Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Jaclyn
Past
Natalia and I are on our way to school right now. We decided to drive together because I slept over at Hayden’s last night.
This morning, he wouldn’t let me leave the bed. I had to fight my way out of his bed because he wouldn’t let me go. And before I left, I kissed him goodbye. He tried to deepen the kiss and make me stay but Natalia dragged me out of the room.
Natalia right now is talking to me about how Chris is thinking about moving out and playing for the Giants in New York. She and Chris have been talking about plans for what happens after school. I know for a fact that Chris might get drafted for the Giants because he is an amazing player and they have already been talking to him about the opportunity.
Natalia doesn’t mind moving to New York. She says that there are a lot of opportunities out there.
Them talking about their future makes me think about what Hayden and I are doing after school. We haven’t talked about it but with the promise ring he gave me not too long ago, he made it sound like I was here to stay.
He doesn’t want me going anywhere.
I just have no clue what his plan is and he is graduating next year while I have one more year of college.
Will he stay in Arizona with me or move out when he is done with school?
The thought of him leaving me makes me so anxious and scared.
I don’t even want to think about it.
I know for a fact I want to become a sports journalist. I love interacting with people and being a sports journalist can make you some good money.
I would want to live in either New York or California. I love everything about New York, the city, the lights, how loud it is, etc. It just feels so alive but it’s so expensive to live out there. California has the beach which I love. It has perfect weather all around.
Once we get to school, I park the car and cut the engine. Natalia and I get out of the car and I lock the doors.
“Your birthday is coming up. What are you planning on doing?” Natalia asks as we walk towards our building.
My birthday is next week and I have no clue what I’m doing. I haven’t had the time to think about it with all the issues with Hayden and his fights.
Eric has laid low for a while which makes me think something is wrong. The feeling in the pit of my stomach makes me want to throw up sometimes.
“No clue. Maybe hangout with you guys and have dinner?”
“Hayden doesn’t have anything planned?” Natalia asks and I shake my head. He hasn’t mentioned anything and neither have I because I’m sure we will do something small. “Do you have the key card?” Natalia asks as we walk towards the elevator.
I remember I didn’t take it with me. It’s still in the car. I usually keep it in the center console.
“Shit, no. It’s okay, I'll go get it.”
Natalia shakes her head. “It’s fine, we can just take the stairs.”
“You go ahead and I’ll catch up. I have to get the key card because I need it for the library later.”
She nods her head and I turn around and leave the building. I get to my car and unlock the doors before getting in. I look through the center console, trying to find the card when the passenger door opens.
Fear floods through my body as I see Eric sit in the passenger seat and lock the doors. “Get the hell out, Eric,” I say, pushing my back against the door.
Anytime he is around me, it never ends well and the way my stomach keeps making flips makes me nervous as hell.
“Relax, Jaclyn. I’m not going to hurt you. Just wanna talk.”
“Talk to someone else and get out,” I demand.
“Nah, I wanna know how Hayden doing? Are the ribs healing?” Eric asks.
Hayden had to fight three people in one night and it ended up with him having his ribs fractured. He is healing pretty fast but he has pain sometimes.
“Of course you would know he has fractured ribs, you stalker.” I put my hand on the button to unlock the door. “I wanna say it was nice talking but I would just be lying.”
“Now, now, now, Jaclyn. You can’t just leave right now,” he says while holding onto the lock button. “We still have so much catching up to do,” he says with a menacing tone that sends chills down my spine.
I don’t like this.
I need to get out.
I need to leave.
“Fuck off,” I say before pulling on the door but it won’t open because he is holding the lock button. No matter how much I try to unlock it, it won’t fucking unlock.
“Wish this would have been easier to do.” I hear Eric say before a needle pricks my neck. I try to move away from him as my neck starts to sting from whatever he did. Eric holds me against the chair. “Just relax. You’ll like this, trust me,” Eric says in my ear as I plead for help in my head.
I can’t move or talk but I can feel everything. My head starts to get heavy, like it weighs tons until I see nothing but darkness.
