I can finally string some words together. “What… How…”
He presses his fingers on my face and asks in a voice as shaky as his fingers, “You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
It doesn’t look like he believes me though; his eyes don’t lose the franticness and his jaw is as hard as ever. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay? I’m going to…”
He trails off as if he can’t speak anymore.
As if it’s too much, and my heart twists so viciously in my chest that I have to gasp lightly. I have to whisper, “God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Alaric. Please don’t —”
He stops my words, swallows them down with his mouth.
And Jesus Christ, I swear it feels like a balm. His plush mouth, his hard kiss — something that I thought I’d never get to feel again — is like an elixir. An aphrodisiac. My medication that I need to soothe all my aches and hurts.
When he breaks the kiss, I open my mouth to say something but can’t.
Because those people that I’ve been ignoring until then push themselves into this little world that Alaric and I have created. And then there’s no time or opportunity to disappear into that world again.
There’s a whirlwind of activity after that.
From untying my hands to taking my statements as to what happened and how Jimmy got me to go with him; apparently these guys are cops. They also arrest Jimmy. Someone comes in to check my body for bruises even though I told them all that I was fine. They still insist on cleaning up my little wounds and the chafing around my wrists. Then they insist that I come down to the station right away, but before I can protest, Alaric does it for me. He tells them that I’m tired and that I need my rest and so we — he and I — will come down tomorrow but not today.
Because even though we haven’t been able to disappear into our own little world like before, my guardian has still been by my side all throughout the questioning, the tending of wounds.
In fact from what I’ve gathered so far, I’m saved because of him too.
It was the tracker on my phone.
The one my guardian had put there years ago, and since he insisted that I carry my phone with me now, I’d had it in my satchel. So after that first phone call, Alaric had the presence of mind to check my location and call the cops.
So this is how they got Jimmy.
Such a simple solution.
Which makes me think what the fuck was I thinking? How the fuck did I think that I was in love with a guy who’d do something like this and not even well? I mean, his whole grand kidnapping plot came crashing down in a couple of hours. Yes, they were terrifying couple of hours of my life but still.
I’m so stupid or was. And God, it will never cease to amaze me how much.
But anyway, since Alaric couldn’t have stood by while they came to get me, he insisted on coming with them to the motel. It wasn’t an easy feat; again, that’s what I’ve been able to gather. But I guess he was persistent and very angry. So in the end, they let Alaric come with them. Although they’re sort of upset with him for barging into the room before them.
Oh well.
I don’t care.
I’m glad he’s here.
I’m glad he insisted on coming — even though I’m dying to make him feel better about his missed meeting — because I don’t think I would’ve been able to get through it all without him being by my side.
After the cops and all the formalities come all the people who care about me.
And there are a lot of them.
Something I never had before. Not until I came to this strange town and met these strange people who have now become my family.
There’s Mo. And there are my friends, Callie and Wyn and Salem; even Echo and Jupiter, who I only met a few weeks ago.
When I didn’t arrive at the party like I’d told them I would, they all got worried, and so they contacted Alaric about it; I guess they got his personal cell number through Janet. By then Alaric had already gotten the phone call from Jimmy. So they all left the party — I’m sad about that — and drove over to the mansion to wait for me.
Not to mention, by then, Mo knew about it as well. Because Alaric called her after calling the cops.
So by the time I get done with the cops, they’re all waiting for me at the mansion.
And before I know it, they’re all hugging me and crying with me and laughing with me and there’s so much loud chatter and exclamations and celebrations and anger at Jimmy that I almost lose track of him.