luna isn’t going anywhere with you and neither is my son. Look at you, Atticus. All this time and you haven’t changed not one bit. You’re still trying to take what belongs to me because you’re too weak to build your own life, to have your own family.”

“Oh, but I had your family, Gavin. There was a time, little Luna here begged for me.”

His words make me physically sick. They’re not true, not the way he means them, but I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to distract Gavin.

“In your dreams, maybe,” Gavin barks, hate rolling off of his words. I watch as his face hardens even more, his hand tightening up on his gun.

“Oh, Gavin, Gavin, Gavin. You’re still such a cocky little thing. That always was one of your worst habits.”

Atticus reaches over and rips out the gag in my mouth, which is really nothing more than a dirty old piece of a t-shirt, while he’s talking. I gag at first, trying to cough out the taste and drag air into my lungs.