“Hey!” Someone yells in my ear. “Hey! Time to wake up!”
I jolt awake and open my eyes. I lift my head but don’t see anything.
Everything is dark.
“Tell Marco she’s awake,” a familiar voice says.
Oh no.
Fuck.
Oh my God, please let this be a dream.
“No,” I whisper to myself as anxiety fills my veins. Blood rushes through my body at a rapid pace and my breathing starts to get heavier.
I can’t breathe.
Why can’t I breathe?
“Jaclyn.” The cloth gets ripped off my face and I see Eric staring down at me with a smile. “Finally you’re awake. You’ve been asleep for a good day now.” Eric grabs my jaw and moves my face to the side. “Yikes, that’s going to bruise,” he says, eyeing my neck. He presses his finger to the spot on my neck and I hiss, flinching away from him. “Yea that’ll hurt for a bit.” Eric lets go of me and he squats down to be at eye level with me. “Morning.”
I look around me and see I’m in a room. There is a bed at the corner but nothing else.
It looks depressing and almost scary in here.
“Let me go, Eric. Please,” I beg.
I’ll do anything at this point for him not to touch me or go near me.
Eric shakes his head side to side. “That’s not how this works. I wish things could have ended up differently but Hayden had to push.” Eric stands up and turns to a guy behind him. “Did you tell Marco?” Eric asks and the guy nods.
A tear falls from my eye as I connect the dots.
They took me because of Hayden.
But Hayden won the fight. After everything Hayden has done and dealt with Marco, he can’t just go back to his world.
The door opens and I see him walk in.
I have met Marco a total of maybe two or three times. He has always made me feel like something bad was about to happen. He holds darkness inside him that I’ve never seen anyone have. It’s scary.
I have met Marco a total of maybe two or three times. He has always made me feel like something bad was about to happen. He holds darkness inside him that I’ve never seen anyone have. It’s scary.
“Jaclyn, nice to see you again.” Marco closes the door behind him and walks up to me. “How are you?”
“What do you want from me? Hayden won. You should have left us alone,” I say as another tear falls.
It’s like my body always knows what is going to happen, it’s just preparing itself.
“Straight to the point. Definitely Hayden’s girl, eh?” Marco smirks down at me.
“Let me go,” I beg.
This can't be happening.
This is a dream that I’ll wake up from or Hayden will come in and save me.
He always does.
Hayden is always there to save me.
Is this what I’m going to deal with while being with Hayden?
After being with him for a year I thought this would stop eventually but it’s just gotten me here.
“Hayden is a talented guy. He is strong and fast. He uses his head too,” Marco states while looking down at me. “He has so much potential Jaclyn and you should know that out of all people,” he explains. “I offered Hayden the deal of a lifetime. Endless years of money and he declined because he didn’t want to be in that kind of environment.”
“It’s probably because of your gang bullshit,” I say, getting frustrated.
My heart is beating so fast I think it will burst through my chest.
“So, he did tell you?” Marco raises an eyebrow at me. “Well, you know far too much it seems. We have to fix that.” Marco looks at Eric. “Give us some privacy, would you?” Marco asks before moving his eyes to me.
Eric smirks, looking like Satan himself, and he leaves the room.
“No,” I say while backing away from Marco who is walking towards me. “No! No! No! Please! Please, Marco. Please.” I say as my eyes water and tears stream down.
“They all beg. It does nothing for me,” Marco says as he grabs my wrists and throws me against the floor. I bang my head against the floor making me scream in pain. My forehead throbs as I cry. Marco gets behind me, his hips pressed against my butt. I widen my eyes and thrash away from him.
“No! No! Please, no! Don’t Marco, please, please,” I say, sobbing against the floor.
“Shhh. You’re okay.” Marco takes a knife out of his pocket and he cuts open my jeans.
And all of a sudden, everything stops.
Everything pauses.
My mind is blank and I can’t feel a single thing.
For a second, I honestly think that I’m dead.