TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE

AN: I own nothing American Horror Story related

I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far. Reviews would be appreciated!

Play it Smart

Emery

Me: Give me 20 minutes and I'll be over.

I messaged Kai after I stepped out of the shower and started to dress.

Kai: Want me to come and get you?

Me: No. I'll be fine. See you soon.

We'd talked long and hard about what had happened at Judgment House; gone back and forth over what to do next. We hadn't settled on any course of action yet but we knew people had to get what was coming to them. Tonight we were going to start looking for our first target.

I'd just pulled my t-shirt on when my door creaked opened.

"How's my little darling, Emery?" My father's words were slurred, his tie loose around his neck and a nearly empty glass in his hand.

My heart jumped into overdrive. My lungs fought to pull in air.

That's what he always said before it happened.

"I'm going out." I kept my head down and tried to move past him, but his hand clasped around my upper arm, jolting me to a stop.

"You'll have to go out later." He leaned in closer to me, his nose brushing the side of my face as I tried to recoil away. "Your mother told me no."

My eyes clamped shut. My body froze. I'd tried fighting back once; it only made it so much more painful. Locking up was my body's way of telling me to just get it over with.

He closed the door behind him and pushed me onto my bed. I started to quietly sob, wishing I was someone, anywhere, else.

When it was over, I rushed into the bathroom. My knees smacked against the cold tile floor as I fell in front of the toilet and violently threw up. As soon as I could stand on my trembling legs, I climbed back into the shower and turned the temperature of the water up as high as it could go. No matter how much the water burned, or how long I stayed under the blazing stream, I never could get rid of the trail of disgust left over on my body.

By the time I got to Kai's, I was half an hour later than I said I would be. I knocked on the door then shoved my hand back into the pocket of my hoodie. I hadn't taken any time to dry my hair, so I was shivering from the chill. When Kai opened the door, he took one look at me and pulled me straight into his arms. Only a few tears trailed down my cheek. I was surprised even by those few—I thought I'd cried all the tears a human possibly could.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Kai asked desperately as his hands ran up and down my back in an effort to comfort. "Em, please. Tell me."

I pushed him back and headed for the basement. Kai called out for me to stop but I had to get this out and I needed some semblance of distance from him to do that—I wouldn't be able to form the words if he continued to hold me.

Down in the basement, I sat on the chair at the wooden table, resting my elbow on it, my fist clenched. "Initiate the game," I said once Kai had followed me down.

Kai furrowed his brow. "What are you talking about?"

"You said that whoever initiates the game gets to ask the questions. I'm not asking you to talk. Start it." I hadn't planned on doing it this way, but maybe it was the only way for me to do it. This way, it felt like I had no choice but to tell him.

Slowly, Kai walked over to the table and sat opposite. He put his elbow on the table and extended his pinky.

I clasped mine around his, gripping as tightly as I could, anchoring myself to him and to this moment. "Ask me the same question you asked when we first met."

There was only a slight pause before Kai spoke. "What are you afraid of?"

I closed my eyes, drew in a ragged breath and let it out slowly. This was the first time I was ever going to talk about it. I didn't know how I was going to feel once I uttered the words but it was now or never. I'd meant it when I said when I wasn't going to let another man put his hands on me in some disillusion of power.

"Of never being free." I opened my eyes and stared Kai right in the eyes. "On good days, my father beats me." Kai flinched back but I held on tighter with my pinky. "He's given me bruises, cuts, broken bones but the pain of those doesn't compare to what he does on bad days. Days like today." I tried to keep my voice from trembling, but I was already starting to lose the battle. "He forces himself on me… he… rapes me."

Kai lowered his head. His pinky around mine stayed loose in my grip but his other hand wrapped around the edge of the table and his knuckles turned whiter by the second.

"I know who our first target should be, Kai. My father needs to die." Those five words allowed a spark of hope to fire within me. That in itself was freeing.

Kai didn't move, save for the trembling that seemed to be running through his body. And I didn't think it was because he was upset.

"Kai? Kai?"

"No." The word was a low growl, more animal than anything resembling human.

