Just how deep he is imprisoned into his own dark, sick depravity slams fear and hope inside. “I don’t like her, but I don’t want her dead. See, that’s where you and I are nothing alike. I’m not a twisted bastard with megalomaniac, grandiose ideas of justice.” A smile slowly pulls at the corners of my lips as I focus my gaze back on his, “Except maybe when it comes to you. You – well, I would love to know how it feels to end your sad, pathetic life.”
His laughter fills the room before he stabs me with another dose of his emotions. They sizzle through my veins worse than the current of the electric shock treatment they tortured me with at the institution and I can’t contain the scream that pierces the air.
Chapter fourteen
Jensen
Andy’s mouthing off to Axe, and Darrin is laughing at all the bullshit banter when Josie bursts through the door. Darrin drops the part he was getting ready to attach when he sees her expression.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
Josie’s face is so damn white it’s scaring the hell out of me as Darrin places his hand on her face when she starts to cry. “Griffin escaped as he was being transported to a different facility yesterday. It was on the news, and I can’t get ahold of Saige.” Her voice turns to panic, “I couldn’t get ahold of any of you. I can’t get a read on Griffin but I know he’s close.”
Grabbing my cell phone, I go to dial Saige myself, trying to fight my own panic, but I have no service. Not wasting anytime to try to figure out why, I race to my bike and tear out of the lot. My chest pounds excruciatingly as I push the bike to its maximum speed. The usual twenty minute drive is only a fraction of that but it feels so fucking long until I slide in the gravel in front of our house. Dropping my helmet, I race inside. My heart freezes, stops beating, when I see Saige covered in blood and lying on the kitchen floor.
“Look at me, baby,” I plead, giving her a gentle but firm shake. Her eyes find mine and I can see how weak she is. Swearing under my breath, I grab a towel, pressing it against the slash on her upper thigh. I grab my cell to call an ambulance, but it’s still not working. Dammit! “C’mon, pretty girl, stay with me here.” The vacant look in her eyes scares the shit out of me and I shake her harder. “Talk to me, Saige!”
I hear Andy yelling my name and I call to him, telling him to stay with Saige as vile thoughts produce a string of filthy expletives as I grab two buckets, filling them with ice. Pain stabs my heart when I fill the tub with cold water and pour the ice inside. My soul fills with rage as I think of Griffin, of what he’s done to Saige. Biting back tears, I head back to the kitchen and lift her sweat and blood soaked body into my arms. My heart feels like it’s going to splinter into a million pieces as she leans her forehead against my chest. Exhaustion has joined the fight, strengthening Griffin’s torture of emotional hell. “Hang on, baby,” I whisper, brushing my lips against her damp hair, “hang on.”
Andy looks at the tub then at me, sorrow darkening his eyes as he swallows hard, knowing this is fucking killing me.
“I’m sorry, Saige. I’m so sorry,” I choke before lowering both our bodies into the freezing water. There’s no way in hell I’m putting her through this without me being right there with her.
Saige’s eyes spring open as her back arches and she gasps from the frigid cold. She scrambles to get out of the tub but I pull her back into the water, swearing loudly as her eyes land on mine, tears streaming down her face.
“Fight it, Saige,” I demand, wanting to rip my fucking heart out from the pain in her eyes.
“Let me out, Jensen, please,” she begs, desperately grabbing my shirt and pulling herself towards the edge of the tub, towards warmth.
“I need you to feel this, baby,” I plead, my voice breaking as my own tears spill down my face, “I need to break the connection he has on you.”
Saige struggles harder, ripping my shirt and scratching the hell out of me as she fights to get out of the tub. I grab her wrists, immediately letting go when she winces and I see the bruises covering them. Swearing loudly, I wrap my arms around her chest, keeping her restrained to me and in the tub until I feel her body responding. With every second, she gets stronger, weakening the connection Griffin has on her. As soon as I see the light back in her eyes, I pull her from the water and yell at Andy to grab clothes as I strip the soaked shirt and shorts from Saige’s trembling body.
