I drop down onto the pavement and look at my feet. They’ve been aching since I first passed Luce’s house. I rub my hand over them to find them all cut up and bloodied. I didn’t realize how bad they were getting. My only focus was to keep going, but now with the sun over the horizon, the damage is clear.
I don’t think I can physically keep going like this.
I need help.
I spy a payphone across the road and my eyes instantly well with tears of happiness. My head falls into my hands and I sit there for at least ten minutes crying while desperately trying to find the energy to get up off the dirty ground and search for some damn coins to make the stupid thing work.
I wipe my tears on the back of my arms. I’m so close. I can’t fail now.
Forcing myself to my feet, I cringe with the pain and start searching around the empty gas station. Cars are starting to pass on the road, getting ready for their busy days, blissfully unaware of the evil that surrounds them.
I find a quarter and after a minute, I find another. I could keep searching but I don’t have the patience. It’s just going to have to be a quick call.
I start crossing the road and get honked at by the busy drivers who have to slow as I pass in front, though I’m sure if they knew that I spent my night becoming a murderer on the run, they’d rethink their choices.
The cars finally pass and when I reach the payphone, I quickly start loading it up with my quarters. I hash in the one number I have memorized and as the phone starts ringing, I sink down to the ground with the phone glued to my ear, crying for the promise of freedom.
“Hello,” comes a groggy voice, clearly my call waking him.
“Blake,” I say, my voice sounding alien to my ears. “I need your help.”
Chapter 16
Slade
I sit up in bed staring at the wall just as I’ve been doing all fucking night. It’s just after eight in the morning and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what last night meant for Skylah.
She’s fucking married to a rich prick who would have tried taking advantage of her the second he could. He’s been waiting four years to take her and I can guarantee that he wouldn’t have waited a second longer.
The moment Skylah walked through the doors of his big ass home, she would have been raped while I was sitting here in my fucking bed not able to do a goddamn thing about it.
It makes me sick. How could these people be so fucking wrong? She’s a beautiful woman who deserves to be treated like a fucking queen. Why can’t they see that? All they see her for is a sexy as sin body with a pair of tits that needs to be dominated. They don’t see her kind heart, the compassion in her soul, or the way she desperately needs to be treasured.
Yesterday was a fucking joke. I don’t know what I was thinking barging into that wedding with Shay and Damian but it was my last chance at getting her back. We’ve tried everything over the last twelve days to the point that I nearly got my best friend killed.
I’m fucking surprised the security guards let us go yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, Shay had to watch as Damian and I were ‘punished’ for destroying the ceremony, but after a thorough ass-kicking, they tossed us out as they had a wedding reception to attend.
Shay drove us back while Damian and I groaned from the backseat of my truck. We got home just after 9 pm and rather than making his way to his own place, Damian instantly crashed on the couch. I sat up with mom holding a packet of frozen peas to my face while she tried telling me that it was all going to be alright.
I don’t see how it is though. Skylah is married to that fucking dick. He’s never going to let her out of his sight. If I thought trying to free her from Lucien’s mansion was hard, then this is simply impossible. I wouldn’t be surprised if the fucker had her chained to the bed.
My phone rings on my bedside table and I stare down at it. The only name I want to see appearing on the screen is Skylah’s but that’s never going to happen. She doesn’t even have a fucking phone anymore.
Blake’s name flashes up at me and I let out a heavy sigh. I was supposed to call him last night to let him know how it went but I didn’t have the strength to tell him that I failed…again. I don’t want to talk to him right now, but this is his sister. He deserves to know that she’s now married and slipping farther and farther away.
I hit the answer and press the phone to my ear. “Hey, man,” I sigh. “I’m sorry-”
“You’vegottogoback,” he rushes out. “She got out. She fucking got out.”
I sit up out of bed before throwing myself to my feet. “WHAT?” I demand, hoping I heard him correctly as I reach for my keys. “What do you mean she got out? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She said she’s at a gas station about ten miles out of town, hiding by a fucking pay phone. She ran all fucking night, man. I don’t know what’s going on or what happened, but she didn’t sound right. You have to go and get her.”
Fuck.
I grab my shoes and throw them under my arm, not having a second to sit down and put them on. I race from my room and start heading for the door. “I’m on my way.”
“She has a plan,” he tells me. “I don’t know what it is but she said to bring back up.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What is she going to do?”
“I don’t fucking know, but she said she wants to end this. She’s not coming back home until it’s done.”
“Fuck. Alright. I’ll call you when I’ve got her,” I tell him, ending the call and jamming it deep into the pocket of my sweatpants.
What my fucking girl wants she gets.
Finding Damian sprawled out of the couch, I grab his shoes and hoodie and throw them down on his back. “Get the fuck up, man. We’ve got her.”
Damian shoots off the couch as though he wasn’t just in a deep sleep. His eyes are wild and desperate as he looks back at me. “The fuck? We got her?”
