Love Behind Lies

Chapter 27

It was still dark outside when I first work up on Sunday morning; a nightmare still fresh in my mind.
Nick and Brent were threatening to kill Sam and they were making me watch. I was tied to a chair in the corner of a cold room and they were pressing me for answers to their questions. If I didn’t answer, they whipped Sam. I was crying in my dream and then I realized that in real life, I had tears running down my cheeks.
I couldn’t remember what questions I had been asked in my dream, and I was glad that I did. All I remembered was witnessing Sam’s pain and death. I wiped the tears from my eyes, glad that it was just a dream and not reality. I opened my eyes again to make sure that Sam hadn’t woken up, but when I looked up at him, he had his eyes open and he was just staring at me. I gasped and moved away from him, scared
“I didn’t mean to scare you, Cat,” he said, pulling me into him again. “Are you okay,” Sam asked, rubbing my back.
“I just didn’t expect you to be awake. That’s why you scared me,” I whispered back.
“Right.” Sam smiled. “Are you okay though? You are crying.” Sam tilted me head so that I was looking right into his eyes. There was no way I could lie to him now. He knew there was something wrong.
“Just a bad dream,” I said, hoping that Sam would leave it at that.
“You’re not going to get away with that,” Sam said, smiling. “What was it about?”
“You,” I said.
“What about me? Did I do something to hurt you?” Sam had a look of concern on his face.
“No,” I paused. “They were killing you.”
Sam stayed quiet. I guess he had nothing to say.
“Brent and Nick were torturing you and they were making me watch. They were whipping you if I didn’t do something right.”
Sam cupped my face in his soft hands and kissed me gently on the forehead. “It was just a dream Katie. Don’t worry. I am right here. Everything is going to be more than okay,” Sam whispered in my ear.
I tried to push all of my thoughts about Brent and Nick out of my head, but even with Sam there, it was hard to fall asleep again.
I had nothing to say to Sam and Sam had nothing more to say to me. We just lay in bed together and after about an hour, we both fell asleep again, finally.
The next time I woke up, it was light out and I hadn’t woken up from a bad dream. Sam was still lying right next to me; making sure that I was okay.
“Good morning sunshine,” Sam said after he saw my eyes open. “How are you feeling? Better?”
I twisted and turned, trying to wake up more. “Yeah, I am feeling better, thanks.” I sat up, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light that was streaming into my room.
“I am sorry about last night,” Sam said.
“What are you sorry about,” I asked.
“The dream. I wish that none of that would have happened.” Sam paused. It was obvious that he had more to say, so I stayed quiet. “I was awake for a long time before you woke up. You talk in your sleep. I first woke up when you screamed. I tried to wake you up, but you never moved, so I just sat there quietly, and watched you. You were saying my name and you had a look of confusion on your face. I was sort of amused, but then you said Brent’s name and you started crying. I shook you as hard as I could and you finally woke up. I was watching you suffer too and it was a horrible experience.”
I hadn’t realized that it was Sam that woke me up and I didn’t know that I was talking in my sleep. I wonder how much Sam really knew.
I didn’t know what to say, so I laid back down, kissing Sam. His hands were instantly around me and he was kissing me back.
“Sam, can you promise me something?” I looked at him.
“Anything for you, Katie,” Sam replied, smiling.
“Promise me that you will never leave me for something dumb. I want to be able to trust you, always. I love you and I want to keep you.”
“I promise that I will never leave you. You will always be able to trust me and I will always be by your side, supporting you. I love you with all my heart and you will always be mine,” Sam said, and then kissed me again.
This kiss was special; a promise. Sam crept down my neck with his lips and gently nibbled on my collar bone. His hands were on my bare skin, holding me close to him. Sam was rough with passion but his touch was still so gentle.
I broke the kiss because someone had knocked on my door. Sam heard the knock and was staring at me, scared.
“Who is it,” I asked.
“It’s me, Thomas,” he sounded very tired.
I looked at Sam, who seemed to relax. Thomas didn’t care that Sam was here. “Oh, come in,” I replied.
Thomas opened the door and crept in, closing the door gently behind him. “I knew he was in here, if that’s what you were worried about,” Thomas said, sitting on my desk.
I ignored his comment. “Do you need something,” I asked.
