by J. L. Beck
My fingers continued to skim across the sheet only to come across a piece of paper. I grabbed a hold of it, turning it over in my hand so I could read it. The memory of Drake and all that had occurred in that dream faded quickly as I read the note.
Ellie, brb. Left to get food, shouldn’t be long. Keep those sheets warm for me, baby.
P.S. Please stay in the room, again I'll be right back.
P.S.S Ignore the bathroom. Had to let my anger out somewhere.
Love always,
Gray
Every part of my body that touched his last night hummed to life. The kisses he laid across every ounce of my skin, the way he claimed me as his own, taking control and giving to me only as he felt I needed was a night I would always cherish.
Reading over the note again, I realized what he said about the bathroom, and curiously I got up to look at it, but not before grabbing one of his shirts off the floor and slid into it. His smell encompassed me almost immediately, wrapping me a blanket of comfort.
Crossing the room, I grabbed the door handle to the bathroom and pushed it open. The door stopped about half way, and I was unable to see what was on the other side that was causing it not to open completely. However, from the small amount I could see into the room I knew that it had been demolished.
Pieces of glass were scattered all over the marble floor as if someone had smashed their fist into it over and over. At that thought, I made a mental note to check out Grayson’s hands. Reaching my hand inside, I turned on the light, noticing instantly just how much glass had truly broken.
“Stupid door,” I huffed, pressing more firmly against it to get it to open more. Two small shoves later the door opened just enough for me to enter. As I stepped inside I took in the chaos and destruction that could only be Grayson’s doing he spoke of in the note. Air left my lungs and my stomach sank as my eyes took in the dried blood all over the bathroom.
The room was completely torn apart. The scene caused my heart to clench because it proved just how upset and destroyed he was about losing me. In a way, it made me feel something inside because it showed he truly did love me. That everything he had previously said was truly false.
Knowing there was nothing I could do to even try and clean up the mess, I simply closed the door and headed back towards the bed. But before I could crawl in and get comfortable, a knock at the door interrupted and startled me. It was probably Grayson. I imagined him standing on the other side of the door hands practically full.
“You know, you could’ve waken me up.” Sheer terror ran up my spine the second I opened the door. I wasn’t greeted with cold, cool blue eyes of the man I loved, but eyes that were far darker and were filled with a familiar rage.
“You’re just as stupid as you always were.” Drake’s voice was like rusty nails piercing my flesh. Trying with all my might, I pushed the door into his face. My muscles ached as he shoved back causing me to land against the floor. This couldn’t be happening. Not again.
“Get out. Leave!” I screamed as I scurried backward on the floor, the carpet burning my skin like acid. Drake just smiled mockingly, his footsteps falling heavily as he headed straight for me.
“Now that I’m here and you seem to be very inviting, I think I’ll stay.” I could feel the bloodcurdling scream building in my throat. Someone had to hear all of the commotion, yet no one came running. I flipped over, landing firmly on my hands and knees before taking off, trying to put as much distance as I could between us.
Pain ripped through my scalp as his hand sunk into my hair tightly. Where was Grayson? All I had to do was fight with Drake long enough, just until Grayson returned. He should be on his way back right now, I thought to myself, my nails digging into the carpet as I fought against the hold he had on me.
“Oh, you like it just as rough as you always have huh?” The scream that was lodged in my throat escaped, the noise echoing throughout the hotel room.
“Stupid bitch!” Drake growled, letting go of my hair and slamming my face into the carpet. I could feel warmth dripping from my nose and onto my lips. I turned my face into the carpet, wiping my nose against it and looking down. Deep red met my eyesight, staining the carpet right before me.
Seeing my blood being drawn caused something deep inside of me to rupture. Anger and hate like I had never felt before surged through me. The moment Drake flipped me over so that I was face to face with him, I lifted my foot and slammed it into his face. The blow shoved him away from me long enough for me to get my bearings. I wiped the remaining blood from my face, my jaw clenched and clattering against my teeth as I got up off the floor.
Rage filled his features. I knew if he got his hands on me again it would take every ounce of his will not to outright kill me. Putting more distance between us, I looked around the room for an item to use as a weapon against him.
“That was ballsy, Ellie. Keep fighting, it only makes my dick happier to take what’s his.” He smiled sinisterly as he wiped away a splotch of blood. This was a game to him. I was the prey and he was the lion. His movements were faster than I could handle. Before I could even think he was on me, his shoulder was hitting my stomach, the air rushing from my chest. We landed against the floor with a thud, his full body weight against mine.
I wrestled with him to get up, but he just pressed harder into my body, his eyes pools of blackness.
“Killing you will be the best thing I have ever done,” he hissed out, wrapping his hands around my throat. My eyes filled with tears, my throat slowly started to close up, and my lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Still I fought against the monster, even as the light turned to shadows.
“Shhh, Ellie. Why fight it, baby? I got you now.” Drake’s tongue lapped up my tears, one by one. I stared him in the eyes, never breaking eye contact, not even as the darkness lurked waiting to take me under.