I nod and start heading for the door with Damian on my heels, shoving his things into his pockets and racing behind me. We get out to my truck and just before Damian goes to open the passenger side door, I stop him. “She’s not coming home until she ends this. I don’t know what she has planned but this is Skylah we’re talking about, you know this could get fucked up.”
“You said the words yourself, man. This is Skylah we’re talking about. I’m in and don’t fucking try to talk me out of this again.”
With that, he tears open the door and climbs up into my truck. I rush around to the driver’s side and in seconds, my truck is rumbling to life and I hit the gas, more than ready to go and get my girl.
We get three seconds into our trip when I slam on the brakes outside Skylah’s home. “What the fuck are you doing?” Damian roars as I throw open the door and scramble out.
“Wait here.”
I rush to the front door and reach up to the top of the door frame for the spare key. Shaylee stopped keeping it here when the Lucien threat became all too real but put it straight back when Skylah went missing, wanting her to have access to her home at all costs.
I throw the door open and find Shaylee gawking at me from the kitchen. “What’s happened?” she demands as I race through the house to Skylah’s bedroom.
I don’t waste time stopping to explain and begin rifling through Skylah’s things. “What happened?” Shaylee demands, now at the bedroom door.
“She’s coming home,” I tell her, searching high and low.
“I’ll get my things.
“No,” I rush out as my hand curls around the little piece of paper that I’ve been desperately searching for. “We’re ending this and Skylah would never forgive me for bringing you along. This shit is about to get fucked-up.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes as she steps back out of my way. “Bring my girl home.”
I nod before rushing past her and back through the open door. “I’m not leaving without her.”
I get back to my truck and fly up through the door before hitting t
he gas once again. I see the curiosity in Damian’s eyes but he doesn’t get a chance to say a single word before my phone is in my hand and I’m madly hashing in the number written on the piece of paper.
I put the phone to my ear as I race through the streets of Aston Creek, desperately trying to get out of here.
“Hello,” the voice says after the second ring.
“Is this Rivers?”
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Slade Cruz, my girl is Skylah Daniels.”
His tone changes as if instantly understanding the desperation in my tone. “What do you need?”
“It ain’t going to be easy,” I warn him. “But if you truly want to redeem yourself and make up for the shit you’ve done to her, then you’ll get in your fucking car and start driving.”
“Done.”
Rivers ends the call and I hand my phone to Damian, telling him to message him with the details of where to meet us. Within seconds, Rivers confirms that he’ll be there.
I let out a breath. I don’t know what’s about to go down but knowing we have the extra back up goes a long way in settling something within me. These guys aren’t the kind to just hand her over willingly and if she managed to get out, then I can guarantee that they’re coming after her and will stop at nothing to get her.
We need to be prepared and the more guys on our side who are willing to give up everything for her, the better.
For eight hours straight, I speed through towns, red lights, and break every traffic law known to man until I’m a few miles out of the town she so wrongly called home for too many years.
She’s got to be around here somewhere.
We’ve searched every gas station in the area and are just pulling up to the last one when I see the payphone across the street.
“This has to be it,” I tell Damian, pulling into the gas station and hitting the brakes, hard enough to leave two thick black lines on the road.
He sits up straighter, frantically looking around and trying to find her. “I don’t see her, man,” he says, panicked.
“She has to be here. I feel it.”
I get out of my Dodge RAM and start searching when I remember that Blake had said something about her hiding out by the payphone.
I spin round and start jogging across the road. I don’t see her but there are many places she could be hiding around here. It’s been eight hours since that call. She could be anywhere. “VIRAGO? WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?” I call out, feeling it in my gut that she’s here. “Sky? Baby, come on.”
“Slade?”
A broken sob is heard behind me and I spin around to find my girl standing before me with tears streaming down her beautiful face. She looks fucking exhausted but it doesn’t stop her from running at me with everything she’s got.
I race toward her, desperately needing to feel her in my arms.
Skylah’s body crashes into mine as her arms are thrown around me. I curl her into my chest holding her tight as she begins sobbing into my shirt, fisting her hands into the material as though she’s desperately trying to forget something.
I glance up over her head to see the very moment Damian realizes that I’ve got her. His body sags, his hands on his knees, breathing deeply as the relief courses through him.
My arms curl more securely around Skylah and I pick her up as we stand in the center of the road. I take her back over to the gas station as she continues crying into my chest and Damian is quick to meet us halfway.
He steps into us, quickly wrapping his arms around her while she refuses to let go of me. “You’re safe now, Skylah,” he promises her, making her shake her head into my chest, not believing him for a second, and she’d be right. She ran once before and look what that got her. Running a second time is not going to end well for any of us, but we have to give it a shot.
Damian releases her and I take her over to my truck, sitting in the open passenger side with my girl curled in my arms.
Needing time to just cry it out, Damian goes into the gas station and purchases painkillers, water, food, and some first aid supplies for her feet. It looks as though she left in such a hurry that she didn’t even have time to find shoes. Considering this was all after celebrating her wedding, she’d be absolutely exhausted.
Her tears finally start to dry after half an hour of sobbing and just as she straightens on my lap and raises her head to explain what the fuck happened, an old Firebird comes screeching into the lot beside us.
