Dating Jordan was something I've always wanted, but it did make things different. We had to keep it a secret, so no one would get hurt. Not to mention how much her friends disliked me.
I saw Jordan sitting on one of the dirt bikes not too far away from where I was. She was talking with AJ, who looked interested in the topic they were discussing. Where as Jordan looked frustrated. I rode over there, hearing just a second of their conversation.
"Did you guys go on a date?" I heard AJ say.
"No, we didn't," Jordan snapped, sounding annoyed. A date? She went on a date?
"A date, Emery?" I asked, voicing my thoughts. Saying her last name again was weird. I was always used to saying it to keep up the enemy act, but now I was so used to calling her Jordan. "Who would go out with you?"
"It doesn't really concern you," AJ scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. "I highly doubt that you even know Jordan's boyfriend anyway. None of us but Jordan know him."
"He's not my boyfriend," Jordan groaned, covering her face with her hands. She was frustrated and angry, and I just wanted to pull her into a hug and hold her. "He's just a... friend."
"That's why you totally ditched us yesterday at the park for him," her friend said with a smirk. I was waiting for Jordan to deny it or roll her eyes, but she just gave me a look. Wait, she was on a date? With who? I was suddenly extremely curious in their conversation.
When I realized neither of them were going to say anything, I let out a small laugh and said, "Anyone who'd go out with you has got to be crazy."
"And anyone who would ever go out with you would have to be completely out of their mind," she shot back, trying her best to hide a smile. It was obvious that both those things weren't true, but I loved seeing the small smile on her face.
I'd have to ask her about the date she had later, because I was starting to feel jealous. But she'd tell me sooner or later, she'd have to.
"Well, as much as it would be to make fun of you for the rest of the class, I don't feel like failing the class by doing absolutely nothing," I smirked, straightening the bike up and riding away.
I didn't want to leave, but if I stayed, I'd either kiss her or show some sort of affection. And right now, it's not the best thing we could do.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The cabin was empty except for Alex and I, and I still needed to talk to Jordan about what happened earlier. I was sure whatever "date" she went on was just a joke AJ made, but I had to make sure. The suspense was killing me.
I turned toward Alex, about to ask him if he could go to Cabin C and get her. Before a word left my mouth, he said "I'm on it," and headed to the door. I smirked to myself as he gave me a look, shutting the door behind him.
A few minutes later, he returned to the cabin. I looked behind him, expecting to see Jordan. When I noticed she wasn't there, I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain.
"Lexi told me that Jordan received a call about fifteen minutes ago and then she left the cabin," Alex said, raising his hands a little. "No one knows where she went."
I felt a little twist in my stomach. Surely Jordan just went out for a walk or something, right? I mean, this situation shouldn't be making me feel uneasy. Jordan's fine.
My phone started vibrating in my pocket, making me sigh and pull it out immediately. It always seemed to do this at the best times. When I saw it was Jordan that messaged me, my heart skipped a beat. She never texts me; she usually just comes over.
Come to the abandoned warehouse a mile from where we first saw Hunter together. Don't text me back. Just hurry.
I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Why would she want me to go to an abandoned warehouse? And why did I feel like Hunter had something to do with it?
"Alex," I said, capturing his attention before throwing him my phone. He caught it swiftly, reading the text. His eyes widened as he looked back up at me, and I was sure we were thinking the same thing.
Without another word, we were both in a car, driving to the warehouse I was told to go to. My foot didn't leave the gas pedal once. I didn't care about myself or anything else for that matter. All I cared about was Jordan, and I was sure she needed my help.
Alex tried to calm me down, but I could tell he was worried, too. If anything happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself. If she died, I'd have no idea what I would do.
I can't even think about that. Without Jordan, what's the point?
Finally, I pulled up to the warehouse. It looked big on the outside, and I was sure it'd be twice as big on the inside. I just hoped that no matter what was happening, Jordan was safe. That's all I wanted.
I ran up to the door, opening it quickly. Alex followed soon after, calling the police and telling them the address. He couldn't say much about the situation, considering we knew nothing about it ourselves. There wasn't a single sound in the entire building, and I was worried I was too late.
"Jordan!" I called out, cupping my hands around my mouth. Alex went on one side, looking for something as I searched on the other. "Jordan!"
Suddenly, there was a bashing sound. I ran, trying to find out where it came from. I called her name a few more times, but it wasn't doing anything. There weren't any replies. There was a lot more banging, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. My heart was pacing so fast, I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. Where was she?
There were several doors which led to many rooms, and I wasn't sure any of them would lead me to Jordan. For all I know, she couldn't even be here. If she came here to meet Hunter without telling me, anything could happen. He could take her anywhere. Nonetheless, the both of us continued to look through plenty of doors which only led to empty rooms.
As Alex gave me a sorrowful look, there was a loud, long scream, and I knew exactly who it was. I ran into one of the doors, hoping that it would somehow take me closer to Jordan. When I saw that the room was empty, I backed out and went looking through another as quickly as possible.
