S18. Hope.Dangerous.Keep Away
I was expecting an angry Roarke hot on our heels but there was no one. In fact, it was too silent. The grounds, which were once filled with soldiers, roaming around the place were nowhere to be seen.
They killed them! I desperately avoid embracing that possibility and averted my thoughts on what to do next. That is, if these guys will just let me go.
We stopped in a gravelly road at the edge of the forest. The guy from before who first jumped down from the balcony was already there, leaning at the hood of his red Ford Car. He grinned when he saw me and had the decency to wave.
"So, you decided to come. Welcome aboard Miss-". He smiled cheekily, but when he realized I won't give my name to him, he pouted and beckoned me to get inside the car.
"As hard headed as him. " I heard him mutter under his breath. I could only hope its not Roarke he's referring to.
I slid inside the back seat of the car. In a matter of seconds, we were speeding down the highway. I pressed my lips firmly and glanced out the window. We passed a sign that said we were a good ten kilometers from the town. I felt hope surged into me.
No matter what it takes. I have to get home and move as far away as possible.
"You do know you are an idiot right?" Fray commented, while donning on a white V-neck shirt. He titled his head to get a good look at me from where I sit. He also had his pants on, making him easier to look at.
I frowned. "A-an idiot?"
"Who trusts strangers who could murder her in seconds." He snorted as I gaped at him in shock. "I thought he'd picked a better one than you."
Do this guy even know what he's saying?
"I didn't want him to choose me." I snapped at him.
The other guy whistled. "Right. An accident. How perfect." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
What do they mean? That it was plan all along? That's impossible. I disposed of the notion immediately. I was just the unluckiest girl in the area.
"I'm not a part of any of this. I just wanted to save Jonah that night. I never wanted to be like them." I muttered bitterly and belatedly realized I was also referring to them. My cheeks heat up in embarrassment.
The other guy chuckled. "But you are a part of this. You have a-"
Fray jabbed him with his elbow stopping him from saying anything else. The car swerved a little that I had to grasp on something to hold on. The other guy uttered expletives as he got us right back on track. Good God, these guys are dangerous to be with!
"Max shut your mouth." Fray looked at him sharply then at me. "You, what are you planning to do? We're not supposed to take you and everything be damned but I'm not going to take you there." He said irritated, referring maybe to their base or hideout or something. But I was relieved I could still pull off my plan.
Thank God! This is simpler than I thought.
"Good. Just drop me off at St. Claire's Hospital and you can be on your merry way." I suggested to which just earned a snort from the other guy, now I know as Max.
"Right Fray and risked her telling everything about us to him." He said tartly.
"B-but I wouldn't tell him anything!" I said frantically. The two guys shared at look of disbelief. I rolled my eyes at them.
"I want to get as far away from him as possible. I just need to get my mom and we'll be out of here." I explained breathlessly.
Just stick to the plan and everything will fall back to the way it was before.
Max smirked. "You think you could outrun him? Think again little girl. I'm a pro, but I marginally avoid being caught by your guy."
I gritted my teeth in annoyance. "He's not mine and I'm not his. Please just stop saying those references. I hate him."
For the first time, I think I saw Fray's expression faltered. He looked at me with a little less intensity.
"You're stupid." He quipped. I opened my mouth to say choice words to him as well but he held up his hand. "-but brave. You've got guts."
I felt silent after hearing that. If they only knew my heart was on my throat this whole time, sitting with two men who could, as Fray conveniently put it –murder me. I was just holding on to the hope to be free.
"Will you let me go?" I asked, clasping my hands together to hide its shaking.
Please, just say yes. I chanted in my head. It took Max eons to answer. Obviously even though he looked like an easy-going kind of guy, he calls the shot more than Fray.
He gave a curt nod and smirked. "But we will come after you soon. "he vowed.
If you could find me. I thought. I smiled. "Thank you."
We were already inside the ground floor of the hospital. The car halted to a complete stop a feet away from the glass door.
With shaky hands, I gripped the car door's handle and pushed it open. The humid air of the parking lot greeted me as I stepped out of the car. I could almost taste the freedom.
I looked back as one of the car windows rolled down. Fray stuck out his head with a nonchalant expression.
"Be safe. We will be getting you soon." He said. I nodded stiffly and watched as the car speed away and out of the hospital premises. It was then that I expelled a deep breath. In haste, I quickly entered the hospital and desperately pray my mom is still there.
The nurses gave me curious stares as I glided down the hallways to room 348. I stopped in front of the door and took deep breaths. I grasped the handle and pushed the door open. The beeping of the monitor drifted in my ears and my eyes instantly sought out the frail figure of my mom in bed. I was hoping she was awake. But she was not.
I quickly went to her and held her hand. I didn't realized I was crying not until my tear drops fall down to her pale and bony hands.
"Mom. I'm here. I'm back." I sobbed softly. I missed her. I wished she was awake and she could assure me everything will be all right.
The sound of footsteps down the hall, heading this way, alerted me. I quickly wiped my tear-stricken face and waited in baited breath as who will come in.
