Mr. and Mrs. Carter: The One

Chapter 22

"Too late." I say, trying to keep my voice from breaking. Julius stops stroking Lili and glares at me.

"What do you mean 'too late'" he asks, his face darkening.

I smirk, trying to keep up the act. "I already took it." Julius looks into my face.

"Lies." he growls.

"Not lies, but say what you want to say to make yourself feel better." I laugh.

His face nearly explodes with anger and he's about to start beating the hell out of me, when I hear a groan. Julius' fist stops mid-air. He turns around. Lili is slowly waking up.

"Guess I'll have to check myself then." he says.

Shit. No,no,no. I try to stay calm but it's hard.

"Consider yourself lucky. You're going to be the first person to see Lili without clothing. And you don't have to pay." he starts to slowly unzip her dress. I panic and I lean back all I can on the chair, and it falls back.

The chair breaks, and I quickly untangle myself from the rope. I lunge at Julius, but he grabs me by my throat and starts choking me.

I look over at Lili. She's trying to open her eyes. I can feel my face turning blue. I claw at Julius, poke his eyes. But I'm no match for him.

As I'm about to run out of air, I bring my knee up and kick him in the balls. He releases my throat, and I double over, coughing. When I look over at him, he's on the ground, clutching his crotch and groaning in pain.

"You motherfucker." he groans. Seeing that he's weak, I start punching him and kicking him until he's a bloody mess.

As I punch him one last time, I notice my knuckles are bruised. I run over to Lili, who is half awake. I go over to her and pull up her dress. She doesn't seem to be injured.

I pick Lili up bride-style and open the huge wooden door. I take off the tracker I have and put it on Julius.

Then, carrying Lili, I run out of the room. I look around, and see that the front door is guarded by Gary and Joe. Shit. I consider trying to fight them or finding another way out. Before I can decide, they spot me.

Double shit.

I turn around and start running as fast as I can. I hear them stumbling behind me. I burst into a corridor and see an open door. I look back, and Gary and Joe are running after me.

I quickly slip into the room, still carrying Lili, who is waking up. I close the door and lock it. I fall back to the floor, exhausted. I look down at Lili.

Her brows are furrowed.

"Come on Lili. Wake up." I whisper.

Her eyelids flutter, and she opens her eyes. Her beautiful green eyes. She looks at me, and I see her eyes light up.

"Nick!" she hugs me tightly.

"It's okay I'm here." I hug her back the same way. We don't have much time to celebrate, as the door begins to rattle.

We jump apart and quickly get up.

"What's happening?" Lili's voice quivers.

"Gary and Joe are trying to get in." I say, eyeing the door.

"Is there another way out?" Lili looks around.

"I don't think so." I say, my heart sinking.

"Wait! Look!" Lili points to the window. We both look at each other. The door gives a last hard shake and we make up our minds. We race to the window and open it. The door busts open and Gary and Joe enter, looking sweaty and angry.

"Nick come on!" Lili grabs my hand, and I look back at the men before we both jump out of the window.

We land on the grass. We groan in pain, but we hear the front door begin to open, so we get up and run. It's hard to run because it's raining really hard. Lili looks back, and she yells.

"Run faster!" We both run and run for a long time, before Lili collapses in exhaustion. She sinks to the ground. So do I, and I notice that we're at the beach. Lili breathes heavily, and she looks at me. She sees my bruised hands.

"They could've killed you Nick. Why did you come?" she asks, her eyes looking into mine. I can't hold it back anymore. I say it.

"Because I love you Lili." Without waiting for her reaction, I lean in and cup her face towards mine, and I kiss her softly.

She doesn't kiss me back at first, but then I feel her arms wrap around my neck, and she kisses me back. After a few seconds, we both pull away and I see Lili's eyes are watery again.

"I love you too Nick." she smiles.