Skylah’s head whips around in a panic until the guy gets out of the car and she sees his familiar face.
Rivers stands before us and I see the confusion on Skylah’s face. He’s the last person she expected to see here today, but she doesn’t say a damn word about it, just nods, grateful that he’s here at all, accepting any help we can get.
Just when I think we can start working out what the fuck we’re going to do, the passenger door of the Firebird pushes open and another guy gets out. He’s covered in tatts and looks to be about the same age as Rivers. The guy even has my girl gawking for a second. “I hope it’s cool that I brought my boy, Noah,” Rivers grumbles, meeting my eyes over the top of Skylah’s head. “You can trust him.”
I look back at Noah, trying to figure out if I can trust Rivers’ word. I’ve never met this guy and while he looks like the kind of guy to rob your house and steal your girl, there’s also something in his eyes, something that tells me that he’d go to the end of the world for Rivers and if Rivers needs him to help him here today, then he’ll give his absolute all and that’s all I can ask for.
I nod, letting him know that I’m cool with this and he nods right back before making his way around the Firebird to stand with our group, but there’s something strange about the way both Noah and Rivers hover around us. They’re not just standing here, waiting to hear what’s about to go down, they’re protecting her.
Their backs are never completely turned, their eyes constantly searching for a threat, and they stand with military precision, strong and lethal, ready to act at a moment’s notice.
These guys have seen bad shit in their lives and what’s more, they’re now standing on the other side, stronger than ever. These are the kind of guys I want standing at my girl’s back.
I run my knuckles down Skylah’s back. “It’s time, Virago,” I murmur. “We need to end this but we can’t do it unless we know what the fuck has been going down.”
One last tear falls from her eye and as she raises her chin to meet my eyes, she falters. “I…” her voice cracks and I watch as she struggles to find the words. “I killed him.”
Fuck.
Damian steps into her back as I repeat what she just said in my head.
‘I killed him.’
“What do you mean you killed him?” Damian questions as I search her eyes. “What the fuck happened last night? Who did you kill?”
Rivers and Noah both shuffle in on high alert, ready, and prepared for any threat, only now just realizing what kind of bullshit they just agreed to involve themselves in.
“Marcus,” she whispers, not moving her eyes from mine. “He found out that Lucien screwed him over and he dragged me back there and they got into a fight. They had their guns out and flailing around and when a gunshot went off, I just…I ran.”
Fuck.
“Marcus came after me. He knocked Lucien out and then grabbed me. He said because I wasn’t a virgin anymore that he didn’t want me. I was used and dirty and that he was going to talk to his lawyers about getting the marriage annulled…”
I search her eyes, wondering how this could have possibly gone from giving her exactly what she wanted into killing the guy.
Tears continue falling, her fingers fisting into my shirt. “He said that because he had been screwed over, that he should get something in return.”
My world shatters as I grab her shoulders, forcing her to keep her eyes on mine. “Did he touch you?”
She shakes her head. “He tried…but he didn’t get that
far.”
“What happened, Virago?”
She cries. “He pulled my robe up and got my leg…” She swallows, forcing herself to continue. “I didn’t want to do it, but I knew what would have happened if I didn’t. He was going to hurt me, just like Lucien did.”
I see Noah hang his head as he listens but I tune it out. Right here, it’s just me and Skylah. “His hand was going down and I just…I just did it. I stabbed him with my knife.”
Fuck.
My arms wrap around her and I crush her into my chest, hating this torture she’s feeling in her soul. She fucking killed a man and while he more than deserved it, it’s bound to leave a scar, a fucking nasty one at that.
She continues, sniffling against me. “He was in shock and was staring at me like he couldn’t believe I’d just stabbed him and then before I knew it he was on his knees. He tried to reach for me and was asking for help, but I couldn’t move. I just stood there watching him slowly die. But…”
Skylah shakes her head and I realize there’s still so much more to her story. “What is it, babe?” I murmur softly, rubbing my hand up and down her back.
“Lucien came out,” she says, swallowing hard. “He was laughing and proud of me for hurting him. He bent down and I thought maybe he was going to help him, but he grabbed the knife and twisted it so hard. Marcus didn’t stand a chance and died, choking on his own blood. Then Lucien yanked out the knife and handed it back to me like it was some kind of trophy.”
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
Skylah raises her chin, keeping those beautiful eyes on me. “I’m still married to him,” she tells me as though there’s something I’m missing. She waits for a beat, hoping I figure it out but there’s already too much going through my head to even start trying to work out what’s going on here.
Rivers clear his throat, understanding this world a shitload better than I do. “Is this Marcus Mahony you’re referring to?” Skylah nods and he lets out a breath as Noah scrunches his face, obviously having heard of these guys before. “I’m assuming there was some sort of deal organizing this wedding and because of the legalities of it, I can assume there was no prenup, meaning if he’s dead, his millions are now her millions, making her the perfect target for Lucien Valentine.”
Real Girl: Aston Creek High (Book 4) Page 12