"What?" I said, trying to pull away from our connection. This time, it was Kai's turn to tighten his grip. "How can you say that? How can you sit there and tell me 'no'?"

Kai's head shot up. I stilled at the sight of him: his jaw was clenched and there was a ferocity in his eyes that scared me. Yet when he finally spoke, his words were calm and soft. "Your father is going to die, make no mistake about that." The weight I'd been carrying for years seemed to lift all at once. "He's going to suffer. But we have to play it smart. If we kill your father, the first people the police will look at will be you and your mother—"

I huffed. "She can go to hell too."

Confusion marred his face at my muttered words.

"When I was old enough to understand what my father was doing and just how wrong it was, I asked him why." I can still recall the conversation and the unaffected look on my father's face, like it was yesterday. "He told me that my mother wouldn't tolerate him sneaking out to see some hooker when she turned him down. She told him to keep it in the family. You ask me, she's just as bad as he is." I hadn't been betrayed by one parent. I'd been betrayed by both. The thought no longer saddened me. It only fuelled the anger more.

"Then she dies too," Kai said, as if it was that simple. Maybe it was. "Even more reason why they can't be first. The police will look at you, they'll ask questions. If they're victims down a long line of others, then it won't be someone close to them they'll look for. The cops will think it's random." He clasped the back of my head and pulled me towards him. He leant his forehead on mine. "Play it smart. You'll get your justice." His lips met mine in a fierce but careful kiss.

This was the first time our lips had met like this. And it was everything I could want in this moment. It didn't send butterflies soaring in my stomach. Didn't make my heart beat any faster. But it made me feel stronger; like I'd been living my life scattered in tiny pieces and now I was finally becoming whole.

Kai pulled back and wiped a tear from my cheek. "No more crying; you're too strong for that and he doesn't deserve the satisfaction."

I pulled my shoulders back and nodded. "No more."

"That's my girl. Come with me." He held his hand out to me and when I clasped my palm in his, he led me up the stairs and into the bathroom. "Mind helping me with this?" He held out a box of blue hair dye.

"Are you serious?" I asked with a smile.

Kai shrugged. "Felt like a change. And I have it on good authority that blue's a cool colour."

We shared a smile. It amazed me that he'd remembered that tiny detail I shared about my favourite colour on the night we met.

"Blue it is then." I pulled on the gloves and helped to cover his hair in the dye. It was a welcoming distraction, no doubt that had been Kai's plan. I could leave all that I'd pored out of my soul back at the table. Kai had it all under control.

"I met a guy at the gym," Kai said as I set a timer to wait for the dye to set.

I raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

He smiled and shook his head. "His life is going from bad to worse. Marriage is a sham, getting shat on at work. He's terrified it's all going to come falling down around."

I pulled myself up to sit on the bathroom counter. Kai stepped between my legs and I played with the bottom of his shirt. "Are you sure it's a good idea? Bringing other people in on this?"

Kai had mentioned it before but I didn't see how we could trust someone else. I knew Kai had my back and I had his. That would go out the door if we brought a stranger in.

"We won't be able to make the impact we need to; we won't be able to mete out punishment and justice like we want to if it's only us." Kai had already assured me that Winter would be right behind us but clearly he didn't think three people could handle it. I supposed he had a point. "Harrison is afraid that his life is turning to shit and when people are afraid, they'll do anything, they'll follow anyone that promises them redemption." He tenderly grasped my chin. "He'll follow. Other will too, we simply need to find the right people."

If anyone could get people to follow them, it would be Kai. He had this almost supernatural power to reel people in. Hell, hadn't he reeled me in that first night?

"Ok. I trust you." I pushed myself off the counter once the timer rang and rinsed his hair out.

He scrubbed a towel through his hair, then we stood together, looking in the mirror.

"It suits you," I said with a smile.

Kai turned towards me. "Let's get our mission started."

It had been another day of fake smiles and fake laughter. Work itself wasn't hard, but the character I had to play all day was draining. I couldn't face going home. Couldn't face spending another moment in the presence of my parents without desperately wanting to wipe them from the face of the earth. So instead, I headed straight to Kai's after work.