The fight inside of me was slowly fading, my will fleeing. I was failing Grayson. I was becoming the bait they needed to catch him. At that thought my fingers wrapped around Drake’s and then I was clawing at him, trying to pull his hands away from my throat, if only for a second so that I could take in some air, but it was too late. Drake squeezed harder, sucking even more life right out of me.
I could only pray that someone heard my screams, or that Grayson would arrive before Drake sent me spiraling into the darkness.
I had to survive this.
I had to.
Grayson would find me. He had to.
My muscles clenched and burned as I ran through the hotel. The contents in my stomach churned, and my throat burned. If they had her, or if they took her from me that would be the end of everything. I was hoping for the best, but envisioning her blood staining the carpet made me question everything.
“I called one of my buddies to see if he could help,” Tuck spoke, attempting to calm me down with his reassuring words that we would find her and make them pay, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to be there now, taking them out. Making them fucking bleed. Tuck was buying us time, all while Ellie was going through hell.
“I don’t care who you called. We never needed help before.” I slammed my fist against the wall. Pain radiated up my arm, but it didn’t care. I just needed to expel some of this aggression, so I could think more clear headed.
“Look, Alzerro is one of the best FBI agents I have ever worked with. He’s ex-mafia, and if anyone can find Ellie it’s going to be him. And stop doubting your woman’s will. Ellie is a strong fucking woman. She will fight every second that she can.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right because the last thing we need is to be standing around with our fingers up our asses while we wait for an FBI agent to come and watch us take these fuckers out,” I barked at him, fury raging in my eyes.Tuck wasn’t being realistic at all.
“Patience,” Tuck added, pulling his phone out of his pocket. I couldn’t just stand idly by and wait for these people to get here. I had an unmarked car, and I knew exactly where they would have taken her. They knew I woul
d be coming, so they would be expecting me. If Tuck was bringing back up, then I would be just fine by myself until they arrived.
“I’m leaving,” I mumbled under my breath, heading out to the parking lot. Tuck had us at one of his secret locations. I should have waited for some type of clearance that it was safe to leave, or at the very least wait for Tuck. But nothing mattered to me anymore, not when they had the one thing that mattered the most to me.
I would rip this whole fucking city a part to get to her. I would kill who ever I had to in order to feel her heart beat against my own again.
“Leaving? You can’t go in alone.” Tuck’s voice met my ears. I turned around only to come face to face with him. Did he really think I wouldn’t go in alone?
“Who is going to stop me?” I tilted my head at him in a challenge. There was no way that he would stop me, at least not if he wanted to still be standing. I turned around and started walking again, pushing the key fob on my Lexus to unlock it. I had my weapons, and I would kill as many as I could on my own.
“It’s a stupid idea, Grayson. A trap. One they’re expecting you to fall into.” Tuck sounded so sure of himself, as if he knew everything. The truth was he was more than right, but the thing was I didn’t give a shit. Not when the woman’s life that I loved most was hanging in the balance.
“No…” I stopped just as I reached my car. “What’s stupid is letting her go through this shit alone. When you fall in love with someone you’ll understand what I mean. Their pain becomes your pain. Their heartbeat becomes your heartbeat. You are one single being.”
I had to ignore everything else he was saying, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have time to fuck around. Nothing he could say would stop me from going to her.
Getting in the Lexus, I started the ignition right before shifting into drive.
Then I burned rubber out of the parking lot, shifting gears as I headed towards the interstate. My foot was heavy on the gas petal, reminding me that speed would only add to the heavy onset of adrenaline flowing in my blood stream.
Five minutes later, I took my exit and followed the road to the industrial park. Ellie’s father owned a bunch of abandoned businesses, and it would be the first place he took her. It’s where he took all his hostages that he planned on murdering. I would know, I did the majority of the killing.
I scanned the lots for any clues that would show me where they were hiding away. It wasn’t until I reached the far end of the building that I noticed two black SUV’s parked in one of the parking lots.
I gripped the steering wheel in my hands, the leather almost becoming one with my skin. My stomach was filled with knots as I parked the car and got out. I had to go in there and get her, even if I didn’t come out alive I knew I would be dying for something that was truly worth losing my life for.
I strapped on two of my guns, picked out three knives, and then shifted my handgun from hand to hand before I closed the trunk of the car and walked to the entrance of the building. I wasn’t going to go in guns blazing, there was no fucking point. But I wasn’t going in without any form of protection either. Fuck going in and surrendering myself, I was going in showing them that if I wanted to kill them I would have already done so before heading to the door.
“We were expecting you, but I’m sure you already knew that.” Dex appeared out of nowhere, his gun aimed directly at my head. I had never been afraid of dying and I still wasn’t. It would happen when it was meant to. I expected the others to jump out of their hiding places as well but knew they probably would stay hidden, waiting for a cue or command.
“You act as if I would let you take something of mine and get away with it.” I stated, narrowing my eyes in rage. My gun weighed heavily in my hand, this could end one of two ways.
“Yours?” Dex raised his eyebrows and shoved me in the shoulder, as if to tell me to move forward.
