Chapter 33 Pandora #3
I can take him down, I can saw his head in half or at least draw beautiful red lines across his neck, gouge his eye out, cut his tongue so he will fucking shut up already.
Samantha whimpers again.
If I move at all, she’s going to die.
If she doesn’t take my hand soon, she’s going to die.
Hell, even if she takes my hand, she might still die.
“Take my hand,” I tell her again.
Tears are streaming down her face, but she finally lets go of the door with one hand and makes a wild grab for my hand.
As soon as my hand closes around hers, the van groans and drops another inch. Samantha screams and lets go of the van door.
She drops with an ear-melting screech.
My body gets pulled down with her, flat onto the ground, her entire weight hanging off of my one shoulder.
I groan and grab her arm with my other hand to ease some of the pressure. I wish I had any sort of leverage, but right now all I can do is hold on.
Ezio laughs and gets closer. “Christ. You’re really risking it all for some bitch who gossiped about your diseased cunt?”
Samantha is looking up at me with wild, desperate eyes. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything I said. I am. Just please don’t let go!”
I give her a strained smile. “I won’t. I promise.”
I really shouldn’t make promises I’m not sure I can keep.
But if I let go, if I have to watch Samantha drop into the endless void below me, I think I’m going to start coughing up blood from how many internal cuts I suffer.
“I can help,” Ezio says. He pushes his foot against my side. “How many kicks can you withstand before you let go?”
He kicks me once before I can answer. I gasp at the pain, but I cling tighter to Samantha.
I’m not letting go.
I’m not letting another person die because of these fuckers.
Samantha sobs loudly, the tears streaming out of her eyes.
Ezio pulls back. I brace myself for another blow.
“Pandora!” River’s beautiful voice rings out.
I burst out laughing, a wild, desperate sound. “Over here!”
I hear pounding footsteps on the ground, and Ezio starts to edge back. I need River to help me.
Ezio curses. “Fuck. Guess you get lucky this time, Pandora.” He dashes off, into the dark underbrush of the forest.
I need River to punish Ezio.
River appears next to me. “Asch! Blaze! I found her!”
I want to tell them to go after Ezio. That I’m fine, that there’s nothing for them to do here.
Ezio needs to drown in a pool of his own blood.
River’s hand joins mine on Samantha’s arm.
Blaze and Asch jog up on my other side. “Shit,” Blaze mutters. They both reach down and grab Samantha’s other wrist.
“On three,” River says.
I can’t even hear Ezio anymore.
I nod.
“Okay,” River says. “One. Two. Three!”
They pull with all their strength, and I do the same.
It takes us several long, agonizing seconds to pull Samantha over the edge of the ravine. As soon as she’s on solid ground, Samantha wraps her arms around me.
Her sobs fill the space in my chest, expanding my lungs.
Weird.
I return the embrace. “Hey. You’re… you’re alive.”
I’d say she was okay, but I’m not sure she is.
I’m not even okay. I’m never okay. But I can deal with all this shit.
Samantha shouldn’t have had to.
For several moments, she only cries against me, until she finally sags down and pulls away. Her cheeks are flushed, and I’m not sure if it’s from the exertion or embarrassment.
Probably both.
“I… Thank you,” she says, looking between me and the guys. “All of you.” She stiffens, then asks, “Where’d that man go?”
I let out a dramatic sigh. “Gone, somewhere. Although without a car or supplies, I don’t know what he’ll do out here.”
Asch nods. “We’ll go after him,” he says.
I can see us getting lost in the dark, wandering around in circles and circles, just for a chance to eviscerate Ezio.
I shake my head. “Nah. He’ll either die out there or turn up again. We’ve got other shit to take care of.”
River grimaces. “Yeah. It’s probably a mess back at that hotel.” He pauses, then exhales slowly. “Or maybe they’ve already cleaned it up.” He looks at Blaze. “What do you think?”
Blaze glances down at his phone, the screen lighting up his face in stark blue-tinted light. “I have five missed calls from my dad. I think it’d be a bad idea to go back.”
Asch nods. “Agreed. We need to figure out how we’re going to survive this shitshow.” He straightens. “Let’s get back to campus. We’re probably safest there for now.”
I try to get up, but all the punctures have my legs completely jelly. I collapse back onto the ground.
“Your dad isn’t going to send more people after us, is he?” I ask, breathing hard.
Blaze gives me an unimpressed look. “More people? You were barely on his radar before. Now…”
Yeah. Now I’m not just the daughter of some other organized crime gang leader.
Sorry, the daughter of a perfectly legitimate strip club owner.
Either way, I’ve made it clear that I’m trouble.
“Now, we’re fucked. Got it,” River mutters. “I think we need to get your family involved, Pandora.”
I shake my head. “No way. What’s a strip club owner going to do?”
Asch offers his hand to me, and I take it so he can help me up. I sway into his arms, sighing happily.
He even still smells of his own cologne.
“They have connections,” River replies. “Now’s not the time to pretend they don’t.”
Asch wraps his arms around me, keeping me close. He even kisses the top of my head.
“What kind of connections?” Samantha asks, and I realize she’s been standing nearby while we talk. Her bottom lip trembles. “Are… those people going to be after me?”
Blaze holds his hand out to Samantha. “You’re not going to want to stay at Dyschord.”
“Your dad cut off your funding, anyway,” I mutter. “Something about you being an ungrateful daughter.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have responded to his emails.
I mostly figured she was already dead.
“What?” she asks, taking Blaze’s hand but not looking away from me. “He would never—” She pauses, then her eyes narrow. “How would you even know that?”
“Do you really want to spend your time talking about this now?” I ask. “It’s dark. It’s cold. Your feet are going to get busted up if Blaze or River don’t carry you.” I point up the cliff. “Let’s get somewhere warm and clean.”
“I’ve got her,” River says, moving closer to Samantha. “Hold on to me.”
Samantha freezes when he gets closer to her. “No,” she says, desperation replacing the accusation in her voice.
“This isn’t a good place to be without shoes,” he tells her, his own tone surprisingly gentle. “I won’t hurt you. All right? Just long enough to get to the car.”
She isn’t small, but the car shouldn’t be very far.
Her breathing comes more quickly, but she reluctantly nods. River lifts her, and she clutches at him as he starts to carry her in the direction of their vehicles.
Asch wraps an arm around my waist, urging me to follow.
Blaze leads the way, using his phone as a flashlight for us.
“Thanks,” I say quietly as we climb. “I know I got us all into worse shit. But thanks.”
“I’m starting to think you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t get everyone into trouble,” Asch says, but he squeezes me lightly. “We’ll… figure it out.”
“I wasn’t even trying to burn the world down around me this time,” I say with a giggle.
I suspect I’ll need to burn somebody’s world in the near future though.
Ezio is still alive, after all.