Last night Kai had given me a key, saying I was welcome to come and go as I pleased. No doubt I'd be coming around a lot; it was my safe haven. Plus we'd be doing our planning from here. After no luck last night finding a suitable candidate, Kai left a few breadcrumbs and traps over the dark web. I was hoping someone had taken the bait and fallen into our trap. I was getting antsy. I wanted the mission to get underway.

I just reached the top of the stairs to the basement when I heard Kai shouting. I made my way slowly down the stairs, managing to avoid the ones that creaked.

"We will stand out bleeding in the rain and snow to vote for him!" He sounded riled up.

"It is all about shame and humiliation for you assholes." Three girls were sitting on the couch, one of them winter. But it was the dark-haired girl that was talking. "You know, we should start some sort of like government program to get you all laid so you'll shut up. Yeah, you probably wouldn't even need to get fucked, just some pretty girl smiling at you, telling you how important you are."

Whoa! Who the fuck did she think she was? All I knew was that she had better stop talking before I made my presence known. And she wasn't going to like it.

"You ever notice how all the alt-righters are young men? And none of them have girlfriend?" Laughing "Hey Winter, give me some lotion. I'm gonna give your brother a handy, so—"

I sucked in a breath as Kai's hand whipped out and smacked the girl across the face.

Winter and her friend leapt up from their seats. "What the fuck Kai?"

"Are you ok? I'm sorry." I could just about make out his face from where I was standing. Remorse flooded his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." He went over to check on her as she cried. "Are you ok? Are you alright?"

She shoved him back. "I am pressing charges! I am pressing charges!"

She stormed past me; I don't think she even noticed I was standing there. But that's when Kai looked up and finally saw me standing there.

If I thought he looked ashamed before, it was nothing compared to how he looked at me now. "Emery." He moved towards me but I turned and raced after the girl.

"You really did it now Kai…" I heard Winter say as I climbed the stairs.

"Hey," I called out to the girl as she flung the front door open. I managed to catch up to her on the front porch. "Hey."

"What? Who the hell are you?" She looked me up and down in disgust as the tears started to dry on her face.

"A friend of Kai's."

"Whatever." She turned to walk away but I moved in front of her.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened back there. He shouldn't have put his hands on you."

"No he shouldn't have but he'll learn his lesson once I go to the cops." Again she went to leave but I put my hand on her shoulder.

"That's the thing… you're not going to the cops."

"Like hell I'm not!"

"You're not," I dropped the caring pretence from my voice," because if you do, I'll make your life a living hell."

She stepped back from me. "Excuse me?"

"You heard. You were mouthing off like a little bitch back there. Did you not hear the filth that was coming out of your own mouth? Actually you should be grateful Kai slapped you since I was about two seconds away from clawing your pretty little face off." I stepped closer to her. "So go to the cops if you want. But I promise you, you will regret it. I know people that you do not want to mess with and you will go straight to the top of my shit-list if Kai ends up in jail because of you. Or you can walk away and we'll all forget this whole ordeal. What will it be?"

Her jaw had dropped open and was staring at me blindly before she seemed to shake herself out of it. "You're a fucking psycho just like he is. Leave me alone!" She dashed off the front porch and continued down the street at a jog.

A creak sounded from behind me and without turning I knew Kai had come outside.

"I'm sorry." His voice was only slightly above a whisper.

"I know. I could see it on your face."

"I shouldn't have hit her."

I finally turned to him. "Maybe. Maybe not. She had it coming though."

"Are you mad at—"

"You ever been arrested?" I asked.

Kai looked confused at the turn in conversation. "No."

"Keep it that way." I stepped up to him, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Our fingerprints, your fingerprints are all over that damn judgment house. Someone's going to stumble on the pastor's body sooner or later and it would be best if your prints aren't in the system when they do." I kissed him. "Play it smart."

I headed back into the house. "Now come on," I called out over my shoulder, "let's see what rat got caught in our trap."