Page 12 of Hold Me


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Anna

I can see myself sitting behind a piano like a spectator to my own nightmare. The Master is standing over me. That twisted grin on his face as he watches me play. And across the room, is Rafael. He watches from the shadows, his thick arms folded over his chest as he observes. The song The Master made me write for him drifts through the room, the notes full of my pain and sorrow.

Rafael moves closer and closer, as though lured by the music. “Avecita,” he says. I don’t look up from the keys. The Master smiles wickedly.

“She’s mine. She’ll always be mine,” he says. Rafael looks at me, this version of me, his expression torn and broken. “I made sure of it when I broke her.” He grabs the hair of the damaged little girl sitting at the piano and twists her to face him, kissing her. She doesn’t fight him. She simply…complies.

Rafael takes a step back and then another and another until he’s slipping into the shadows. I scream at him to come back, but he can’t hear me.

I jolt awake, dragging air into my lungs rapidly. Sweat coats my body and my pulse pounds against my eardrums. Closing my eyes, I pull a hand through my damp hair. It’s just a nightmare, and nowhere near as bad as some of the others, but much harder hitting because it’s the first time Rafael has ever featured in my hellish dream world. The same dream, twice in one night. That’s shitty, even for me.

I slide out of bed, exhaustion weighing heavily on me. I’d never tell Rafael, but the truth is, my nightmares are better when he sleeps with me. Maybe my subconscious knows I’m safe with him. Lately, he doesn’t seem to sleep much though.

The dream plagues me long after I’ve showered and changed. I need to be around people and get out of my head.

I go downstairs and walk into the kitchen. This has become my favorite part of the day because it feels normal. It feels like family. It feels like home. Maria hums to herself as she fries bacon in a pan. Carlos and Lucas are sitting at a farmhouse-style dining table in the middle of the room, bickering over something.

I take a seat across from the two brothers and they both glance at me. “Anna,” Lucas says, smiling as he pours a mug of coffee for me.

“Hey.”

“So…” Carlos starts.

Here we go. “So?”

“Are we allowed to talk about your sister yet or is Rafe going to hand me my balls?” He grins, tipping his head back slightly until his hood shifts, revealing just a little more of his face. My eyes instinctively lock onto the two small teardrops beneath his right eye.

I shrug one shoulder. “You probably know more about her than I do.”

Maria drops a plate of bacon in the middle of the table, and Carlos snatches a piece, mumbling “That she’s a badass?”

“Something like that.” A sick feeling settles into the pit of my stomach when I think of Una coming for me. Will she kill all of them if she finds me with them? Will she listen to me if I ask her not to? Will she try and take me against my will? Why hasn’t she come yet? So many questions, and I have no answers because she’s not the little girl who used to steal for me. They changed her, just as they changed me.

“You should be pleased. Having someone like that in your corner…”

I fidget uncomfortably until Lucas finally saves me, addressing Carlos. “Mum said you need to call her.”

Carlos rolls his eyes. “That woman is loco.”

Maria seemingly pops out of nowhere and clips him around the back of the head. “Don’t disrespect your Mama.”

I press my hand over my mouth, covering a laugh. Carlos glares at me, and Lucas snickers. “She said you haven’t visited in months, and she wants to see the new baby.”

I lift a brow at this. “You have a child?”

Lucas snorts. “Try three.”

“Wow. Are you married?”

This time Lucas practically chokes on his laughter. “As if. He has three kids with three different women.”

Carlos elbows his brother in the ribs before smirking at me. “I’m virile.”

“Or incapable of bagging it up,” Lucas retorts.

“Whatever.” Carlos pushes to his feet. “I have to go and train with Rafe.” He jerks his chin at Maria and me before he leaves the room.

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