"Morning." I hear the husky voice behind me, an arm pulling my back to his chest, nuzzling his nose into the nape of my neck. "Coffee?"
I nod, biting down on my lip, trying to ignore the twisting feeling in my stomach, the flutter of my heartbeat against my chest.
I slept with Thomas.
Because you are an asshole. Inner Z is pissed.
Thomas pulled himself away from me, standing naked, smiling down at me while he pulls his top over his head. "Are you okay?"
He can see my regret, it's written all over my face. Not the regret that we slept together, but the regret that I didn't wait.
Now that I know Theo isn't who he claims to be, I can work on things with Thomas. Sleeping with him so soon just complicates it, gives him false hope that we're now a thing.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," I reply, pulling myself up and looking around the tent for my clothes, huffing when he leaves me alone.
We didn't have sex that once, it happened again.
We woke up through the night, Thomas was holding me from behind and I could feel him pushing in between my legs again. I was certain he was sleeping until he flipped me over on my back, pushing himself inside me.
We weren't quiet that time either.
I know I'm littered with red marks from his mouth attacking me, claiming me as finally being his.
Was I his?
Was I not Theo's anymore?
I found my clothes on the floor, wrinkled under a blanket. Pushing my legs into my shorts so I can go shower.
"Cup of coffee." A very cheerful Thomas walks in as I'm battling with my shirt to go over my head.
"Umm... let me help you with that." He started to laugh. I'm very aware that my tits are in his face while he tries to yank my top down.
Once I sit down and sip on my coffee, I decided now was the time.
"I need to show you something, something Adrianna was working on before, before... well, you know." I sit my mug down and take a deep breath.
"We are kind of stuck here. Not right here specifically but in this area, there's a wall..." I try to find the words that don't have me sounding bat-shit crazy. "I need to show you. I don't understand it."
After I showered and put on fresh clothes, I brought Thomas to the metal building that contained all this confusing shit, hoping he can work it all out. He is smart, always top of the class and seen as the dorky hot nerd.
"Wow, they actually drew a map of this place. What is that, like a fifty-mile radius?"
He buries his head through all the paperwork on the desk, which is a lot of folders, piles of written work, and maps. I stand in silence, looking around at my sister's work.
Who was she? When we were kids Adrianna wasn't into this type of stuff, she was too girly.
I clench my jaw to stop the emotions flooding me.
"Fucking hell, Zara. Isn't that your dad with Theo's dad? Did you know Theo before?" He asks me questionably, raising a picture of three men standing in an unknown uniform, an eagle badge on their chest.
"No, " I reply honestly, shaking my head and pinching the corner of the photo.
He was a sergeant in the armed forces, but not long before the attack, he had been medically discharged for having lung cancer. He died several weeks later, which was hard for us all.
But, why was he with Theo's dad?
Oh my god, what if Theo knew who I was beforehand and that's why he was to kill me? That sick fucking asshole!
"I didn't know they knew each other; my dad didn't have many friends that we met." I shrug in response, not really having much more to say as I start to look through paperwork too.
Thomas lifts his head and stares at me, smirking.
"What are you staring at, Edison?" I tease him, not taking my eyes off the table, the corners of my mouth curling up.
"I'm happy. With all the fucked-up shit that's happened. I'm somehow..." he looks for his words. "...happy."
I knew he would take last night the wrong way. I'm not ready to throw myself into a relationship, I'm happy to see how it goes with us, but not too fast.
He playfully slaps my ass and pulls me down on his lap when I don't say anything. His lips brush against mine and I pull back, eyes trained on his while he looks confused.
"Zara?" I hear a Scottish accent yelling my name from outside, then I heard it again, closer.
Theo?
"Fuck, Thomas. It's Theo!" I jump up and run out of the tent before he could say anything back to me.
I ran as fast as I could to those gates, tripping over my own feet when I see him, blood dried in over his face, hand gripping a notebook.
"Zara, babe. You need to get the fuck out of here, now!" He begged me, voice breaking.
When I reach him, anger wins me over and my fist flies between the metal bars and collides with his nose, knocking him back.
Jesus fuck, that hurt.
I try shake off the pain in my knuckles as Theo holds his face. I fully expect him to snap, but he looks lost.
"I think you should leave Theo; nobody wants you here," Thomas said behind me, hand on my hip and pulling me back.
Theo doesn't even acknowledge him as he keeps his eyes on mine, his face paling more by the second.
"Please, Zara. Take this and run." He ignores Thomas and slips the book through the spaces of the fence; his eyes don't drop from my angry glare.
"We know about the wall, Theo. We know everything." I snap at him, throwing the book on the ground. "I'm sure you had a hand in the making of that, too. You can fuck off."