“I’m s-sorry,” Saige mumbles through blue lips as her body trembles violently.
Stripping my shirt, I let it fall to the floor as I pull her freezing body against my chest, desperate to warm her while silently demanding Andy to hurry. “You didn’t do anything wrong, baby. Just look at me. Keep your eyes on me, Saige.”
Andy finally returns, keeping his gaze locked on the floor as I shove the sweatshirt over Saige’s head and pull her arms through the sleeves. Her body is shaking so hard, I have to keep my arm wrapped around her waist as I help her step into the pants. Quickly, I strip out of my clothing and put dry ones on before turning my attention back to Saige. I help her put on socks, leaving the shoes, not willing to waste any more time for Griffin to fuck with her mind again.
“Come on, Saige. I’m taking you to where he can’t hurt you anymore,” I swear, lifting her into my arms and carrying her to my bike.
“No! He’s gone. He left when he heard you turning on the road.”
“He just left? He tried to kill you. He tried to kill Sam. No, he’s still close, and I’m going to kill the bastard.” Andy growls, touching his hand to the bruises on Saige’s throat. “I’ve got a read on him,” he calls before taking off through the house.
“Andy, wait!” I yell after him, but he’s already out the door.
“I know where he’s going, too,” she rasps. “He’s hurt. He tried to get me to kill myself, but when he heard you coming, it caught him off guard, and I stabbed him.” Her chin falls, and her fists coil against her sides, “I was weak, so it wasn’t deep, but it was enough to hurt him.”
When Saige’s words register, my heart does a free fall. “You stabbed him? He almost took you with him when he died last time, Saige. He might do it again. What if you can’t bring yourself back?”
Her eyes close as she rocks her head back and forth, “You saved me last time. It was hearing you that brought me back. But I have him now. I found a way inside his head. I was already too weak when I figured it out earlier, but I’m not now.”
“What are you talking about? How do you know where he’s going?”
“Your father.”
“What?” I ask, shaking my head, wondering if Saige is still dazed from what he’s done to her.
“I don’t have time to explain it, Jensen,” she cries.
“Give me the short version,” I demand.
“Griffin was torturing me with his emotions, using how I can feel him and how that feeling is stronger through the connection to try to get me slice my wrist.”
Rubbing my hand over the soft skin of her wrist, I bite back my rage at the bruises marring her skin there, but relief spills through my veins when I see it’s free of any cuts. I know Saige is strong, but so is Griffin.
“I used your father’s techniques to make that connection work both ways. He blocked me from feeling him until he was too close for me to get away. The more he opened up to me, filling me with his disease-” she shudders, and I pull her into my arms, but she pushes away, shaking her head. “We’re running out of time. We have to get to him while I still have the connection.”
“No! You’re not going anywhere near him. He’ll feel you, Saige,” I adamantly demand.
Her wet hair falls over her shoulders as she shakes her head, “No, he won’t. I know how to block him from feeling me until I want him to. With him connecting to me, I found my own connection to him.”
“Tell me where he’s going. I have to follow Andy.”
Saige rushes towards the door, “I’m going with you!”
Raking my hands through my hair, I want to scream by not h
aving time to argue with her as I race outside behind her.
Darrin’s bike sputters gravel as he slides to a stop next to me. “Sorry, man. I had to get Josie calmed down.” His gaze shifts to Saige and he swears when he sees the bruises on her neck.
“Stay with Saige. I have to find Griffin. Andy’s already after him.”
Saige cranks the ignition on my bike while I’m talking to Darrin, calling over her shoulder, “I told you I’m going.” She shoves the helmet over her head and takes off before I can grab her.
“Dammit!” Looking around for her bike, I don’t see it anywhere so I hop on the back of Darrin’s as he tears after Saige. “Go faster!” I yell, reaching behind me and gripping the bar on the back of the seat as I try to wipe the wind induced tears from my eyes as we speed down the highway behind Saige.
We’ve only gone about ten miles when Saige pulls to the side of the road, ripping the helmet off her head as we pull next to her. “He’s going to an abandoned house on the other side of this field. If he hears us coming, he’ll kill Andy.”