He could not have been able to ran after me this fast? My heart beat rapidly in fear.
Tristan froze in his steps as his eyes rested on me. It took a moment for the shock, disbelief and surprise to register on his handsome face. And then I was enveloped in his warm hug. I breathed in his scent of pine and detergent. I relaxed in his embrace, feeling safe from anything.
"You're back. I thought something happened to you. Hell, we thought you were kidnapped." He said his warm honeyed eyes roaming my face. I sighed. Was it possible not to fall in love with this guy?
"I'm fine. T-there was just something I had to do." I lied. It was easier to spew the words out but Tristan wasn't buying anything I was saying.
"Tell me. You know, I'd protect you right?" he asked and I saw it in his eyes, the sincerity in his words. My heart ached a little for him. Even though it traitorously wants to beat for him, it was already pledged for another. A vile heart that does not know love nor mercy.
I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head. "I can't. I'm sorry." I whispered and move away from him. Even being near him felt so wrong. It felt like I was betraying my bond with Roarke –that stupid, ridiculous bond that ties me to him.
Because he owned me. Because he made me.
Tristan regarded me silently. There was something different about him yet I couldn't put my finger on it yet. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
"On the phone, you said Jonah is alive. Where is he? Was he with the same persons who took you?" he asked, his voice tightening. He was determined to pursue this even if I don't want to. I can't blame him, it was his job after all and it was the right thing to do.
"N-no, I was just hallucinating. I thought I'd seen him with wolves." I said and tried to laugh but it may have come out as a cackle.
"Wolves?" He visibly stiffened or it might have just been my imagination. He sighed and run down a hand through his hair. It fell on his eyes, and it only make him looked hot.
"I know you're not telling me something. We'll talk later. For now, you could stay at my place. Your apartment was turned upside down" He explained. I felt a lump formed in my throat. How could I tell him I'm getting as far away from here as possible? How could I tell him the one who kidnapped me and the one who broke in my apartment were two different persons?
"Honey." My name on his lips sounded a bit off. It lacked the coldness and gentleness of him. I bit my tongue. Why do I need to think of 'him' even now?
"Thank you but I want to stay here with Mom tonight. " I said. Tristan nodded and glanced at my Mom. His eyes softened and he gave me a gentle smile.
"I'll go and get you a change of clothes. I'll be back." He said, and yet his eyes almost seemed to ask me not to go anywhere.
"I'll be here." I promised and watched him leave.
I sat down at the chair, facing my mom. I lightly touched her hand. "We're going away mom."
****
I stretched languidly at the sofa. I didn't realized I had fallen asleep. I spied a pile of neatly folded clothes and a box of Chinese food by the table. Tristan must have left me to sleep and already went for work.
I went to the comfort room to freshen up. It was only a minute when I felt there was someone in the room other than my mom and me, thanks to my enhanced senses. Stealthily, I peered at the crack of the bathroom door and spied a doctor near my Mom's bed. A glance at the clock says it was past nine in the evening and the doctors should have finished making rounds by now.
A bad feeling gnawed at my belly. I pulled the door opened and stepped in the room. The doctor in question stiffened as he felt my presence. Slowly, he turned around.
It almost felt like my heart was about to burst in my chest.
"Hello Honey. You're just in time." Dr. Morris stood there, dressed in doctor's robes.
"W-what are you doing here? How did you find me?" I asked nervously. I looked around the room, hoping Roarke was not just lurking in the shadows.
"Wolves are great trackers. Anyone could simply track you down. I am a bit surprised Roarke himself has not come down here to haul your ass off the danger zone. I guess you can't blame him. You needed to see it for yourself" He shrugged his shoulders and switched back his attention to a syringe with a weird looking liquid inside.
I wanted to ask him what he meant of what I should see for myself, but my attention diverted to the object he was holding
"What's that?" I asked in alarm and took a step closer.
Dr. Morris smirked. The kind of smirk that made downy hairs rise in my body from the fear of the worst to come. I stopped in my tracks and looked fearfully at my Mom.
"I know he'll want you back soon enough. I can't risk his mood swings especially after the breach, which worked in your favor, of course. Tell me, had you think of Jonah when you escaped?" He asked. I stayed silent, feeling the jab of guilt.
"But they said he was all right."
He shook his head, clearly displeased by my answer. "And you trust the enemy more than us." He clicked his tongue.
"I decided I need to take you back myself. I hated being in the middle of a melodramatic romance and doing nothing. Well in this case not a melodramatic romance but a horror show" He paused and gestured at the syringe. "With a price of course."
By now, I was trying my hardest not to bolt and run. I could feel that I wouldn't like the price that he wanted.
"A price?" my voice faltered a bit.
Dr. Morris nodded. He smiled widely. "Your dear mother's life for yours."
-
What do you think of Tristan so far? And the Fray-Max tandem? Do you think Roarke is waiting for Honey with a capital punishment? Or if she's willing to come back to him?
Who here is curious of Fray-Tasha? ;-D (if you did get the hints about them in the last chapter: breach)