Unconditional

?Thinking about it. Maybe somewhere east.”

“There’s no chance you and Aria could work it out?”

“I don’t know, Maddie. Take Tuckerman Street.” He points and I follow his direction, this is the opposite way of town so I’m wondering where exactly this hotel is.

“Shit, I forgot to text Cal. I’m just going to call him really quick.”

“Not necessary,” he interjects. “He knows you’re with me.”

“He does?”

“Yeah,” he says and his voice is final. It makes me want to probe, but I figure he’ll be out of the car soon enough and then I can talk to Cal.

It seems as if we’re driving for ages when we pull into a parking lot of a rundown tavern on the other side of town. I turn to look at him, waiting for him to get out, because, to be honest, he’s kind of giving me the creeps. He’s just staring out the window when he starts talking.

“You know, what you and my brother are doing is wrong, Maddie.”

Great, here we go. “Listen, Henry…”

“I’m talking,” he growls and I bite my bottom lip nervously. He’s never talked to me like that before.

“I can’t believe you let him take advantage of you. Were you that desperate for attention and affection from him?”

“Okay, Henry, I don’t want to talk…”

I barely have a chance to react before my face is literally on fire from his fist. “I. said. I. was. talking.” His voice is low and sinister as I hold my hand to my throbbing cheek, my body in complete shock that Henry just hit me. “Now, we’re going to go for a little drive in my truck.” He unbuckles my seatbelt and points to the black truck at the edge of the abandoned parking lot. “Get the fuck out of the car,” he whispers in my ear as he leans across my lap and opens my door. “I wouldn’t do anything stupid if I were you. Unless of course…you want me to shoot you with your boyfriend’s gun.” He rolls his neck in a circle and I cringe hearing him crack it so aggressively. The sound is the only noise in the quiet car besides my breathing that I’m trying to keep under control. He waves the gun in front of my face and my blood runs cold seeing it so close. Cal always kept guns locked and away from me, so I don’t have much experience with them up close and personal. “Leave you for dead with his bullet in you. Wouldn’t that be some irony.” He chuckles and a grin finds his face. My heart pounds in my chest and I can hear the blood rushing into my ears. My ears are ringing from how hard he hit me, but I think I’m definitely in shock because I haven’t shed one tear yet.

“Why…why?” I manage to whisper.

His finger traces gingerly down my face and I flinch at his touch and try to move further away from him. “Your skin is so smooth. God, no wonder he’s so enthralled with you.” He cups my chin and jerks me towards him. “Right, so you asked, why?”

I nod. The tears have started to slide down my face now, the shock wearing off and my mind and body realizing that I’m in huge fucking trouble. I pray to God, Henry forgets about my necklace and lets me leave it on, allowing Cal to find me sooner, but my guess is he’ll remember and take it from me.

“Because you and my brother need space. Trust me I thought about just exposing everything and ruining Cal’s reputation. But then I realized, I would much rather ruin his life.”

My lip trembles as I think about how I might never see him again and then my eyes widen in realization at his words. “Where…where’s Aria? Did you hurt her?” My voice is quiet and meek.

“Out,” he growls and he pulls his gun out of his pocket and points it at me. “No fucking games, Shaw.”

I gulp and slide out of the car, gripping my clutch for dear life. I start walking with him right behind me when he rips the clutch from me. “Not so fast.” He opens my bag and grabs my phone before turning it off and slamming it hard into the ground. My heart sinks, knowing that the GPS is now turned off and I put my hands over my eyes and almost fall to my knees. He’s killed my phone and he’s taking me away from my car that is programmed with a tracker. If he remembers about my necklace I’m done. I spin away from him and reach up as stealthily as I can to rip the necklace from my neck. The chain digs into my skin but I welcome the bite as the clasp breaks. At least, if he doesn’t see it, he might forget that I have it.

I slip the necklace into the pocket of my coat when I feel him right at my heels. As soon as we approach the car, he binds my hands in front of me, tightly. The rope digs into my wrists and I wince at the burn. “Don’t pull, they bite, little one.” He winks at me before shoving me into the back seat. “Lay the fuck down.”

“But…”

“NOW,” he growls and I do as he says, fresh tears springing to my eyes and sliding down my face. I realize once I’m inside, I don’t recognize this car and I’ve been in Henry’s car at least a thousand times, which makes this scarier than anything.

Has he been plotting this all along?

“Wait, Henry…this isn’t your…car…?” The conclusions are forming in my brain before the words are even out. He’s the guy that almost ran me off the road the other day.

“You were always a smart girl.” I hear as he starts the truck.

A shiver runs through me and I turn on my back, staring up into the roof of the car. Keep him talking Maddie.

“You…you could have killed me last night…” My teeth are chattering together in the frosty car, and I see my breath.

“I barely even touched you, don’t be so dramatic.” He waves a hand towards me.