Her mother stepped out of her room.
She immediately grabbed the suitcase, put it on top of her bed, grabbed a whole heap of clothes, and threw them inside. She didn’t stop until the case was full. After she zipped it up and made her way across her room, she stopped. Her reflection in the mirror caught her attention. There was nothing great about looking at herself. She was still the same old person. Still Pru. Only this time, when she looked at herself, she didn’t see a fighter. She saw someone who quit.
Glancing down at the case in her hand, she then looked back up and the view didn’t change.
She was running away.
This was her plan. To run away, not look back.
This wasn’t the kind of person she was. Not ever.
Putting the case down beside herself, she looked in the mirror and she really didn’t like what she saw. Someone scared. Someone sad. Broken.
This wasn’t how she planned her life. Not even close.
****
Drake didn’t see Pru for the rest of the day. He looked for her and she was nowhere to be found. His boys were around him and of course they were curious as to what had been happening to him for the past couple of months, but he brushed it off. Told them to get a life and to stop gossiping like a couple of girls.
By the end of the day, there was still no sign of Pru. He didn’t like it.
She shouldn’t be on her own.
When he found Sean standing by his car, scrolling through his phone, he reacted.
Grabbing him by the jacket, he shoved him hard against the car, spinning him around so the bastard knew who he was dealing with.
“You remember me?” he asked, putting his arm across the guy’s neck. He didn’t put too much pressure. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Pru’s best friend if she’d forgiven him, even though it would give him a sick sense of satisfaction to harm him, to really make it hurt in ways he never had before.
“What do you want?”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“What?”
“You know who. Don’t play the thick card with me. It doesn’t work.”
“You mean the girl you’ve been using these past few months?” Sean laughed. “How did that work for you?”
Pulling him close so his lips were against his ear, Drake made his threat. “If you think you’ve got some kind of leverage over me, you don’t. The moment you told my parents and they came, all leverage you could have had to stop me hurting you was gone. For all of your intelligence, you’re not too bright. I’d be careful how you talk to me.” He shoved him once again up against the car and it gave him a great deal of satisfaction to see him in pain.
“What do you want?”
“I want to know where she is.”
“I don’t know. Okay? She ran out of here after she spoke to you. I don’t know where she went or what she’s doing. I don’t know,” Sean said.
Staring at him, he saw the bastard spoke the truth. He didn’t know how he knew, only that he did. “You made a big fucking mistake in telling my parents,” he said.
“And you think you’re the one who’s supposed to end up with Pru? She’s far too good for you. I don’t even know why the fuck she went with you. You’re a first-class asshole. Look what you did to Ree. She’s been begging for your attention ever since she went to that party.”
Drake was growing increasingly bored with the conversation. Wrapping his fingers around his neck, he wondered what it would feel like to see the life zap right out of him. He’d gladly do it. To see an end to this boy. He wasn’t a man. A man wouldn’t go behind his back but face him.
“Do it. I know you want to. I know you want to kill me,” Sean said. “You’ll probably get away with it as well. Hide my body.”
“You’re being dramatic.” He let Sean go. “When you see Pru, tell her I’m looking for her.”
“She won’t talk to me,” Sean said. “She hates me just as much as you do.”
“I doubt that.”
“Believe me, it’s the truth.”
“You don’t know what you did. We were happy,” Drake said. “You ruined that.”
“Please, you never would’ve been together for a long time. You don’t have what it takes to handle Pru.”
“And you do?”
“I’ve been her friend for a hell of a lot longer than you. I know what she needs. You don’t have a clue.”
Drake wanted to pummel the bastard but that was what Sean wanted.
“Go on, Drake, hit me.”
“I don’t believe in hitting girls,” he said. He stepped back. “If you see Pru, tell her I’m looking for her.”
“Not going to happen. I’m not going to encourage her to forgive you. You may as well get that out of your thick fucking skull.”