Run to Me

Prologue

15 years ago...

"You saved my life and I told you that I owed you."

I nodded. "I asked for my freedom."

"That you did. I'd hoped you'd change your mind."

I shook my head.

"You're good at what you do Slick," he said.

"I need a brand new start."

He nodded.

"Fine. You've earned your freedom. You're free to go, but before you do, I need to remind you about one thing," Arthur said.

"What?" I asked.

"The next time you get in trouble and ask me for a favour. You're back in. And you're back for life. I'll own you," he said, before laughing mercilessly.

Over my dead fucking body. I'm never coming back.

13 years later...

Katie

"Dave, I'm in love with you. I've been for a really long time."

Dave pushed me away. "You don't know what you're saying."

"I do. I love you, Dave."

"No, you don't. How can you know what love is. You're only eighteen for fuck's sake!"

"My age has nothing to do with this!" I said, suddenly angry.

"Forget this, Katerina. Go on to college and soon you'll forget all of this. You'll find someone your age and you'll see that this is all a mistake," he said.

Hurt and humiliation filled me.

"But its you I want. I'm not a little girl anymore Dave."

"I'm only going to say this once, Katerina. You and I will never happen. I'm not in with love you," he said. "I love you like a sister. Like a friend, but that's all."

Tears rose to my eyes.

"I'm sorry. But I don't feel the same way," he said, before turning to leave.

Dave

I saw the tears in her eyes before I turned to walk away from her.

It killed me to do so, but I had to.

She's too fucking young.

She surprised me tonight by asking me to come meet her by the garden. I didn't expect her to confess her feelings for me.

She was ten years old when I first met her. A little girl. But as she grew older and blossomed to a beautiful teenager, I started having feelings toward her that I have no business feeling.

It started when she turned seventeen. I was away for a year and shit went to hell. I never thought I'd ever come back, but I did, and when I knocked on Nate's door, it was Katerina who answered the door instead.

She was wearing a floral dress, her hair down past her shoulders in waves, and she had the most beautiful smile on her face.

She looked like a fucking angel. My saviour.

"Hey there handsome. Welcome back," she said, before throwing herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I'm glad you're back home safe," she whispered in my ear, causing tingles to run down my spine.

I don't know what happened, but it just hit me. I felt something inside me switch or turn, or whatever the hell you want to call it.

I felt angry by feeling the way I did for a seventeen year old. I had no business feeling the way I did and that's when I started to keep my distance from her. I felt so disgusted with myself for seeing a seventeen year old in that way. Now a year later and I still want her and hearing her confess her love for me just made it fucking worse, because the truth is, I'm in love with her too.

Fuck, if I know how it happened. The more I kept my distance, the more I wanted her. The more I forced myself not to think about her, the more I thought about her, until she was engraved in my heart.

It's a good thing she's leaving for college in the morning. I'll finally have the chance to move on from her.

She and I can never be.

She deserves someone better than me. My past can come back and haunt me any time. I can't let that happen. I can't put her in harms way. And after what happened to Allan and I... I just can't. I can't do that to her.

Right now it hurts, but in time she'll see that I was right to turn her away.