Blue // Daniel Seavey

Chapter 17

Tori

Once that first tear so horribly escapes my watering eyes, I let the deadly, threatening wall of water that has been forcefully pressing at the back of my eyelids break free. A cruel avalanche of unmerciful tears release.

"No." I whimper helplessly, shaking my head in adamant insistence as I look directly into the eyes of this hopeless boy.

"Tori," he begins softly, his eyes temporarily closing as he inhales a deep breath; he's either composing himself, or preparing himself. "Close your eyes. Please," he sends me a sincere look, "just close your eyes."

"No!" I suddenly shout, my overbearing pain taking ahold of me. My body leans forward in my chair, trying to escape the harsh grasp of the rope, and also trying to escape the pain I will feel if I sit back and watch him get hurt. "No! This isn't happening! I won't let it!"

"Tori--"

"Theo!" I yell, turning to face him. "Please don't do this! I promise you we'll never be in your sight again, we  won't contact the police, we won't tell anyone, just please," I beg out of pure hopelessness, "don't hurt him!"

"Nothing's going to stop me," Theo spits sternly. "Especially not the pathetic crying of an irrelevant girl."

"But--"

"Boss, you don't need to do this." Caleb interrupts, causing Theo's jaw to clench in agitation.

"Please, Tori," Daniel begins, "just don't watch. No matter what you do, I'm going to get hurt. There's no escaping this. But if I fight back, you're going to get hurt." He shakes his head. "I don't want that. I won't let that happen."

I've never heard him say the word 'please' so many times.

I stare into his blue orbs, the two rings of colour that I've so strangely spent my nights dreaming about, and I can feel what he's feeling. For the first time in my entire life, I feel as if I know him. Truly know him.

I'm about to respond, tell him that I don't hate him because I'm sure he thinks I do, he's heard it from me too many times, but that's until Theo's large fist unexpectedly dives into Daniel's face.

"No!" I scream, my voice breaking from the powerful, overwhelming feeling of pain.

The collision of Theo's fist causes Daniel's feet to stagger, fighting for balance. As he manages to maintain his body upright, his chest heaves up and down in agitation, his eyes now burning with a fiery rage. Blood is trickling from his nostrils.

I expect him to retaliate, even if I end up getting hurt, because there's no way Daniel can take control of his anger as to not fight back. I expect him to unleash the deadly aggression that I know lives inside of him; I witnessed it when he hurt Corbyn.

But he doesn't. He doesn't lift a finger.

Theo is seemingly surprised as I see his eyebrows lift a fraction, probably because he was expecting the same as I was. After he takes a moment to process, his fist rapidly comes up again, before plunging into his face.

"No!" I scream once again, my voice sounding more shattered than it did last time. "Stop!"

Suddenly, I feel a strong hand curl around my mouth, muffling my loud screams.

"You couldn't shut the fuck up yourself so now I have to make you." The man behind me says lowly but aggressively, his voice right beside my ear.

"You beat up my men." Theo throws a punch.

"You put my brother in a coma." He throws another punch.

"I don't know if he's going to make it out alive." Another punch.