Stepping Out

Maybe it was PTSD

Hunter’s POV
The door was closed in my face and I started pounding on the door, begging to let me inside. How could I not have seen? Her parents not picking up, she never talking about home. Being quiet in general? She was in way more pain than I am and I was acting like a jerk. I put my own feelings in front of everything else and princess got hurt, by me. Which I vowed to never do ever again.
This all happened when I was in Italy, that’s why she shut me out, and by the time I got back, it was old news. So no one told me. How could I be such an idiot? I seriously let my best friend fall into the pit of self-guilt and I didn’t do anything? I am the worst person in the world.
I can hear her crying on the other side of the door, I am pounding and yelling. I need to get in there. Someone broke into her house and trashed it, most likely looking for something. But what? And why with my princess?
I stopped yelling to listen for her cries. But I don’t hear any, all I hear is the quietness of the empty halls. She either stopped crying, or something was wrong. And with what has been happening lately, I would guess that something is wrong. This time, I am so furious I kick down the door and see the actual mess. How could I have missed this? There were papers everywhere, broken plates and drawers all over the ground, every cabinet was bare and all of the blankets were scattered all over the floor, along with stuffing from the pillows.
I look for Emily in the apartment but, all I see is a mess. And a, marking on the wall. What? I look closer and I see it is an animal of some sort. No way, no one would betray us like this. And who would know about Emily? I never told anyone. I look closer to see the animal was a wolf. Only one person that I know has that tattoo. And you would think he would have done this sooner. But I guess it took him a while to plan this.
I just hope I’m not too late.
**************************
The phone picks up after the 3rd ring.
“Hello? Black? What do you want?” He asked. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“He’s done it. He’s finally done it. He took her,” That’s all I needed to say. He hung up the phone and I put my phone back in my pocket. He’ll be here any minute.
A knock was on the front door in 2 minutes and 43 seconds. His best time yet. I open the door and he comes walking in.
“Who did he take?” Brent asked. Brent was the person I call just in case anything goes wrong with Lucian. And something has gone wrong. He took Emily and now he is going to pay.
“He took my friend, Emily. We need to get her back. Right now, and by the way, that was a new record. Where did you come from?” I ask, changing the subject. I want to get his spirit up before we go and fight for her.
“New record, nice. But I was at the diner a few blocks away from here. I have been keeping a close eye on you two, and I would say you were more than just friends.” He wiggled his eyebrow at me and gave me a smirk.
I sighed and punched him in the shoulder, it was nice to have a friend around, but back to the point. We need to save Emily.
“So, what do ya got for me?” I ask. He puts his hand under his chin and thinks.
“Maybe, Emily has something of theirs that he wants, or maybe since you know her and her being a distraction..” He didn’t need to go on. He was going to kill her because he doesn’t want me to be distracted. He wants me to be at my best so I can take over in a few years.
No way am I taking over for him. I am getting out as soon as I get Emily back. Now that Jenny is gone, I don’t need The Wolf Pack. So I am going to do whatever it takes to bring my princess home.
*************
Hours later and I am at Brent’s secret warehouse. He quit the Wolf Pack a while ago, but he and I are still tight. So he helps me out every once in a while. Here, he has all of his weapons and tricks and other stuff like that.
“We are going to need these,” he handed me a gun, “As well as some of that,” He put rope, daggers, bulletproof vests in there, and some better clothes than day old dirty sweatpants. But I put those on immediately.
“Okay, are you ready?” Brent asked. I will always be ready to save my princess. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I’m doing, or who I’m with. I will always go after her.
Emily’s POV
I open my eyes to see everything was black. I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know who took me. Or was that a dream. I try to move but the only thing I could move was my head. My torso was wrapped in rope, as well as my wrists and ankles. I could feel the blood trickle from my wrists and I could feel the chaffing on my ankles.