“Mine.” I dug my feet into the ground and leaned into his face. “I’m here to get what is mine. What has always been mine, and if there is one fucking hair out of place on her head, I will fucking end your life…” I seethed. “Do you understand me, you incompetent asshole?”
“If you don’t get the fuck inside, I will kill you right here and you won’t have to worry about…” I stopped him before he could finish speaking, these assholes knew I had a short temper and didn’t have time to talk about shit. You got more done with your hands than with words.
I grabbed him by the throat my fingers sinking into his flesh. I could feel his blood pumping and the beast inside of me wanted to end him, to watch his blood drip into the drain inside of this old dirty building.
Dex’s eyes popped out of his head, but his gasps for air didn’t help the beast either. It just fed him, made him want more.
“I’m still me underneath everything. I will still kill you. Hell, I’m going to just because you fucked with something that was mine.” I gripped the gun in my hand, lifted it and placed it against his head.
“You’ll die…” His words were strained, and I gripped his throat tighter out of pure need.
“Welcome back, asshole.” A voice I knew sounded behind me, but before I could turn and see who it was I felt a sharp blow to the back of my head. My grasp on Dex released and I fell to the ground, the world spinning in and out of focus.
“I thought we were a brotherhood, dude?” Cole’s menacing face came into focus right before his boot nailed me in the face and everything that was previously gray turned black.
They say when you’re dying your life will flash before your eyes, that all the happiness in your life will shine through while you’re in the process of going to the other side. The thing was, I had nothing but my time with Grayson to carry over to the other side, and that alone kept me awake and fighting. I needed more memories, more good to take with me when it was my time to go.
“Your little boy toy is here. He came to rescue you…” Drake’s eyes were furious, and his voice rose as he slapped me across the face. Blood continued to drip down my cheek, one of my eyes already swollen shut, but I was holding on for dear life. Holding on for Grayson.
My head lolled to the side, resting against my shoulder. The binds that held my hands together dug in so tightly I was sure there would be cuts just from the material they used. I shut every single part of me off and went inside my own head, just like all the other times I was forced to. It was easier to turn it off, to ignore it all.
The pain would subside, and eventually I would become numb. I ignored Drake as he huffed and puffed around the room, and instead focused my attention on the drain on the floor. Oh, how I wanted it to be Drake’s and my father’s blood dripping down that drain instead of my own.
“Thank God he set him on a path to end up right here where we wanted him to be!” My father walked in the room rubbing his hands together. His voice was overly cheery, his eyes roamed over my body for a moment before shifting to Drake.
How could a father see their daughter like this and it not matter to them? I wanted to scream from the highest building at him. Tell him that he wasn’t a father, nor a man to allow this to happen to me. I wanted to inflict pain upon him. I wanted him to feel the darkness and scars that he had caused upon my soul by letting Drake harm me.
I wanted him dead, Drake included.
I wanted all of them dead.
“Fucking asshole thought he could squeeze the life out of Dex.” A youngish looking man that couldn’t be much older than me brought Grayson into the room. His name I was unsure of, I couldn’t recall it; that night was still coming to me in pieces. He placed him on the ground with a hard thud. I looked around Drake to get a better look at Grayson, and a gasp filled my throat when I saw his face.
Blood covered it, so much so that I wondered if he was still alive. I couldn’t help the words that came out of my mouth, “What did you do to him?” I yelled, my voice hoarse and raw. I hadn’t spoken since Drake took me from the hotel.
“She fucking speaks, imagine that?” Drake’s slimy
voice sounded heavily in my ears as he moved closer to me, his hand slipping up Grayson’s t-shirt, his fingers digging into the flesh of my thigh.
“Anyway, I took him out with a kick to the face. He thought he could come in here and own the fucking place?” the young looking guy spoke again.
Drake’s fingers inched further up my thigh. I wanted to scream but instead bit the inside of my cheek, trying with all my might to keep my legs closed. He wouldn’t violate me in front of all these people, including my own father. Would he?
“I want you to beg me to stop…” he whispered in my ear as he pressed his erection against my face. I turned away, my only eye that he hadn’t forced shut with his fists, closing in on Grayson. I could feel tears forming. They wanted to fall so badly, but I refused to give him the satisfaction.
His fingers slid up further, his thumb pushing against my bare entrance. Vomit rose in my throat, and there was nothing I could do to keep it at bay.. Turning towards Drake’s body, I spewed vomit onto his pants.
Then a gargled laughed slipped from my throat as vomit clung to strands of my hair. Drake’s fingers dug into my skin even deeper, and as he pulled away from me, a burning sensation covered my inner thigh.
“You fucking bitch.” I couldn’t do anything but take the fist as it flew towards my face. My entire existence was lying across the room on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. I prayed that the next hit would take me out, that it would end the pain right here and right now.
No world was truly worth living in if Grayson wasn’t in it. I understood the pain he felt back in the hotel. The reason he trashed that bathroom.
“Enough, Drake. Pick him up and place him in one of the chairs. I’m expecting more to come, so be prepared men.” My father spoke with authority as he spewed orders.