Unwritten Rules (Rules 1)

“Three.”

I inhale.

“Two.”

Haze and I share one last look.

“One.”

The unnamed man screams from the basement. “You son of a bitch! Owen, don’t let them get away!”

“Now!” Haze yells and swings the door open. The sound of footsteps running up the stairs is my cue. For the first time in a long time, I don’t overthink, I don’t hesitate, I just act.

I do what Haze told me to do: I run faster than I ever did in my entire life.

“Get the girl!” Owen screams at his partner. I hear punches left and right, and although every fiber of my being is imploring me to turn around and see if Haze is okay, I don’t. I can’t.

Like he heard my thoughts out loud, he shouts at the top of his lungs, “Don’t stop!”

I see the door.

It’s right there.

I can make it… Just a couple more steps…

I finally reach it, my fingers wrapping around the doorknob. I can get out. I can be free. But when I hear Haze screaming in agony, I lose all control of my body and do the one thing I promised him not to do. I look back.

There he is, on the ground, with two guns pressed to his forehead by Tanner’s masked guys.

“What the hell are you waiting for? Go!”

Owen barks, “You’re going to be a good girl and come back here with your hands in the air, or he dies right now.”

“He’s bluffing. My brother would never let me die. Go. Now!”

I have to trust him. I have to believe that he knows what he’s doing. The adrenaline makes the choice easy. I turn the doorknob, slam the door open, and freeze in place.

Someone is waiting for me on the other side. At first, I’m relieved. I want to jump into his arms. But the look on his face is… different.

“Going somewhere?” He grins, taking my wrist prisoner and dragging me back inside against my will. In that moment, as I stare at him in shock, my world comes crashing down. Every belief I had, everything I thought I knew, all gone and destroyed… by the betrayal of this one person.

“Blake?”

T W E N T Y

Last Chance

“Why didn’t you go, Winter? Why did you look back?”

These are the words I’ve been hearing on repeat for the past twenty minutes. I wish I had an answer to give him. But I don’t. Hearing him scream in pain was all it took for me to break my promise.

And I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant he’d be okay.

“I couldn’t leave. They were going to kill you, remember?” I try to think of all the possible scenarios. Each time, they end the same way: with Mr. Traitor shoving me back inside and tying me to a chair. “Plus, Blake was outside. He would’ve stopped me anyway.”

Haze scoffs. “Maybe but you could’ve tried. That’s all I asked of you.”

They decided to move us out of the basement, which means they’re either ready to kill us or… they’re ready to kill us. That pretty much summarizes it.