“Well Margaret said she was going on walk. She hasn’t come back yet,” Thomas was looking at me, unconcerned.
“Have you tried calling her,” I asked, grabbing Sam’s arm.
“Yeah, she won’t answer her phone. We haven’t told anyone yet.”
“We?”
“William and me.”
“Oh. Did she tell you where she was going?”
“No.”
I grabbed my phone to call Brent, but I had a test message from Margaret.

I need help. w/ L&N

I had read the message out loud so Sam and Thomas could hear.
“L and N?” Thomas asked.
“Loren and Nick?” Sam suggested.
“I think it is Loren for sure, but Nick shouldn’t be causing trouble. Could it be Nate?” I replied.
“Oh I bet that’s it,” Sam said, standing up.
“I need to call Brent.” I paused. “Shouldn’t he be making sure my family is safe?”
“He was supposed to keep us safe from Nick and his family, not Loren and Nate,” Sam pointed out.
“So he ditched me again,” I mentioned to Sam.
Sam shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to point out the obvious.
“Do you have Loren’s number,” I asked Sam.
“Yeah, why,” Sam asked, pulling out his phone.
“I want to call him,” I said. I took Sam’s phone and found Loren’s number, calling it. It only rand once before I heard Loren’s voice on the other line.
“Hello,” his voice sounded tense.
I freaked out and quickly gave the phone to Sam and told him to say hi.
“Hi Loren, this is Sam,” Sam said into the phone.
“Oh, I assume you are looking for Margaret,” Loren asked, his voice loud enough for me to hear.
“Yes,” Sam responded.
“Well I will tell you where we are, but you have to bring Catherine with you. We won’t hurt her, we promise. We just have to ask her questions, because Margaret doesn’t know any of the answers.”
“Where are you,” Sam asked.
“We are in the forest, where Catherine and I talked, in that little house. Do you know how to get there?”
“Yes, I do.” Sam flipped his phone shut. “Come on. We are leaving right now.” Sam grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed. Sam and Thomas left the room so that I could get dressed real quick and then Sam and I left without another word.
Once we got outside, Sam started telling me what to do. “I think we should text Brent real quick and tell him what is going on.”
“Sam, I think you should, you know more about what’s going on than I do,” I replied, holding Sam’s hand.
“Okay, then. I will call him real quick.” Sam opened his phone and called Brent. When he answered, Brent’s voice was loud on the other line.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Sam.”
“Yes, Sam?”
“Well Catherine and I are on our way to the forest again. Loren and Nate found Margaret and she needs help. I know what you were told to only look after Nick and his family, but I think that there is something else going on. Something that we are all missing. I just wanted to give you a heads up. I don’t think that you need to come over here, but I just wanted to warn you.” Sam was talking really fast.
“Okay, wow. That’s really surprising.” Brent’s voice was shocked. “I will see what I can do. Thank you for calling me and please keep Cat safe.”
“Always,” Sam replied and then hung up.
“They took her to that house.” I told Sam.
“Guess so,” Sam replied.
“What happens once we get there?”
“They want to ask you some questions. They said that Margaret didn’t know the answers to some of them. They also said that they weren’t going to hurt you, but something seems off,” Sam said, holding my hand tightly as we walked briskly in the dark.
When we reached the little house, I was breathing hard and I was shaking from nervousness. Sam knocked on the door and after a minute, Loren answered the door.
“Thanks for coming, Sam,” Loren said.
“Where’s Margaret,” I asked.
“She’s inside, don’t worry Katie,” Loren said to me sweetly, making me roll my eyes.
I was now leading Sam. I wasn’t scared of these boys anymore. When I got inside the house and had a chance to look around I saw Margaret sitting on the couch that I had sat on a week ago. It was a scary thought. I let go of Sam’s hand and rushed towards her, but was stopped short. Someone had grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back into them.
I was kicking and instinctively moving my body so that I could get away. The body behind me was familiar, but I knew it wasn’t Sam. The person who had a firm grasp on my body pulled me away from Margaret and set me down in a chair off to the side, tying my hands behind my back.
I tried to twist myself around to see who had captured me, but he grabbed my head and twisted it forward. “I would sit still if I were you,” the voice behind me said, chilling my blood. Now I knew who was behind me. Brent had tricked us. He hadn’t been shocked at all. He was there. Brent was the one who had tied me to the chair.
