Court Kept (Court High 3)
Because this was dark, so dark. This was madness and if they really made Ramses stay out here to get that damn Court ring, they really were trying to kill him. Ramses said he could survive whatever they threw at him, but I was sure my sister thought that as well.
The whole thing made me sick, hard to even walk in the darkening woods. The only thing keeping me charging on was because I knew I might be the last thing keeping Ramses from a similar fate. He needed me like my sister didn’t have that night.
“Ramses, please, if you’re out there, say something!” My voice moved the trees, birds literally flying out of them and into the woods. In my ear, I heard similar calls, our friends searching for him too. I turned on my phone light the deeper I got into the woods, and waving it around, I caught an object before doubling back.
What the fuck?
My phone light caught three objects, people who scattered the moment the light hit them. The people had their faces covered, wearing black surgical masks over their faces like I’d seen in KPOP videos. Running off, two of them bounded away from the third in the center, and I raced that way, the other person sitting and slumped.
No way.
My light moved over a body sitting in a chair, literally hanging off it and slumped forward. They were naked down to their boxers and sneakers, shaking with a black bag over their head.
I dropped my phone.
“Ramses!” I ran like I’d never run before, faster than even in gym class and on stable ground. The body twitched at my sudden presence, long legs and lanky arms both bound at the wrists and ankles. Skin normally aglow with tan had turned pale, his body literally uncovered in the middle of the goddamn woods.
“Ramses,” I cried, immediately going for the bag. They’d secured it with string but it wasn’t tight. I pulled it off easily, and even though Ramses had twitched before, he wasn’t moving now.
He sat there, eyes closed, and I didn’t even know if he was breathing.
“Guys, help me!” I screamed, shaking him. I put my hands to his face. “Ramses? Ramses, look at me.”
He said nothing, icicles literally on his eyelashes and curly hair. Ripping my glove off with my teeth, I checked for a pulse.
“’Zona?”
My heart beat with the pulse at his neck, his face shifting. His cheek touched my hand, so cold. He smiled a little. “You’re so warm.”
“Oh my God, Ramses.” Shaking, I didn’t move, letting him take my heat. Unzipping my coat, I braved the weather to put it around his bare body. He shivered inside it, and using my hands, I warmed him.
His grin widened. “Mmm. That’s nice, and I have to say, you took long enough.”
I’d hit him if I wasn’t so scared for his life, and when our friends arrived, some of them actually screamed. I wasn’t surprised. Ramses didn’t look good.
He couldn’t even raise his head.
He kept it down while he’d spoken to me, and I shouted for someone to call an ambulance.
“No, don’t,” Ramses urged, moving into my heat. I had my arms completely around him now, giving him all the heat I had. “Don’t let them.”
He’d whispered it all in my ear, my head shaking. “You’re going to the hospital.”
“No. I haven’t been out here very long. Maybe an hour? The other guys left when they heard you coming.”
I’d seen them leave, but he was crazy if he thought he wasn’t going to see a doctor. He could have hypothermia or worse.
“Please, ’Zona,” he edged. He pressed his cheek against mine, and suddenly, he was warm too. He was raw heat, fire, and even more when I slid my arms inside the coat and around his naked body. We were both in the puffer coat’s heat, our own sauna created as his face rubbed mine. “Just get me home.”
The urgency there I didn’t want to listen to, but if he’d gone through all this to accomplish something and going to the hospital might undo that for some reason…
I held him tighter, telling our friends we just needed to get him home. They thought I was fucking crazy, and I did too.
And so was living in this town.
Six
Ramses