“He knows Andy took off after him?” The damn panic heightens.
Her eyes dim, “Griffin felt him and attacked Andy before he had the chance to see him.”
“Stay here with Darrin,” I growl.
She starts to protest but I won’t allow her as I tell Darrin to keep her there.
“Wait!” she calls after me. “Let me know when you’re there. I’ll distract him when you go in.”
“My phone doesn’t work.”
“It will here. He blocked the signal at the house, but it should work now.”
Telling her to call the cops, I promise I’ll call her when I’m at the house and she finally agrees to stay with Darrin as I sprint through the field. Crossing over the creek, I crest the hill and see the house. Andy’s bike is on its side, and I quickly scan the yard but don’t see anyone. There’s some kind of light burning through one window and I stay on the darkest side of the yard as I inch closer to the home, pulling my phone out of my back pocket and dialing Saige.
“Alright,” I hear her breathing into the phone. Her fear stings my heart when she tells me not to go in through the front door because he’s wired it. I hear her sucking in a deep breath before she sounds calmer when she tells me to be careful and to wait a minute before going in because she’s going to distract him. I have a pretty good idea as of how she plans on doing that and pride bursts through my chest when I hear her growl, “You want to play with madness, Griffin? Well, here’s your mindfuck, you sick bastard.”
There are a few seconds of silence, then I hear her weakened voice come back on the phone, “Go now. Through the back door.”
Bursting through the way Saige instructed, I see Griffin holding a gun on Andy. He has a slash on his side from where Saige cut him, but he doesn’t seem to have lost much blood. He looks stunned and agitated when he swings around, and I land a blow against his jaw as a shot splinters into the wall behind me. Sending my foot hard against Griffin’s ribs, I kick him hard enough to send him against the wall as I grab the gun off the floor.
The bastard’s quick and hits me from behind before I can turn around, sending the gun scattering across the floor and under an old, soiled couch. I crash my elbow against his jaw as he goes to take another swing and he stumbles backwards, giving me a few seconds to look at Andy. His eye’s bleeding and his mouth is taped shut, but appears fine otherwise.
Griffin lunges for the gun, but I kick a discarded crate, knocking it into the back of his legs, and he falls on top of the couch. Grabbing his neck, I begin to squeeze as he struggles against me.
“You can’t protect her forever,” he gasps. “She’s like your mother.”
Easing my grip, I press my knee harshly into the small of his back as he screams in pain before spitting out, “She’s weak, but her abilities are getting stronger.” His voice fills with admiration as he continues, “She used my own feelings against me. My own memories of killing my sister to distract me. Do you have any idea how long it took for me to inject my feelings on someone else? She won’t be able to handle what she can do. She’s fantasized of killing herself, cutting her wrists and watching the blood drip out of her. You can’t save her, Jensen. She’ll end up breaking sooner or later.”
“No. She survived. She’s always survived. She chose life! You’re the weak one, you sick bastard! The only way you can survive is from gaining strength by destroying others.” Tightening my arm around his throat, I squeeze, cutting off his air as he struggles. “How does it feel, Griffin? What does it feel like not being able to breathe, not being able to catch one pathetic shred of air, you piece of shit?”
Once he goes limp, I let him fall to the floor. I want to kill him, bleed every drop of blood from his body, but flashes of him pulling Saige with him as he was dying in that garage stops me.
Saige bursts through the door, “The police are on their way.”
Ramming my fist against Griffin’s jaw, he grunts, and I jerk him away from the couch, shoving him into a chair before grabbing the tape next to Andy’s chair and wrapping it tightly around Griffin’s wrists.
Saige steps beside me. She stares at Griffin silently a few seconds before she curls her fist and crashes it against his mouth, knocking him and his chair to the ground. I watch as she stands over him, flexing her hand, with a smile slowly spreading across her lips, “Do you enjoy our connection now, asshole?”
I wrap my hand around Saige’s shoulder, pulling her against me.
