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Chapter 1
Demon
The past…
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I look down at my little sister, Sara, and wonder where the question came from. She’s wearing the same thing she wore to school yesterday and I make a mental note to wash her clothes tonight so the teachers don’t start asking questions.
I’m on day three of my own clothes, but unlike Sara, I know how to blend into the background. I could wear the same thing all year and no one would throw a second glance.
“That’s a deep question.” I knock my elbow into her shoulder, causing her to stumble slightly before I catch her. She glares at me with all the might of a six-year-old but only succeeds in looking like an angry kitten. Fuck, she’s cute.
“Mrs. Tanner was talking to us today about what makes us happy. She said sometimes, the things that make us happy now can turn into our future.”
She goes to kick at a broken needle on the sidewalk, but I grab her arm and tug her away before it makes contact with her shoe. Mossy green eyes that match my own stare back at me as I shake my head.
“I told you not to touch those, even with your shoes, understand?”
She grumbles something under her breath as I kick the broken needle into the overgrown weeds. It lands beside the shattered remains of a whiskey bottle.
I know Sara thinks I’m hard on her, but one day she’ll understand I was just looking out for her.
“Josh said he wants to be a famous cook, and Ginger said she wants to cut hair.” She’s quiet for several moments as she chews on her lip. “Why don’t I know what makes me happy?”
I close my eyes and try to mask the pain her innocent question brings. To some extent, Sara must be aware that our lives are vastly different than her friends at school. She’s never been invited to a friend's house for a sleepover, or even a fucking birthday party, and while that fact hurts, I can’t help being thankful that to some extent, she’s still able to look at the world through her rose-colored glasses. I want her to wear them as long as she can before the real world rips them from her face.
“I don’t know, squirt. Maybe you just haven’t found the right hobby yet.”What I don’t say is that it’s better off this way. Hopes and dreams, fantasies of a bright future… Those things aren’t meant for people like us. If we never have them, it won’t hurt when they don’t come true.
But even as I think she’s better off without them, I can’t stop my own dreams from drifting through my mind. I squeeze my eyes as if I can block them out, but that’s the thing about dreams. Your eyes don’t have to be open for them to infiltrate your thoughts and infect your mind.
God, I fucking hate them. I hate the pulse of excitement that thrums through my veins when I dream of a different—a better future for us. I hate the way those dreams give me hope when there is none to be had, but even so, I’m powerless against their hold on me.
So, even knowing I’ll never be able to save us, I dream about what life would look like for Sara if I was able to get her away from here. Clothes that don’t have holes and stains. Shoes that aren’t half a size too small—but they were purple, her favorite color, and when you choose your clothes fromdonation bins, you have to make sacrifices. I just wish that sacrifice wasn’t her having to curl her toes all day.
A sharp, familiar whistle pulls me from my useless daydreams and my body tightens when I spot the source of the sound. Fuckfuckfuck. Not today. Not while she’s with me.
“Zain…” Unable to hide her fear, my name trembles on Sara’s lips. I pull her slightly behind me, blocking her from the impending conversation.
“Dom.” I dip my chin giving him the respect he thinks he deserves, even if the move causes my stomach to roll. Dom Lopez and his crew own these streets. The drugs that pass through them and the guns that fill them with blood, all come from him.
While the thought of bowing down to him makes me sick, I’m not a stupid fuck. I’ll do what I have to do to get the hell out of here, and for now, that means being Dom’s bitch when he calls.
Dom stops two feet from me and grins. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’ve been avoiding me,” he pauses, rubbing his chin as though contemplating, “but that can’t be right, because I know that you know your place. I call, you bark. I snap, and you sit. You catch my drift?” A couple of his guys chuckle like the good dogs they are, laughing at their master's jokes.
When I don’t respond quickly enough, he turns his attention to the one place—the one person—that can have me rolling over like a bitch in heat.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Dom bends forward trying to get a better look at Sara. My entire body feels as if it’s going to catch fire and the closer he gets to her, the shorter my fuse gets. But I can’t afford to let my rage take over. I know it, and so does he.
“Did you have a good day at school?” His voice is low and gentle when he addresses her, but Sara isn’t fooled. Thetremble in her hands as she clings to my arm assures me she knows she’s the prey in the presence of a predator.
“Yes, sir.” She nods, and fuck, I embrace the burst of pride that courses through me when her voice comes out strong and sure.
Dom nods in approval as his eyes trace up and down her small frame, his lecherous glare drinking in her underdeveloped features. “That’s good, sweetheart. You study hard now, a girl as pretty as you needs to have the smarts to back it up, you hear me?” His words are directed at Sara, but his eyes are trained on me and there is no mistaking the silent threat. I will bow like his good little bitch, or he’ll take the one thing I have in this world and damage her in ways I won’t be able to fix.
Clearing my throat, I say, “Things have been a little hectic lately, I can meet you tonight at the warehouse. I just have to get her fed and in bed first.”
Dom nods as if he approves of my request even though I wasn’t fucking asking his permission. If he wants his lap dog, he’ll let me make sure Sara’s in bed with the door locked, blocked, and barricaded from the inside. It’s the only way I’ll leave her in that house alone.
