Chapter 22 #22
Chapter 22
~ Shailyn ~
I was in the kitchen, completely plugged into the music playing through my earbuds, letting the melody wash over me as I tried to quiet the noise in my head. The counters gleamed in the afternoon light, and I moved through the familiar motions of making coffee something to help refresh my brain, to give me a moment of peace in the chaos that my life had become.
The coffee maker gurgled and hissed as it brewed, filling the kitchen with that rich, comforting aroma. I poured myself a generous cup, added a splash of cream, and watched it swirl into beautiful patterns before settling into a smooth, tan color.
Coffee always had a way of refreshing my brain. Of making things feel a little more manageable, a little less overwhelming. I needed that right now more than ever.
As I waited for it to cool enough to drink, I found myself pondering Dwayne's strange behavior from yesterday. The way he'd frozen in the doorway when he saw me holding that black dress. The way he'd looked at me like he'd seen a ghost, or like I was a puzzle he couldn't quite solve. The intensity in his eyes before he'd practically fled from the room.
It was odd. Unsettling. But then again, everything felt odd these days. Everything felt like I was missing some crucial piece of information that would make it all make sense.
I decided to let it go. I had enough to worry about without adding Dwayne's weird reactions to the list. Maybe he didn't like me. Maybe it was nothing at all.
I picked up my coffee mug and moved out of the kitchen, heading toward the living room. I just wanted to sit for a while, to enjoy my coffee in peace, to maybe let my mind wander without the constant pressure of trying to remember things I couldn't access.
But the moment I stepped into the living room, I froze.
The sight before me was like something out of a nightmare.
Dante and Dwayne were in the center of the room, grappling with each other like animals. They weren't arguing, they were fighting. Actually physically fighting. Throwing punches, grabbing at each other, their faces twisted with rage.
I watched, completely paralyzed, as Dante landed a blow to Dwayne's jaw. Watched as Dwayne retaliated with a punch to Dante's ribs that made him double over. They exchanged blows like it meant nothing, like they'd done this a thousand times before, like they were trying to kill each other.
"Stop!" I tried to shout, but my voice came out as barely a whisper, lost in the sounds of their fighting, the grunts of effort, the impact of fists on flesh, the crash of furniture being knocked aside.
I was so shocked I couldn't process what I was seeing.
And then something else happened. Something worse.
My brain started hurting a sharp, stabbing pain that felt like lightning striking directly into my skull. And with the pain came something. A flash. A memory. A sense of déjà vu so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet.
I'd seen this before.
Two men fighting. Dante's face twisted with rage. Fear flooding through me like ice water.
I tried so hard to remember, tried to grasp onto that slippery memory and pull it into focus. The pain in my head intensified, spreading from my temples to encompass my entire skull.
I didn't realize I'd dropped the coffee mug until I heard it shatter on the floor.
The crash seemed to echo impossibly loud in my ears, mixing with the sounds of the fight, mixing with the pounding of my own heartbeat. Hot coffee splashed across my feet, but I barely felt it.
And then I was falling.
My balance just... gave out. My legs turned to water beneath me, and suddenly I was tilting, the room spinning, everything going sideways—
"Shailyn!"
I heard Dante's voice, sharp with alarm. Saw through blurring vision as he broke away from Dwayne and started running toward me. His face swam in and out of focus, and I tried to tell him I was okay, tried to stay conscious, but darkness was already pulling me under like a riptide.
The last thing I saw before everything went black was Dante's panicked face above me, his hands reaching out to catch me before I hit the floor.
…
When I woke up, my head was pounding like someone was using it as a drum. Every pulse of my heartbeat sent waves of pain radiating through my skull. I groaned and tried to open my eyes, which felt like they'd been glued shut.
Gradually, the world came back into focus. I was lying in bed, in the room Dante and I were sharing at the manor. And surrounding the bed, crowding into the space like worried sentinels, was the entire Belmar family.
Tyler in his wheelchair, positioned closest to the bed, his weathered face creased with concern. Cynthia standing behind him, her expression carefully neutral. Monica hovering near the doorway, for once not looking at me with open contempt. And Dante, sitting on the edge of the bed, holding my hand so tightly it almost hurt.
And Dwayne. Standing in the corner, his face bruised from the fight, his eyes locked on me with an intensity I didn't understand.
"What again?" I sighed, the frustration evident in my voice. I was so tired of waking up in beds, surrounded by worried faces, with no memory of how I'd gotten there.
"You're awake," Dante said immediately, his voice filled with relief. He squeezed my hand tighter. "Thank God. You made us so worried."
"She's awake," he called out louder, alerting the others who hadn't noticed yet.
"What happened?" I asked, trying to sit up. Dante helped me, adjusting the pillows behind me so I could lean back comfortably.
"You passed out," Dante explained, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of my hand. "You came into the living room and just... collapsed. You've been unconscious for about an hour."
Then I remembered. The fight. Dante and Dwayne beating each other like they were mortal enemies.
"You two were fighting," I said, looking between Dante and Dwayne. "That's the last thing I remember. You were fighting in the living room, why?”
“Uhm, just a little brothers misunderstanding” Dante said not meeting my eyes.
I knew that wasn’t just a little misunderstanding, I knew I had seen them fight like that before.
“Is that a norm with you guys? Because it seemed so..." I trailed off, trying to grasp that elusive feeling. "Familiar. Like I'd seen it before."
The tension in the room immediately ratcheted up several notches. Everyone went very still, exchanging looks I couldn't interpret.
"What do you mean, familiar?" Tyler asked carefully, wheeling himself even closer to the bed.