He screws his face up as his finger curls around the bars, coming closer as Thomas yanks me back. "A what? What fucking wall? I don't give a fuck about some wall, just pack your shit and leave."
I shook my head, heart pounding in my ears to see him so broken, begging me, reaching out to me.
But then he looks behind me.
"Thomas, please make her leave, mate. You both need to leave. They plan on being here in the next two hours."
His hold on my hips tightens as Theo begs him once more.
"You should leave. Zara doesn't want nor need you around," I hear Thomas say behind me and I lightly push him back a step, turning to Theo again with a frown.
"Your dad killed my brother. You need to leave before I do the same to his son."
Wait, do I want him to leave? Yes, Z, you do.
"Zara... run." He raises his brows to me before pushing off the fence, beginning to step backwards. "I never meant for this to happen. I hope you believe that. I would never do this to you, not in a million fucking years. I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, so sorry." He turns, kicking the rumble at his feet as he runs bloody hands through his crimson-stained blonde hair.
"Theo." I panicked and grabbed the metal bars of the fence. "Wait..."
"Zara, come on, we need to get everyone out of here." He pulls at my arm, making me take a few steps back and turn my back to Theo's retreating form. "Fuck him."
I stare over my shoulder to the broken man, walking away, pulling at his hair and throwing his fist against a tree.
"I'll go warn everyone, you pack as much as we can carry. Don't leave that tent until I get back." He orders me, snapping in front of my face while I watch Theo.
I should be running about like a headless chicken, but all I can concentrate on is Theo. "Okay." I nod, letting him kiss my cheek, then my forehead, before he runs off.
When I see Thomas is out of sight, I sprint for the gates, pushing through the gap and tumbling to the ground. I'm not thinking rationally, but a sudden urge in my gut is begging me to catch up to him.
"Theo!" I yell out, my feet take me across the road and into the woodlands.
I can see him in the distance, but he can't hear me yet, I yell again but I'm still too far away.
A strong arm grabs at my wrist, knocking the wind out of me when I'm tugged back.
The grip is firm, painful, and I'm shoved against a tree.
"Zara, what the fuck! Why are you chasing him? He's the reason we are in this fucking mess!" Thomas, red-faced, shouts at me.
I shake my head. "I don't know," I admit. "I just... I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm so lost."
He tucks my wind-swept hair behind my ears while I look to the ground, fighting back tears. "Come on," he tilts his head to the camp, intertwining his fingers in mine. "We've got each other."
What would I even have said to Theo if I caught up to him?
Oh, hey! we basically split up three days ago and I fucked someone else already but please stay, I still love you.
Not a chance, Z.
Before we make it to the front gate we hear tyres screeching towards us, a van. Thomas threw me in a nearby bush, telling me to be quiet while he ran ahead.
I didn't have a chance to say anything, watching him run back in to be the hero.
I hear gunshots that have me flinched in the shrubs, covering my ears to muffle out the screams.
Here I sit in a fucking bush while I watch the camp become a warzone again in a matter of seconds. I need to find Thomas and get us as far away from here as possible.
A painful grab at my hair yanks me up to my feet, yellow teeth grinning at me while he presses the barrel of a gun under my chin. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing out here?"
Theo trained me for this type of scenario, and before I get the chance to swing my leg to knee him in the balls, the disgusting man abruptly drops me and gags up blood that pours from his mouth.
I stand, in shock, staring at the dead body at my feet, a knife lodged in his back that must've been thrown from a distance.
Just when I was about to move and make my way to the gates, a hand clamps over my mouth, a voice telling me to be quiet while he pulled me towards the woodlands again.
Before we are out of sight, my eyes widen as I spot Thomas being dragged along the dirt with zip ties around his wrist in front of him, Crawford in tow.
"Get the fuck off me, what do you think you're doing? I need to get him!" I yell at Theo. He stands to look back and forth from the camp and my face, shaking his head.
We watch as the pair are thrown into a van, and my heart drops. Theo's arm wraps around my waist, trying to pull me further back so we aren't spotted by the others.
I try to run forward by stamping on his foot, but Theo grabs me before I get two strides ahead.
"He's coming for you; he won't hurt Thomas, he has other plans for him. We need to leave now, Zara." I slap his hand away from me, shoving him.
"No, fuck off." I snap and try walk away, but he grabs my arm and makes his way deeper into the woods, hauling me further away from the terror breaking out down at the camp.
I'm now stuck with the one person I can't stop thinking about, for the right and wrong reasons.
He better stay the fuck away from me.
-OLD VERSION-UNEDITED