There was a piece of cloth covering my mouth so I couldn't speak, I couldn’t scream. No one could hear me, I was going to die, and I was mad at the only person in the entire world that actually cared for me. How could I be so inconsiderate? How could I be mad at someone for being sad over someone’s death? How could I have made it about me?
I am so selfish and insecure that I would do anything to make people feel bad for me and to take care of me, just for me to shove them away so I can feel strong about myself. I just don’t know why I didn’t see it before now. I deserve to die amongst the people were selfish and full of themselves. Because that is who I am, I am someone who takes advantage of someone to gain for their benefit. I just wish it would all go away.
There were footsteps outside, they were coming closer and I could tell they were coming for me. This was the end and I was never going to be seen again. The door opened to reveal a man in his early 20’s maybe. He had a small black beard that more of a scruff, but I don’t really like beards so how would I know?
He closed the door and stood in front of me. I could see his eyes in the dark, they were green. So green you could have thought he was someone else, something, else. He already scared me.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? You are very pretty,” He stroked my cheek with his fingers and I moved my face so he couldn’t touch it.
“Oh, don’t be like that, I am going to save someone today. But it just won’t be you. I have plans for you. So, here are your options. You could have me kill you, right here, right now. Or, you could become my, how you say, personal assistant.” he smirked and I knew exactly what he meant by a personal assistant. I wouldn’t give myself away just so I could live. I would rather die than become one of his slaves.
He laughs and came closer, I tried to scoot back to the wall, but when I ran out of places to go, so did my options. He smiled and looked down at my lips. Ew, gross. Not going to let that happen. Only a miracle could get me out of this. And I don’t think someone as selfish as me would get a second chance.
He was mere centimeters away from taking my whole life away. I didn’t want to go out like this. If only I had someone who actually wanted me alive, would I be able to have hope and actually try to get out of here.
Even if I didn’t, I still had a life that I wanted to live. So I am going to keep fighting until I can get free from everything that has happened to me today. He was so close if I moved, we would be kissing.
But my miracle came. The door busted down and the man turned away to see who destroyed his door. The person who busted the door was someone I didn’t expect to care for me. I thought he was angry with me and that he never wanted to see me again.
“You, Lucian, are not going to touch her, got it?” He threatened. Lucian, was his name, laughed at my savior.
“You think I am going to let go of such a perfect, beautiful lady who will do whatever I say? No, this is for your own good, you cannot have both. It’s either her or us. You choose.” Lucian said. He stepped closer to me and took off the cloth around my mouth. He leaned in close like he was before. But this time, he was shoved out of the way.
Lucian was being pummeled and he put up no fight. At least I don’t think he was putting up a fight. His eyes were closed and his head was flailing around as if he had no control.
“STOP IT! STOP! YOU KILLED HIM!” I screamed. He immediately stopped and looked at me, then back at Lucian. He was all bloody and his jaw was ajar. He was dead, no doubt about it. But, was it worth it? My freedom for his life? I think so, he was a terrible man, to me. But what about other people? Was he the one that killed my parents? I still don’t know. I was still thinking about it, while I was being untied.
“Hunter?” I asked. He pressed his finger to my lips.
“Shhh, princess,” We need to get out of here, now. Let’s go. I nodded and got out of the chair, and as we started running, I fell to the ground, my legs were numb, torn up, and now I think I sprained it, bad.
“Sh*t. Princess, can you walk?” He asked tending to me. I shook my head in pain. It hurt so bad. There was blood all over me and it was mostly mine. I tried to get up, but it only made things worse.
“Okay, um, here we go” Hunter picked me up and started running. How is he able to run while holding me? I weigh a lot, at least I think I do. I could hear his heartbeat begin to go faster, it was wearing him out and there was nothing we could do about it.
“Hunter, let me walk, I can do it,” I insisted. He shook his head.
“You, need to stay, here, you cannot injure yourself anymore. Brent is holding off the extra guards while we get away. He will join us at the park in 30 minutes. If he isn’t there, we know he is dead. You will stay with me until this is sorted out. Okay?” He asked me. I don’t think he was asking for permission, he was asking if I understood. I nodded and he ran faster.
