Nerd in Disguise: Blood Bound

Chapter 8

"It's only me." I scrutinize him. He looks on edge.

"Why is everything packed up?" He glances around.

"It's none of your business. What do you want?"

He fidgets and shifts around. "I'm being followed and watched."

"By who? The mob?" I joke.

"By my--" he ruffles his hair and shakes his head in frustration. "Nevermind. This is a stupid decision." He abruptly heads for my door to leave.

"Whoa there. Steady," I get between the door and him."What's going on?"

"I ran away," he whispers faintly as he slowly falls to the ground.

"You ran away from what?" I crouch in front of him.

"Everything and everyone," he looks at me with a haunted expression.

"What do you mean?" I am lost now. What is he talking about? If this is an act, he is one hell of an actor.

"My family and friends...everyone." He shakes his head. "I ran away. Nobody is supposed to know where I am." He sighs. "They found out somehow!"

"Calm down," I awkwardly pat his shoulder.

"CALM DOWN?" He jumps up and yells. "I-I..They found me!"

"Is that where you have been the past few days?" I ask.

"Fuck no. I've been hiding from them. Today is my last day here. I'm leaving." He takes in a deep breath to relax. "Sorry for yelling at you."

"Okay...now start from the beginning," I say slowly. "Actually, start from when I left you at the well."

"After you left the well, I heard someone come back. I thought it was you. I mean who else could it be at night?" He shakes his head. "It was obviously not you. I didn't know that until the person jumped down."

I stare at him in disbelief.

"Yes, the guy intentionally jumped down." He nods. "It was pitch black and I couldn't see a thing. Without a word, the guy grabs me and throws me over his shoulder. Then, he starts climbing a rope up. The guy must have gone intense training. I weigh a lot, and rope climbing the both of us? That takes skill and years of training."

"Anyways, I'm still on his shoulder and it's dark. I don't even see who he is but I know he's a huge guy. I'm trying to get off him but his grip is so strong," Jacob starts rocking back and forth nervously. "I thought he was either going to kill me or torture me. I had no idea where he was bringing me."

"Where did he bring you?" I ask.

"I don't know," Jacob looks away ashamed. "I fainted."

"You fainted?" I drop my jaw. That sounds like bullshit.

"He knocked me out," Jacob grumbles. "When I came to, he was gone, I was patched up, and I was back in my room."

"Who is the guy?"

"I don't know."

"Okay so why didn't you let me know you weren't dead?" I smack him.

"I wasn't sure if you were being watched or not..." He still sounds paranoid.

"And why do you think you are being watched?"

"Someone went through my room the next day." He gives a steely gaze. I have a gut feeling it is the guy with emerald eyes.

"And why would they go through your room?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I took something from someone. That's kind of the reason why it ran away...." He gulps.

"What'd you take?"

"This." He takes out a chain from under his shirt. It's a necklace that has a small metal rectangle pendant.

"What is that?" I reach over to examine it, but he slips it back in his shirt before I can.

"Something valuable." He shrugs.

"Do you know a guy with Emerald eyes? He's pale and lean. I think he has a moon shaped scar around his left eye."

"How do you him?" Jacob grabs my shoulders tightly.

"I saw him."

"When? Where? How?" Jacob grips me tighter.

I wince at the pain. "In your room and on the night you disappeared."

"Fuck." Jacob glances around my room. He lets go of me and looks ready to bolt.

"What? Who is he?"

"No one," he obviously lies.

"Well, now what?" I state. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're Shay Ricca, daughter of Giovanni Ricca. I need your help."

My heart stops at my father's name.