I was furious and I shook my chair, trying to get away. Brent’s hands rested on my shoulder. I tried to shake them off, but his hands weren’t moving.
I looked over at Sam. He was just sitting in a chair. He wasn’t tied up or anything, but Nate was standing behind him. Margaret and Loren had stayed quiet this entire time.
“Okay, well now that we have that settled, we can begin,” Loren informed the group.
“What is your guys’ problem? Why can’t you just leave us alone?” I was furious.
Brent walked around my chair so that he was facing me. He bent down so that he could look me straight in the eye and grabbed my face between his rough hands. “I am going to suggest something to you, Cat. I would stop talking, because I really don’t want to hurt you.” Brent seemed pretty relaxed, but it was like he forgot everything that he promised me last night.
I just glared at Brent, until he stood up and returned to his position behind me, hands on my shoulders. I tried shaking them off again, but his hands were digging into my shoulder with a death grip. I could tell he was trying to keep his cool, but I was really pushing his buttons.
I tried one last time to shake off his hands, just to see how far I could push him. Suddenly, I was flipped over sideways on my chair and I skidded across the wooden floor. I wasn’t hurt, but I was smiling. Brent had lost it and he flipped me. He walked over to where he had thrown my and untied my wrists, yanking me off the ground.
Sam tried to stand up, but Nate’s arms held him down, holding a knife to his throat whispering something in Sam’s ear.
Brent led me to the front door and then outside. “I only brought you out here so that I wouldn’t make a scene in there. Do you understand,” Brent asked. His hands were in fists because he was so angry. He had let me go, but I wasn’t going to run, and he knew that.
We were just standing there. Brent was huffing and puffing and I was looking up at the sky, waiting for him to say something. Then, suddenly, Brent’s hand came out and slapped me right across the face, knocking me to the ground. I started crying because my face was numb and I never knew someone like Brent could do that to me.
“You deserved that,” Brent spat at me.
“How do you honestly believe that,” I asked, standing up and holding my face with my hand.
“You should have stayed with me. You would have been much safer.”
“How do you figure,” I asked. “I thought we had this all figured out last night.”
Brent’s hand came out and smacked my face again, leaving me breathless.
“I don’t know, Cat. I thought we did too, but Loren pulled me into this.”
“After everything you’ve done to me and my family?” I was finally regaining my strength.
Brent came at me again, without saying anything else. I tried to kick him, but he dodged it and grabbed me so hard I screamed, but his he slapped his hand over my mouth quickly.
“Stop talking.” He ordered and then removed his hand slowly.
“What is wrong with you,” I asked, ignoring what Brent just said.
Brent grabbed something from his pocket; a knife, and held it to my neck. Now I was nervous. I was facing him with one of his hands on my lower back, pulling me towards him, and the other holding his knife. “Please, Cat. This is harder for me than you think. Just please, listen. I don’t want to hurt you. I still love you, remember?”
I hit Brent’s hand, making the knife fall to the ground a few feet away from us. Brent took a step, as if he was going to grab the knife, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him from moving. I was furious. How dare he ask me that.
I remembered the conversation that we had had the night before. I stared straight into his eyes. “I used to love you. I used to trust you. Do you remember that?” I paused. “I do. We had so much fun together. I love you and you loved me. It was perfect. We trusted each other and we had a great time. Then you left me. You turned me in. You let me fall. You tricked me. You almost got me killed. And now you dare ask me why I left you?”
I was standing very still. I could tell that Brent was relaxed, but I was huffing and puffing. I was trying so hard not to punch Brent in the face. I knew that would only get me into trouble.
I took a deep breath and decided to finish what I had started to say. “The only person that you should be mad at is yourself. I gave you everything that you wanted from the beginning. And what did I get from you? Lies and a very painful stab in the back.” Brent’s arms were still around me as I finished my speech. “I am sorry Brent. I really am. But there is no reason to hurt me. I didn’t do anything but what you asked me to do. You are the reason that all of this happened. Not me.”
I pulled myself out of his hands and walked back to the small house that I would probably have nightmares about one day. Brent had said nothing to me, which was good. I wanted him to think about everything that he had done.