"Jesse!" She screamed, and I felt my heart plunge into my stomach. I wasn't going to make it to her in time. "Jesse, help me, please! Jesse!"
I heard Jordan scream once more, and I was sure I knew where it was coming from. There weren't many more doors to go through. As I ran up to a new one, I could hear voices behind it. They were muffled, so I couldn't hear a single word, but I knew exactly who they were.
I put all my body weight against the door as I ran into it. The scene right in front of my eyes made me want to drop to my knees and start crying.
Jordan was wearing next to nothing. Her shorts were sliced open, as was her shirt, which showed her bruised stomach. Hunter was crouched down next to her, wearing a smirk on his face. I could feel the anger rising inside when I knew exactly what he had been trying to do.
"You fucking bastard! Get the fuck away from her!" I shouted, watching as Alex jumped in front of me, fighting Hunter immediately. I was ready to join in, but my anger turned to pain as I looked over to the fragile state Jordan was in. She wasn't unconscious, but she didn't look like she'd be recovering any time soon.
I ran over to her, clutching her hand tightly in my own. When she didn't hold mine back, I could feel everything slipping away.
Jordan opened her eyes a little bit, seeing me sitting there. She said nothing, but she offered me a small smile. I held her hand tighter, placing my other one on her face.
"Did he touch you?" I asked, stroking her face gently. If he did anything like that, he wouldn't be alive the next morning. Hunter was going to fucking die and I wouldn't regret it one bit.
Jordan's mouth opened slightly, but before she could answer, Alex called out, "Uh, Jess, I could use some help over here!"
"I'll be right back," I assured her with a nod, soothing her hair softly. "You're going to be alright, okay? You're going to be fine."
Even though I was talking to her, I could tell that I was trying to assure myself. I thought hearing myself say it out loud would make it seem real, but my heart was still aching.
I pulled my hand away from hers, as I ran over to Alex, helping him with Hunter. I barely began fighting as Hunter started slowing down. He stopped defending himself, and started running by all the rusty old machines.
"I'm not going to stop until you're dead, Jacobsen!" He shouted out, making me only want to hit him harder. He was running for the door, but his voice still echoed through the room. "Just like I told Jordan the first time, I'm not going to stop until you're in the ground! I won't stop following her, I won't stop hunting her down, I just won't stop! Not until you're in a casket!"
He left the room after stating his exit speech, leaving me, Jordan and Alex alone. We weren't enough to stop him. I was going to kill him. One day, I would kill that bastard. My hand was back in Jordan's soon enough, but her breathing became slower. She was alright. Jordan was alright.
I had to keep telling myself that.
"Man, is she going to be okay?" Alex asked, crouching down next to me. I knew he was trying to help, but what I really needed was someone to just promise me that Jordan would make it. "She doesn't look good, Jess. I've seen people like this before, after Hunter's through with them. None of them made it."
"Shut up," I growled, choking as I did so. I could feel tears spring to my eyes, but I blinked them away. My hand held onto her weak one even tighter. I leaned my face closer, running my fingers through her hair once more. "You'll be alright, okay? We called the police and an ambulance is on it's way. You're going to be fine, Jordan. You're going to be fine..."
My heart was pounding, because all though I was telling her this, I wasn't so sure myself. Hunter could kill someone, I've seen him kill people before. I began shaking as I thought about it. Jordan couldn't die. She just couldn't. She had so much to live for.
I rested my forehead against hers. It was bruised from Hunter hitting her there so many times. I didn't even try to blink away the tears when they formed in my eyes once again. Jordan was hurt, and it was all my fault. I promised to never let her get hurt, and now she was lying on the hardwood floor in an abandoned warehouse with a slim chance of surviving.
"Jess, we have other problems," Alex said to me, hitting me on the shoulder. I let out a breath, looking up at him. He was pointing behind us. A trail of blood was barely visible in the distance. There had to be something else that I couldn't see from here. "The girl that everyone thought had skipped class. She's... over there."
Jordan was crying now, barely, but I could still see the tears forming in her eyes. Her breathing became short and jagged, and I wasn't sure what to do to calm her down. No matter what she thought, Alexandria's death was not her fault.
As I continued to stroke Jordan's face, I turned to Alex, explaining that we'll say Jordan and Alexandria were kidnapped. We can't tell them what really happened, so that's what we'd be going with.
Sirens started to wail in the distance. I thought it'd be easiest to bring Jordan's body to them, but I just didn't think I could do it. This was all my fault. Alex helped me, and he explained to the police what "happened" because I could barely form any words in my mouth.
Jordan was taken to a hospital soon after, leaving me and Alex there to explain what happened at least a couple more times. We repeated the exact same lie over and over. It was horrible lying to them about it, but there was nothing we could do. Someone lost their life, and there was nothing we could do. One day, Hunter will finally get what he deserves.
I couldn't stop thinking about him saying that he wouldn't stop until I was dead. I had to die to let Jordan live peacefully. And right now, that seemed like the greater option.