Auctioned Mate(unedited)

Chapter 46: Shelter

It was getting too hard to breathe by the time we ran out from the woods and came upon an interstate. The highway looked deserted except for a few cars. This was normal seeing as only the upper middle class and rich people had them. My family was stable, but not stable enough for a car. Instead, we settled for my great-grandfather’s beat-up old pick-up truck.

“Okay, everything should be fine now,” Myles huffed. We were both tired. We were running through the woods for hours. My hands were vibrating with pain but I was too happy to really notice. “There's a set of abandoned apartments about a half a mile down there.” He pointed.

I nodded and we started walking.

It took us almost an hour to get to the apartments. My feet were hurting and sweat was making my shirt cling to my back. I just wanted to hope into a shower.

The apartment looked even more dreadful than I thought. I could literally see through the entrance to the other side. Most of the window—if they weren't busted in—were covered with plastic. Broken beer bottles and crack pipes were scattered everywhere. I wonder ed what Myles was thinking bringing us here.

“I thought we were going to find a way to get to my house.”

“We are, but it's almost night fall. We can rest here until the morning, then we'll start,” he said before he climbed a set of stairs and I could see him on the second floor. No part of this place seemed sanitary. “Come on!” he called down to me.

I sighed and started walking up the stairs. The metal stairs creaked below me. I felt that they were going to cave in at any moment. I quickly got to the top and followed Myles into one of the rooms.

Inside, it was dank and dirty. It was also sealed in where light was barely shining through. Myles stripped the wood and plastic from the windows. There was more light but worse things to see. There were dead rats, a pile of human feces, and even used tissue stuffed into the cracks in the walls. It was horrendous. I didn't want to be here now let alone stay here for a night.

“Myles, we can't stay here,” I said worryingly. “This place is disgusting and it smell so bad. You can't be serious.”

“It's just for the night. In a few hours it will be completely dark. It's not safe on the road at night. We'll stay here until the morning then we'll move on from there.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Let's find a place to sleep. It's not going to be as bad as you think. There's another room back there. Come on, let's check it out.”

I grimaced then followed him into the room. There was a large hole in the wall, newspaper piled up to one side of the room and broken glass in a few places, but at least this room had a window. If you call a window a very large hole in the wall that let's you see through the other side. There was a tattered mattress stuffed into one corner of the room. There were multiple stains on it. The only one I could make out from all of them were the piss stains. I cringed and walked closer to Myles.

“We'll just have to take the couch,” he said. The couch was red, long, old, and dusty. Myles walked over to it and started hitting it. “See, it's not that bad. At least there are no stains on this one. At least none that we can see.

I nodded my head even though deep inside I was crying. I was clutching my stomach to stop from sobbing and to keep the tears from coming out. It was getting really hard to conceal them. Once Myles turn to me it was all over. Tears trailed down my face and the sobbing followed.

“Mason, what's wrong?” he wrapped his arms around me.

“I don't want to be here. I'm so t-tired of this. I just want to be left alone.”

“I know and I promise that we will find away to get you back home” he rubbed my shoulder then kissed my forehead in reassurance.

“I'm never going to be happy again,” I shook my head. “Everything will keep getting worse Myles. I had to leave my parents, I got my friends killed and sent away, I was abused, I was bought and was sent to you, I got abused again and now we're here. Am I ever going to be happy? Am I ever going to be able to make choices for myself about my life?”

“Of course,” he stroked my cheek. “One day we'll both be happy. That's all I want for us, but you have to have faith in me Mason. I am your mate, I need you to start acting like mine.”

I nodded, “okay,” I whipped away a few of my tears. “How do I start?”

“All I need you to do is trust me,” he replied.

“Okay.”

Myles pulled me into a hug then kissed me on the cheek. Then his hands were on both of my cheeks and he pulled me into another kiss—this time on the mouth. Then more followed after that. Then another kiss, but this time his tongue swiped across my bottom lip and I opened my mouth. I knew it was weird to be kissing him in a funky room while on the run but it took me away from all of the bad things happening.

Myles placed his hand on the smalls of my back then pulled me closer. “Trusting me is one thing, but there are other things too,” he chuckled.

“Ugh,” I playfully slapped his shoulder. “I think you getting ahead of yourself. You haven't even taken me out on a date yet.”

“Mason, we we get out of this shit-hole and into a stable home, I promise that I'll give you the best date you'll ever have,” he grinned and kissed me again. He then picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Maybe we should stop for a minute,” I said. I was getting a little worried. What if something were to happen with Myles? What if I ended up pregnant? There is no protection. After the war all forms of contraception was banned and anyone who sold them were sent to rot in prison for the rest of their lives. They called it pro-life, but I call it anti-choice. I can't risk it especially when I'm just starting to figure out my feelings and not in this place.

“Okay,” he looked at me longingly before placing me back on the ground. I could tell that I wasn't the only one having thoughts about it. “We can go out for a little while until it gets dark, huh? We can go see if we can get something to eat.”

“I left the cans at the house,” I said. I don't know why I said it. I guess I felt like telling him that I was making an effort for us. “I was too busy trying to save Talia that I forgot about them. I'm sorry.”

He didn't say anything for a moment and then he said,” it's okay. She needed you at the time. No one expected her to kill herself.”

“I knew. Just by the way she talked to me, I knew something was going to happen. I should have paid more attention to her. She was getting drunk frequently and always talking abut how her brother was the only one she had left in this world. She knew Henry was going to kill him and then she was going to be all alone. She said that she had no one else to live for.”

“You can't blame yourself for what Talia did. She made her own choices, no one forced her. The same goes for Heir too. He tried to kill you. He almost killed you. If I hadn't of came in when I did, I would have found you on the floor in a puddle of blood.”

“I kept thinking that you're father was the cause of all of this,” I chuckled dryly. “He's always shown how much he despised me so naturally I thought he put Heir up to it. I just don't understand why he won't admit it.”

“Maybe my father didn't put him up to it,” Myles replied. “Maybe we just underestimated Heir and that was our mistake.”

“No!” I stepped away from him and started pacing. “Heir wouldn't have done that—not on his own. I don't know how to explain it but your father is the cause of this.”

“Why don't we just talk about this later. There's no reason for us to trudge this up now. All we need to do now is rest and wait until the morning. We have a long way to go.” He plopped on the couch making the dust spread through the air.

“I know,” I sighed. “As soon as the morning comes, we're out of here.” I cuddled up next to him and waited to fall asleep.