(Do Not Read Back Up Copy)

Chapter XII

Liam waved Marcus and Cillian in the direction of the door with the pistol. Marcus was reluctant to leave, but he couldn’t really do anything else at gunpoint but listen.

Cillian seemed genuinely worried about me for the first time in a while. Cillian never really emotionally involved himself in much of anything, so if he was shaken up, I knew this situation wasn’t headed anywhere good.

My stomach knotted up once the metal door closed behind my brothers. I was out of ideas. Now that Liam had me backed into a corner, he would force me to do what I’d agreed to. I didn’t want to touch her.

Thinking about even laying a hand on Hailey while she wasn’t conscious made me sick. This wasn’t some goddamn fraternity, this was my house, but I didn’t have a choice in what I was or wasn’t going to do anymore with Liam in the room.

I tried to think of a way I could get Hailey out of this, but I kept running into walls. I didn’t care too much about what Liam did to me at this point, but she was a different story. She’d been a different story for a while now, and she deserved better circumstances than this.

If I had anything to do with it, Hailey wasn’t gonna die here. She’d die eighty-something years from now—once she’d had the chance to live. I guess I realized that I’d taken things away from her that I didn’t even think about. It was my fault she was here at all.

I could’ve let her catch her train. She could’ve been home with her mom, not freezing to death on a steel floor in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn’t have known about her, she wouldn’t have known about me. Simple. At this point, I couldn’t think of a way to tell her how sorry I was. There probably wasn’t one.

“Snap out of your day dreams, Caleb, and get on with it.”

Before I had a chance to talk him out of making me do anything, he turned the gun towards me and fired twice.

The first shot whizzed past my shoulder and hit the wall behind me. The second felt like it burned the top of my ear off.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“Getting you motivated, little brother.”

Liam started laughing at me when my eyes welled up. I didn’t cry, but Jesus it hurt so bad I could barely get a breath in. I reached up to touch the side of my head where I’d felt the burn and found blood trailing down my neck. He’d grazed me with a live round, and was smiling at me like I’d deserved it.

“I’m tired of the resistance act, Caleb. I don’t want to have to murder my own brother on the account that he can’t follow orders. C’mon, I’ll turn around if you don’t want me to watch. Either way someone’s gonna die if you don’t do something soon.”

I was out of options.

Completely.

So, I did what he said.

I cut off what was left of Hailey’s shirt, and pulled her out of her shorts. I couldn’t look at her, though. Trying to pull my shirt off over a busted ear bought me a little time, but I didn’t take long enough for Liam to think about shooting at me again.

The second my shirt came off, I started shivering worse than I had during any winter in Manassas. I was way bigger than Hailey was and the cold tore right through my bones. I took her into my arms and held her as hard as I could.

Her skin was so cold.

I’d never felt anything like that. I thought she was dead, but she was close enough to me that I could still feel her heart beating. She needed body heat. If I could hold her for long enough to figure a way out of here she might have a shot. All she needed was a shot. Liam was in the way, but maybe if I was quick enough—