Better Than Revenge [Chapters 1-15 Rewritten]

Chapter 6: SOS

Chapter 6: SOS

Even though I really didn't want Christian to catch up to me, after about thirty seconds of running at full speed, I was exhausted. This was way too much running for one day. I wasn't exactly what you would call "in shape." My idea of exercise involved yoga and giant exercise balls, if I worked out at all. There was no way I would be able to outrun him. I didn't have enough endurance to keep running, anyway. The adrenaline had worn off. I needed to figure something else out.

"Wait up!" He sounded close. Too close.

And so I put Plan B into action. Plan A had been to outrun him, but Plan A had also been foolish and unrealistic. Plan B was to confuse Christian by taking a series of random turns until he left me alone.

Being new to the city, I didn't know where to turn and had no idea where I was going. I was pretty sure this method was going to get me lost, and getting lost in a city as huge as Los Angeles was obviously a terrible idea. Even though Hollywood itself was just a district of Los Angeles, it was huge.

With my luck, it would get dark soon and I would end up in Hollywood's slums and die before my audition, most likely thanks to my smart-ass mouth.

"Wait up!" he called out.

Okay, Plan B was terrible. Time for Plan C: sick the fans on him.

"Stop running!"

He didn't sound any farther away than he had the last time he'd spoken. If anything, he sounded closer. Plan B was officially a bust, but I had high hopes for Plan C.

I made a few more random turns until I found myself in front of Hollywood & Highland, a large shopping complex in the city. I didn't think twice about running inside, even though my lungs felt like nonexistent little lumps by that point.

"Stop!"

Uh-oh. It sounded like he was right behind me.

Unfortunately, I turned out to be right. The second I made it to the central area of the mall, Christian reached out and grabbed my arm, forcing me to face him. With his other hand, he fixed his hoodie so it obscured his face once again.

"It's you, isn't it?" He was only slightly out of breath. I, on the other hand, sounded like I was dying from an asthma attack. He must have caught on to this because he added, "Uh... are you okay?"

I made a few incoherent noises, waving my arm at him in a way that was supposed to be casual but probably came out frantic. I didn't actually reply to him because at that moment, all of my efforts were going into returning the air to my lungs.

"Do you need some help or something?" He looked at me with a startled expression.

"I'm... fine..." I choked out, placing a hand over my chest. "Just... need... air..."

He just nodded slowly in response.

After another minute of this, I was finally able to breathe normally again. Christian carefully let go of my arm and opened his mouth to speak. I didn't give him the chance to say whatever he was going to say. Instead, I pulled his hood down and screamed, "Oh, my God, it's Christian Ryder!"

Dozens of eyes immediately turned towards us. I smirked at him, while he just looked at me with a wide-eyed expression, like a deer caught in the headlights or like my ex-boyfriend when I found out he was cheating and outed him in front of all of our friends and family.

Christian's reaction quickly went from startled to furious. "Damn it. You—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. He was cut off by multiple screams and was attacked from every angle. I just barely made it out of there in one piece. I backed away until I was out of the brawl but could still witness it. He wasn't getting away anytime soon.