TimeBound (Time Tells #1) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Eight

Four days ago...

A sudden sound.

I jack-knife on the bed, my heart pounding. My eyes go to the clock near the bedside table.

12:47 AM

I had nothing I could use to protect myself. I could see the silhouette of two figures climb into my room through the window. The sound I had heard was the sound of the window opening—thank God for the old panes. All our security systems had failed from improper service and maintenance. We also couldn't pay for the upgrades in the software, so we had them disabled.

I get off my bed as quietly as I can and back away to the wall. The room closest to me was the bathroom. The exit was on the other side, close to the window.

My best shot was to find the panel on the wall and trigger the emergency alert that would, if anything, send out an SOS signal, turn on all the lights in the house and ring sirens until the authorities arrived.

When I hear a curse and a thud as the shorter of the two falls, caught on the edge of the window, I freeze.

What in the Lord's name.

I stretch my hand out, reaching for the panel and drag my fingers over it, increasing the brightness of the lights in the room...

Along with the room, the faces of my two best friends come to light.

I cross my arms.

Greg, light haired and lean, crouching and attempting to drag a fallen Pearl into the room. Curvy, dark haired Pearl whose foot had caught on the window pane and she'd fallen face first onto the floor.

She blows her hair out of her face.

"Are you going to come help me up or stand there like an uptight bitch?" she asks.

I roll my eyes at her and walk around the bed and head for the window and lift her foot off the edge. She huffs out a breath as her foot comes free. She pushes to her feet.

"I'm okay." She says, straightening her clothes.

"What're you'll doing here?" I ask.

"We've come to save you. Move your butt, bitch. Let's get the hell out of here." Pearl says, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"And you'll didn't think calling me instead of breaking in was a good idea?" I ask them, with an expression as bland as I could muster.

"We thought a kidnapping would both clear your parents' name and keep you from getting married." Greg explains. 

My brows raise, "And when my two best friends disappear along with me?"

Pearl rolls her eyes, "We'd still be going to work. While you're going to remain in a secure location."

"A secure location..." I say, "Like your grandmother's place? Where everyone will think to check once they see the messages you've sent me promising to get me out of this mess?"

Uncertainty flickers on their faces for the first time since they'd entered. I sigh and walk to my bed.

I pat the spots in front of me.

"Come, sit." I say.

Greg starts towards me but Pearl pulls him back. She tilts her nose to the ceiling and crosses her arms.

"We're not here to negotiate. Move your ass." She says, jerking her head toward the window.

I sigh inwardly. I had to bring out the tough side of me that I often use on myself when I need to edit out scenes from my book.

"Come here and sit, please." My voice is firm with a touch of no-nonsense sprinkled on it.

They waver.

So I help by racketing up the no-nonsense. 

"Now."

They tuck tails and slam butts onto my bed. They're looking at me solemnly.

"Guys. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you'll are here for me. That you would...do this for me. Potentially sabotage yourselves for me."

Pearl glares at me, "If you're all that damn thankful, why don't you just come with us?"

For all her bluster and cursing, her eyes are the ones that shimmer. Her fists clench because she sees she can't bully me out of my decision.

"Pearl.."

She pushes to her feet, hands clenched at her side.

"This is bullshit. This is absolute bullshit."

"I have to do this, Pearl." I tell her.

"Screw you and screw your conviction." She says and stalks to the window and climbs out.

Greg looks at me sadly.

"Is there anything I can say to change your mind?" he asks me.

I shake my head at him.

He stands slowly. "You have a choice." He says.

I nod. "I'm aware. But it's not a choice I can live with."

Greg let's out a breath.

"She's probably going to ignore you for a week at least for this." He says, a wry smile lifting his lips.

I lift one shoulder, "I probably deserve worse in her mind."

"I hope things work out for you, Lanna." He says.

I just smile at him. A smile that wavers, then drops away when he too disappears the way he came.

My parents would have let them in through the front door. Probably aided them in their kidnapping of me. Bertha would have even packed us food for the travel.

But it wasn't about what they thought I should do or they should do.

It was about what I had do.

And I had to get married.

I'm weary to my bones as I turn down the lights and return to bed. I know I won't be able to sleep a wink. It's how I had heard the sound of the window... Because I hadn't been asleep.

I just couldn't sleep.

My eyes stung. My head pounded. I was tired. But I just couldn't sleep.