He doesn’t answer, which makes me want to cry. Just as I have been given the privilege of having Ted back in my life, I could lose him again, and this time for good.
“Ted, what are you doing?” A howl or horror erupts from me.
“I’m so sorry, but I have to go.” He has tears in his eyes, but he’s refusing to let them fall. “I never wanted this to happen. I respect you and care about you. I can’t put you in any more danger than I already have.”
He isn’t even going to let me argue with him as he gathers up his things. Again, he’s making the decision for me, taking the control out of my hands. It doesn’t even matter if he is doing the right thing. I never get my say. I could stand up for myself and argue, demand that he stays, but I don’t.
I stand back helplessly and say nothing. How the fuck did we end up here again? This could be the last time I ever see him, and I still don’t have the words. Ted is in deep and now, I am too.
Chapter 16 – Ted
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell my mom as I fall into her arms. “I’m sorry, I know that it would’ve been better if I’d stayed with Chloe, I just can’t.”
Thankfully, my parents don’t question me further. I’m sure they can read between the lines and guess what’s happened, but they don’t press me. I don’t think that I could say the words anyway. It’s all too painful.
“Well, we got a room for you anyway.” My dad points to a single bed. The sort that’s designed for a child. I guess that’s what I am right now. A kid running away. “So, you will be fine.”
I nod and take a seat on one of the chairs in the room to give me a chance for my thoughts to stop racing. I can’t believe that I blew it with Chloe. The way that she looked at me… I’m a different person to her now.
“I’m going to get a drink.” The walls in this hotel room are closing in on me. I need some fresh air. “From the vending machine out front. Do you guys want anything?”
They shake their heads and watch me walk out just as quickly as I came crashing in.
“Fuck,” I hiss to myself as soon as the cold air hits me. I fold my arms over my chest. “What the hell have I done?”
I shake my pockets to find some loose change, and manage to scrape together enough to get a pop.
I rest my head against the vending machine as I wait for the clunking of my drink being set free. For a second, I allow my eyes to close and the last few days to flood my mind.
“Hey, Landon?” Like an idiot, I spin at the mention of my surname just to find myself faced with a stranger. I don’t know who this guy is, but he looks rough. “Found you.” He’s smug. This asshole really does want me dead.
I snap into survival mode, trying to think of anything that will keep me alive.
A blade is flicked out in front of me, causing my body to go into fight mode. “You should know better than to take down someone more powerful than yourself.”
His nasty smile makes me want to throw up. This is what I have been afraid of.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I hold up my hands in a surrendering gesture. “I was just a runner. I didn’t even know what the fuck was going on. I never even wanted to be a part of it. It wasn’t me. I got brought in by…”
“Stix, I know.” He moves closer to me. “Your cousin, right? I can’t believe that you lived with that piece of shit, and you didn’t know what he was planning. No one is that dumb.”
“Well, I must be that dumb.” I don’t care what this guy thinks of me, as long as he doesn’t kill me. “I didn’t know anything. I delivered packages, that’s all. I never even questioned what was in them, I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want to be involved. I certainly didn’t know that Stix was planning anything. I thought that he was too high all the time to do anything.” I don’t know if this is working, but I need to keep talking. “If I had known that he was going to do anything dumb, I would have stopped it…”
“You had the power to stop it?” The sharp blade presses against my cheek. Not hard enough to cut, but I get the warning. “You had that sort of power over your cousin, and you didn’t do anything?”
“I… I don’t know,” I admit honestly. “I don’t know if he ever would have listened to me.”