Yours Forever Book 3

7..

A smile came to my face. I already knew the answer. He didn’t need to know the answer. “I’m not answering that question, Dean.” I knew he would hold it over me if he knew.

He smiled. He didn’t need me to tell him. He had figured it out on his own just by my reluctance to tell him. If I loved Colin more, I wouldn’t be too stressed out to tell him. I let out a huff and tried to lay back down to sleep, but he held me on his lap, stopping me.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do, Ivy. However, I promise you that if you leave Colin, you wouldn’t regret it. We could work through this together,” he whispered while pulling me close to his chest.

“Dean…does Colin know that you have these feelings for me?” I asked and he loosened his grip on me. He knew where I was going with my question.

He once again looked away and started biting his lips. He let out a breath. “Yes, Colin knows. He doesn’t care. Which is why he and I are fighting right now. He found out during your coma when I went to visit you one day. I told you and Colin overheard me say it. You must not have been able to hear it.”

“So, you two fighting really is all my fault. I thought it was because Colin helped me come home and about the age difference. I didn’t think it was because you liked me back. I thought…”

“It isn’t your fault, Ivy,” he said while moving a piece of his out of my face. “It is because of you, but not your fault. There is a difference. This fault lies on him and me. Neither of us is willing to let you go. I knew it would cause problems, but Colin and I will work through it eventually.”

“You should be willing to let me go, Dean. You know nothing can happen between us.”

“That is what you think. I think the complete opposite, Ivy. I think you and I could be good together,” he replied shocking me. I had to make him see sense.

“So, what? We just get together and ride off into the sunset and everything will be fine,” I replied sarcastically.

He laughed at me lightly. “Of course not, but I do still believe we could work and be good for each other as well. We fit together rather well when it was just you and me in Elmwood, didn’t we?”

I looked away,” Yeah, because it would be that easy.”

He forced me to look at him again, holding my head still between his hands. “I never said it would be easy. I just said that it would work out,” he replied, staring into my eyes. He had such beautiful hazel eyes, I couldn’t look away, but I forced myself to.

I stood up from his lap and laid back down on the bed. This conversation was taking a toll on me. “Goodnight, Dean,” I said, rolling over and away from him.

He got off the bed and walked over to the door. “Goodnight, Ivy; I love you.”

I knew that this ‘I love you’ from him meant something different. I knew that if I were to say it back, I would only be enabling him to go further. I decided not to say it back which caused him to sigh making me feel bad. I looked over at him and he smiled at me, not letting me see that he was upset. I stared at the wall and cried lightly until I fell asleep. I was not expecting any of tonight to happen. Dean loved me like I loved him. What was I going to do about that?

I woke up to my phone ringing. I looked at the time, and it was 4 a.m. I looked at my phone, and it was my father calling. I figured he must have gotten away from Dagon, and I answered. I was still unhappy about what he had done, but I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“Yes, Dad. What do you want?”

“I need to go to my office and pull out seventy thousand dollars for Dagon.”

“I thought he said you owed him seventy-five. Maybe it is good; you are locked up for a bit.”

“Okay, I deserved that, but will you do as I asked? I’m not the only one here.”

“Yeah, all right. I will get it. I need the combination, and where am I taking the money?”

He rambled off everything I needed, and I went to get ready. I went downstairs and wrote a note to Dean, letting him know that I had gone to help my father and giving him the address of the place I was going to.

I snuck into Dean’s room and grabbed one of his guns and two clips, hiding them in the back of my jeans and in my pockets. I then went and got into my car and started making my way back to my dad’s house. It was about an hour away from Dean’s house.

When I got there, I noticed the place was a complete mess- almost as if it had been ransacked countless times. I quickly went into the office and opened the safe, grabbing all the money that was in there- which sadly was five thousand short.

I then got back into my car and headed to Dagon’s place. When I got there, I walked up to the door. Before I could knock, I heard glass shattering. A horrible laughter came from inside, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to knock on the door after. The only thing that grabbed my attention was that I could hear what was going on inside.

“Come on, Ryan, I thought you were a badass,” someone said, chuckling.

“Yeah, because five-on-one is very impressive,” Ryan said.

I plucked up the courage and knocked on the door. A huge man answered the door. He must have been about 400 pounds. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He was holding an axe and had the creepiest smile on his face.

“Hello, I’m Ivy Turner; I’m here for my father and friends.”

He let me pass without saying a word, and I walked into what looked like a country club. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I saw Ryan lying in a puddle of his blood and ran over to him. I tried to pick him up off the floor, but he was too big to lift.

“Hey, spicy girl. Nice to see you again,” said Dagon, sitting in a chair, laughing at my struggle to lift Ryan.

“Dagon,” I replied, standing back up. “I have seventy thousand for you. Please let them go.”

He nodded his head and then laughed. “That will pay for them being returned, but not for your safe passage out of here. Where is the other five thousand?”

“If you give me time to ask around, I’m sure I can figure out how to get the rest to you.”

“That sounds sweet, Spicy Girl, but unless I get the rest of my money now, someone needs to stay, one of them, I’m guessing. Unless...”

“Unless what?”

He smiled and bit his lower lip. “Unless you want to take the last one’s place. I’ll treat you right, I promise that.”

“Are you mad?” Ryan said, laughing. “Like any of us would allow Ivy to do that.”

I had my back turned to Ryan as I was talking to Dagon, and I felt him slowly grabbing the gun that I still had hidden in the back of my jeans. I knew the gun had a full clip, but I also knew that it wasn’t enough to take down everyone that was in the room. I had to do something before Ryan decided to turn this place into a blood bath and get us both killed.

“Deal,” I said quickly.

“What?” Ryan shouted, pulling his hand back from the gun and now staring at me.

“Done,” Dagon replied with a smile.

I looked at Ryan and shook my head. “I trust you will get me out of here soon,” I whispered in his ear.

“Go get the others and take them outside. I’m sure they will be fine,” Dagon said, and a few men started to walk up the wooden steps to get my father, brother, and James.

I handed Ryan the keys to my car and looked down at him. “Call Dean when you get the chance. He might be able to help get me out of here.”

Ryan tried to protest. I put my hand up to stop him. I watched as a few men grabbed him and led him out of the building. I then saw as the others brought down my father. He was bloody and looked just like Ryan. Not a single spot was clear.

As they brought down Ozzy, I felt the anger rise back in me. He was unconscious and had a large cut on the back of his head. I wanted to run and hug my brother, but I was being held onto by the man Billy from our first encounter.

James was battered and bruised as well. Blood pooled out of his mouth and nose, down his chin. The sight made me want to cry. At least I knew they were all going to be safe now. I trusted that they would get me out of here soon, and with the help that Dean could get them, I was hopeful that it would be sooner rather than later.

Once they were all taken outside, I turned to Dagon. I was worried about what was in store for me, but I was happy that I could get them out. I knew it was less likely that Dagon would treat me as badly as he did them unless he was a horrible human being.

“So, what are you going to do to me?” I asked, making Dagon smile.