Dangerous

Chapter Eighteen: The Couch and The Floor

"Anna?" I gape at her. She's grown. Her hair is longer, her face is more mature, her lips are fuller, and her eyes shine with fear.

(Flashback)

I grimace and walk her to her room. I put her in bed and she smiles up at me.

"Go to sleep, Anna," I whisper and glance away.

She nods and closes her eyes. Soon her breathing gets softer.

I hear the front door open. I shakily pull out my gun and aim at Anna's head. My hand is shaking.

"Hey, Anna, make sure-" Justin stops abruptly when he sees me. His eyes go to my face, then follow down my arm to the gun.

Anna has awoken at the sound of his voice. Her eyes are open and she has a dreamy look in her eyes, which are staring at Justin.

Justin is staring at the gun. "What are you doing?" He asks quietly.

"You- you need to stop. You need to stop seeing me. You need to stop talking to me. And you need to stop caring for me." I put the bullet into place. "I need you to promise. I need you to promise me this. Or I swear, this bullet will go right through her skull. And if you try to talk to me after this, I will find her and I will kill her. I swear I will. You need to promise me. Do you promise me?" My voice is shaking and I cannot look him in the eye.

In my peripheral vision, I see him nod. "Good," I say softly. I back up slowly, keeping the gun trained on Anna. Then I turn quickly and run, climbing down from the second floor window to the ground.

(End of flashback)

I'm drawn back into the present as Anna whispers, "yeah, it's me."

I swallow as all sorts of thoughts swarm through my mind. "Does Justin know? That you're on the A Team? That you're trying to kill me?"

She shakes her head. "Of course not."

I sigh. "How could you?" I murmur.

This seems to set her off. "No, Ariana," she hisses, shoving me away from her. "How could YOU? You stay away from brother, you're done manipulating him!" She's breathing hard now, her hands clenched in fists.

"Anna, I don't want to hurt you," my voice quivers.

Tears well up in her eyes. "Too late." She opens the car door and runs.

I slump down in the back seat and close the door she left open. I bite my lip and look out at the apartment complex to see Sammie watching me from a window. Well, not exactly me, just my car, since the windows are tinted. But she clearly saw Anna jump out and run and is wondering if I'm okay.

I take a deep breath, climb back into the driver's seat, and begin to drive back towards the motel.

I'm worried about what I'll find when I get there, knowing Cole and Justin don't like each other one bit.

I stare blankly ahead the whole ride and when I finally pull into the motel, I lose it. I bury my face in my hands and swallow a sob.

I tell myself to suck it up and I sit up, taking a deep breath. I pull myself together and jump out of the car. Justin runs outside to meet me. He pulls me into a hug and sighs. "You're safe."

I shrug away from him. "Yeah." I look away.

He frowns. "What happened while you were there?"

I shake my head. "Nothing. I'm cold. Can we go inside?" I fake a shiver and he furrows his brow.

"Yeah, of course." He leads the way inside and I flop down on the couch.

"I'm sleeping here," I announce, sighing as I stare up at the fan.

Cole and Justin both immediately say, "I'll sleep on the floor next to you."

They break into argument and I just stare at the ceiling, waiting until they work it out. Finally quiet comes and I look beside me to see Cole closest to me, already asleep, and Justin beside him, though he made sure he was a couple feet away.

I smile to myself and pull a blanket over me and force myself to sleep.