The Rogue Slut

Twenty One- home

"What the hell!" I yell in a harsh whisper.

The man before me exclaims in surprise before stumbling back a few steps.

My brain is in rapid fire mode trying to keep up with everything that was changing so quickly. All the crap about following fate, then getting kidnapped, and now this: running—quite literally—into one of the last people on Earth that I expected to find in the basement cellars if wherever the hell this is.

"Rick, you bastard! What are you doing here?!"

The blonde annoying goof ball just grins at me as if the answer is obvious, "rescuing you like always."

I stare at him dumbfounded for a a moment trying to wrap my head around the idea of him knowing where to find me.

"There's not a lot of time to explain, just follow me."

With a curt nod, I take off after Rick—my friend. Is he still my friend? All those times we teased each other, the time he forgave me for accusing him of being a violent rough, the time he helped me escape Damon's bounty.

All of those memories that flooded my mind made me want to trust him. And yet, they were so long ago. If I could change so much then how could I know if he has changed as well?

"Hold on a minute," I stop short and Rick turns around to face me with a confused expression. "Tell me where we are and where you are taking me."

He furrows his eyebrows but replies, "we are a few miles from the Maple Wood pack territory in a holding place for rouges and other criminals."

"A jail pretty much?"

Rick nods, his blonde hair falling in his eyes a gentle reminder to trust him even more.

"I overheard Damon talking to two rouges near the border of both our territories. They said that they were holding you here and that they wanted the money first before they...well, you know—"

"Finished me off. Yeah, yeah I get it a lot." I wave my hand dismissively for Rick to continue.

"I came to get you out. I expected to find you with Ethan but I'm assuming that you successfully broke the mate bond?" Rick impatiently starts to move down the hall again and sensing the urgency of our predicament I begin to follow him once more.

We jog side by side to a door the pushes open to reveal a winding staircase.

Damn, I should have hit the gym a little bit more.

"No, the witch we found couldn't break the bond. I'm not even sure if that's a good or bad thing—not that it matters because he hates me. And after what I've done I don't blame him." The words come flooding out despite my aching lungs. At this point, I can't tell if it's from the stairs or from admitting the truth that I've been ignoring for so long.

It doesn't matter now, I think with finality. I just have to get to the top of these stairs.

Rick and I finally reach the top and push open a door labeled Floor 1 as quietly as possible. It seams entire building is dimly lit—can't rely on a creepy under ground jail to have sufficient lighting—but this possibly works in our favor. Rick goes first through the door and tells me to stay put while he looks for an exit.

As I crouch in the stairwell trying to control my heavy breathing, I can't help but think about what I would have been doing if I had never run into Damon in the woods. I would probably be watching Game of Thrones by myself—I wonder whatever happened in that show, I hope the writers didn't completely fuck up the last season. I would probably be sneaking into the library to steal books to read under my covers. I would probably be downing a bottle of wine and crying to myself about how misunderstood I was by the world.