I hugged him tight and shoved my head into his shoulder, it was warm and he was exhausted. I don’t think he could go any longer. We ran for about 2 more minutes before he set me down on a bench. He fell to the ground and was breathing heavily. I went down next to him and held his hand. His breathing slowed to a normal rate and after a minute, he looked up at me and smiled.
“I guess we did it, huh, princess,” He sat up, clutching his stomach and wincing.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said. Still holding onto his hands. He looked up at me, giving me concerned eyes.
“What would you have done? Dance them to death? I don’t think so. I’m just glad I didn’t use my gun,” right after saying that, he covered his mouth, but the words were already out there. He would have shot somebody for me. Isn’t that very dark? I sure think so.
“A gun? Why would you need it? I was doing just fine,” I say, looking at the swings that I would come to sometimes during my freshman year of college.
“You were not doing just fine, you were in pain and you still are. You need it looked at,” Hunter says, moving so he can look at my now purple ankle. I pull away from his sight and cover my ankle up.
“I am not going back to hospitals ever again. You can’t make me,” I said. Hunter was still breathing hard, but I think it’s for another reason.
“Then I will have to fix it. Just, not right now, brent should be here any minute. Let’s just hope he is alive,” I have never met this Brent person but, I think I would like him.
“Well, well, well, took you guys long enough,” I heard a voice coming from the slide. There was a man, average sized height. He had shaggy hair and you could tell he had blue eyes, even in the dark. This must be Brent.
“Hey, when did you get here?” Hunter asked.
“Eh, 10 minutes ago. How come it took you so long to get here? Huh?” Brent asked. He is definitely a trouble maker, a confident one at that.
“I had to, take care, of Lucian,” Hunter said. Brent’s eyes went wide.
“You did what? Now who is going to become leader? You?”
“No, I’m leaving. Jenny is gone and that’s the only reason I was ever there, so don’t count on me staying.” Hunter said, getting closer to me. He seemed to need someone who knows what he is going through.
“Oh sh*t, sorry man, I didn’t know.” Brent apologized. He seemed genuinely sorry. I believe him, even though I just met him.
“So this is the girl I risked my life for?” he walked over to me and held out his hand, I grabbed it and he puked me from the ground, which hurt my ankle.
“Yeah, I’m Emily. But, you didn’t have to come and save me. I could've done it by myself.” I said. Hunter shakes his head and stands up.
“You would have either been dead, or his personal assistant.” Hunter put up finger quotes. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his waist. I needed something to hold onto so I don’t fall. And I was cold. Brent smirked at me, and then at Hunter.
“She doesn't seem like a friend Hunter. She seems more like your girlfriend.” Brent said.
“We are working on it,” I say. Hopefully, it was the right choice to make. I look up at Hunter and he is blushing, yeah, we are talking about this when we get home. But, where is home?
“Well, I’ll see you at Joe’s tomorrow Hunter, okay. We’ll talk then.” He faces me, “I’ll see you, sometime in the future,” He smiles and kisses my hand. I can feel Hunter tense up behind me, and Brent can tell. But he’s only joking, I can tell.
“See ya later Em’s.” Brent walks the other way, probably to go find his car or something. I turn around to see Hunter already staring at me. Okay, I have an adrenaline rush and I need to do something. And I know Hunter will like it. I grab his face in my hands and he looks at me.
“What are you doing princess? We need to get you help. Your hands are bleeding and your ankle is getting worse the more you stand on it. Let’s go to me an..” I stopped him right there. I didn’t know what came over me, maybe it was PTSD but I knew I wanted to do. So, I did.
I kissed him.

A/N-Hey guys! So I thought I would post early B/c I will be at my last competition tomorrow! I am auditioning for next year next week so, we will see where that goes!
This chapter was almost 3000 words. So I hope you like it! This is one of the most drama filled chapters!