Wild Girl (Aston Creek High 3)
“Kick it under the bed.”
I glance down at the knife, desperate to hold onto my only hope for freedom. But as Lucien pulls back the slide of the gun, the familiar click has my heart sinking. I do as I’m told, knowing that with a hundred percent certainty that I would rather let myself crash and burn than allow Slade get hurt in all of this.
He’s my world. My everything. If he was to get hurt or worse… I don’t know what I’d do. It’d all be over. I need Slade Cruz in my life. I love him with every piece of my being. He’s the one who taught me how to live again. He’s the one who taught me that it’s not enough to just survive after going through something that I went through, but that you need to thrive.
My eyes fall to Slade, desperately wanting to run to him and close my eyes, pretending that this isn’t happening. I don’t want to believe that this will be the last time that I ever see him. I need to know that we’ll make it through this and meet each other at the finish line. My life isn’t worth living without him.
“Just…leave him alone,” I beg with fat tears rolling down my cheeks, wishing Slade would just wake up and finish this or tell me that I’m doing the right thing. He’ll never forgive me for this. He’ll hate me for not fighting but I can’t risk his life. “I’ll do anything.”
A wicked grin stretches across Lucien’s face. “That’s what I thought,” he says, stepping around the side of the bed and slowly making his way toward me, still keeping the gun trained on his one and only son. “Now be a good girl and walk out to the SUV. One sound out of you or even the slightest hesitation and Slade and Shaylee are gone. Do you understand me?”
I glance back over my shoulder, forcing myself to hold it together just a little while longer. I bite down on my lip to keep me from making a sound, feeling like an absolute mess. I nod, knowing that this is the last time I’ll ever see him again because I know there’s no way I’m going to make it out of this alive.
“Good. Now walk.”
Wiping my eyes on the back of my arm, I start walking out of my bedroom, up the hallway and to the front door, knowing that I still have the two cops sitting outside as my last resort.
I get to the door with Lucien’s gun pressed into the back of my head and as I unlock the door and step out to the cold night, I realize that the two patrol cars stationed outside my house are not going to help because they’re not even here.
Devastation claims me as all hope is gone.
“Walk,” Lucien growls, pressing harder against the gun.
My eyes briefly close and I let out a breath. All I have to do is make it to his SUV and everyone I love will be safe. That’s all that matters. He can do what he likes to me, I will behave, I will do as I’m told, I will be the perfect housewife for Marcus if it means my family and friends are safe.
Lucien walks behind me, pushing me faster with the pressure against my head and after walking two houses down, I find his SUV parked in the shadows of some bushes. By the time we reach his SUV, the sobs come streaming out, hard and heavy as I mourn the life, love, and laughter I’ve just left behind.
My hand curls around the door handle of the backseat and as I go to climb up into the SUV, Lucien slams the butt of the gun down over my temple, instantly sending me spiraling into darkness.