Targeted

Chapter Eight

~Arabella~

     As soon as Adrian is out of sight, Zach pushes me back to the clearing.

     "I swear to fucking God, if you make one noise I will kill you right here, right now, and you now I don't want to do that," he hisses in my ear quietly. I clench my jaw, nodding silently. He takes his hand off my mouth and immediately spit on the ground, wiping my mouth on my shoulder. "Aw, don't be like that, sweetheart, you'll love me sooner or later." I roll my eyes.

     "I think I'll take the never option." Zach smirks, throwing his arm around my shoulder, which I shrug off immediately.

     "Never say never." I sigh, rolling my eyes again.

     "If you're going to kill me, just get it over with. I'd rather not look at you anymore, the sight disgusts me." His eyes narrow and he grasps my wrist tightly, dragging me deeper into the woods.

     "I'm not going to kill you just yet, sweetheart. You do have another option, though. Marry me and you don't die. Seems pretty great, doesn't it?" I roll my eyes, staying silent. There is no way I'm ever going to marry him. "You just think about it, sweetheart, it'll start sounding good to you in a bit." I don't answer, letting him drag me through the woods to who knows where.

     We walk down the path for hours it seems like, it's almost dark and we still aren't close to wherever we're going. I sigh for the thousandth time, looking around the dark forest.

     "Are we even remotely close to where you want to go?" I ask, attitude lacing my voice heavily. Zach looks over at me and sighs, running a hand down his tired looking face.

     "We'll stop for the night soon." I smirk triumphantly, sighing in relief. My feet were killing me, I was not dressed right for an impromptu walk in the woods.

     "You know, you could have avoided all of this by not kidnapping me, it would have been a lot easier for you, don't you think?" Zach raises an eyebrow, smirking.

     "You would never have gotten rid of me. You're mine, Arabella, always have been and always will be. If I hadn't of taken you, someone else would have, someone a lot less gentle than me." He squeezes my hand painfully tight, making me clench my jaw to hold in a gasp. "You wouldn't of liked that."

     "Wanna bet?" I dare tiredly.

     "Just shut up. I'm starting to wish I would have killed you in that clearing."

     "Why not do it now? You've still got your chance, why waste it?" I ask tiredly, rolling my eyes to look around the trees.

     "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He hisses, pulling me to a stop and shoving me to the ground by a large willow tree. I sigh in relief, rubbing my sore feet.

     "Wouldn't you like to know?"

     The next day is just like the last, just with a little less walking. We walk in silence, with me making snide comments every once in a while, he answers tiredly, hopefully starting to get sick of me. We walk for hours, each one I ask how much longer, each time he answers vaguely.

     As the sun sets, we come upon a large clearing with tents covering the ground. We're here. My stomach drops and I feel nauseous; I'm surrounded by people that want to kill me. I take a deep breath, lifting my chin, emitting a confidence I don't feel. A crowd slowly forms before us, beady, deadly eyes stare greedily, thinking they've won. They don't know that they'll never win; I will never let them win. I'll get away from this place, I know I will.

~Adrian~

     I swear under my breath, running after Arabella. She just needs to let me explain, I need my chance to explain. She went to the rock, she had to of gone there, it's her thinking place. I stop in the clearing before it, looking around desperately. She's not here. I clench my jaw, fighting off tears. I can't lose her, not again.