“Are you alright?” she mumbles against my chest.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe. That makes everything alright, pretty girl,” I answer honestly, brushing my lips against her forehead, breathing her in. She makes everything feel alright.
Sirens blare in the background as Darrin cuts the tape from Andy’s wrists, but I barely hear them when I stare at Saige, seeing how she’s fine. She’s not weak or hurting from Griffin’s presence. “You really did figure out how to block him, didn’t you?”
That smile spreads across her lips, brightening her eyes. “He has no hold on me now.”
Andy yanks the tape from his mouth and rubs his wrists as he looks down at Griffin. “Took you long enough to get here,” he grumbles, rubbing the cut above his eye as he nods his chin at Saige. “Could you not have figured out how to block him before he knocked the hell out of me, princess?”
Saige grabs the tape from Andy’s hand and slaps it back across his mouth as she shrugs her shoulder at me, laughing, “Don’t let him take that off. I like him a helluva lot better when he uses less words.”
Darrin bursts into laughter, but I stand frozen as dark thoughts begin to swarm. If Saige found a way to block Griffin, it’s possible he can find a way to prevent her from doing it in the future. He’s already escaped once and he went straight for her. Knowing what I have to do, I refuse to allow my conscious to change my resolve. He’ll do it again. Griffin will try to kill Saige, and I know the sick bastard will torment her before he does. I lost her once, there’s no way in hell I’m going to take the chance of losing her again. He has to die.
Andy pulls the tape off his mouth and throws the wadded piece at Saige before he catches my gaze, then his eyes fall to Griffin before snapping back to mine. An entire conversation passes in a few silent seconds.
Calm seeps its way through the dark when I look at Saige, watching her as she turns and locks those beautiful caramel eyes on me. She’s suffered her entire life. I’ve done my damnedest to protect her. She deserves to feel safe. That haunting mix of vulnerability and determination that has always brought me to my knees still breathes inside her, but she’s full of so much more. I won’t let anyone take that from her. From me.
“The cops are close,” Andy tells Saige, but directing the words at me, when he wraps his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s meet them outside.”
Saige glances over her shoulder and I smile, nodding for her to go with Andy and Darrin. The look she gives me is the same o
ne she’s given me since the day I saved her on the playground when she was seven years old. That’s my look. Only mine. I’ve never seen her give it to anyone else. I don’t know how the hell I become lucky enough for her to look at me like I’m her hero. Her Superman. Saige has never wanted me to fight for her, much less do what I’m getting ready to do, but protecting her is a privilege that I’d die before I’d risk losing, no matter the cost to me.
Griffin’s mouth is covered in blood when I put my foot on the slat of the wooden chair and jerk it upright. His body rocks back and forth on the floor before I cut his wrists loose. I gather a fist full of his shirt and pull him up before sending my knee against his jaw. A pained grunt fills the room as he crumbles to the floor.
“You deserve to suffer, but I’m not like you,” I state, my voice void of any emotion as I lean next to him.
His breaths come out in ragged shards but that doesn’t keep him from sputtering laughter as he shakes his head. “We both hear the sirens. You won’t kill me, Jensen. That would be murder, and that’s not who you are.”
“What killing you makes me doesn’t come close to what saving Saige and making sure you can never hurt her again does.” His neck snaps in my hands and I let go, watching him sink to the ground. Closing my eyes, I stand and take a deep breath, fighting like hell to keep my head away from the numbing brutality of what I’ve just done.
When I walk out of this defiled house and see Saige standing there, alive. Safe. I have no regrets of what I did or what killing that bastard makes me. The only thing that matters is Saige. Us. We have the rest of our lives to make what we are to become. Everything I do is for her. She is what makes me feel. She is what makes….me.
Epilogue
Saige
The end of December in Northern California is blissful perfection. There’s just enough chill in the air to feel like it’s almost Christmas but it is warm enough to stay outside for hours enjoying the festivities. I used to hate this time of year because, instead of people being full of joy like all the hype tries to imply, they’re just plain bitchy, bringing me down – but not this time. Nothing can bring me down this season, especially today when I will become Saige Renee Rider in less than three hours.
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