49. Cin
Cin
The sun wakes me, bright lights streaming into the room. Blinking my eyes open, I find the bed empty. My heart sinks a little until I hear the toilet flush and the sink turn on. Then there he is, standing in all his naked glory, smiling at me.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he stalks forward, crawling across the bed to kiss me. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
I shake my head and kiss him again, enjoying the freeness of it. The feeling of being able to choose something for myself without other people's judgment.
“Everyone is waiting on us,” he laughs, “I wanted you to be able to sleep as long as possible.”
“Thank you,” I croak. My voice is gone as I figured it would be.
He runs a hand down the column of my neck and asks me if it hurts. It doesn’t, just sounds bad, but even if it did hurt, it would be from all my screaming in pleasure and not his hand like I know he’s thinking. He walks to our bags and throws me my clothes, pure comfort for the ride home. Changing quickly in the bathroom before we leave, I know he’s seen me naked, but I need to pee, and no matter how natural that may be, it’s so not sexy.
Everyone is quiet on the way home. No one really speaks, but we do sleep. Griffin wakes me up once we land, and Mama is waiting by the SUV’s when we get off the plane.
“Happy birthday, Muffin!” She shouts, and I run to her, nearly making it when I hear gunshots ring out. Talon tackles me to the ground, covering my body with his. Shouts and gunfire ring in my ears, and I scream for Talon to get off me.
He locks down, hands caging mine in.
“Talon!” I screech when he growls in pain, and I manage to wiggle around to see the front of his shirt blooming red.
“Just a scratch, baby, stay down,” his voice is clipped, eyes narrowed, and I start to panic. He pulls me up as soon as Griffin shouts it’s okay, and we run for one of the SUV’s. Right as we get there, another car comes swerving around the other side of the plane, and Cody barrels out, wrapping his hands around my waist…
Then, everything happens in slow motion.
And I can’t stop it.
Talon collapses by our SUV in Griffin’s arms.
Cody is stuffing me into the backseat of the car he came in.
I can’t see Mama or my friends.
I’m screaming for Talon, for Mama, for anyone who will help me as Cody’s fingers dig painfully into my sides as he shoves me into the car. The seat buckle clips my temple, disorienting me momentarily, and I shout.
Cody slips in behind me, and I use all of my strength to hit him in his stupid fucking face. He takes the blow to his mouth and licks his lip, looking as furious as I feel.
“What the fuck, Cinny-Mae!”
“What the fuck me ? What the fuck you !” I shout as the driver speeds away, taking me from the people I love.
Reaching for the handle, I pull. I’ll jump if I have to, fucking rip my skin to shreds, tumbling out into the road. But the handle only moves, it doesn’t open the door and I scream in frustration.
“Take me back,” I demand, throwing my foot up and connecting with the driver's cheek. He swerves the car, and something clicks in the front seat.
Cody grips my foot, and throws it away from the driver, hauling me up into the seat by my neck.
“No.”
“Yes,” I spit at him, “let me out!”
Cody’s hands grip my shoulders, and he shakes me so hard my head cracks against the window.
I vaguely remember fighting, shouting, and ill-tempered men carrying me into a room with one window.
Reality comes crashing down, and I sit up too fast, making my head spin and my body ache. I have to sit for a moment on a bed that isn’t mine. Nothing about this place is mine, and I allow myself one moment of panic. To really come to terms with what this means if the boys were right and Cody is working with Serge.
The door opens, and I launch myself at the person who enters. They throw up their hands in surrender, yet I deliver a swift punch to their neck, sending them careening to the floor.
I recognize the black floppy hair, and I don’t feel sorry. Not one ounce for him. He doesn’t deserve it, and I take the opportunity to race out the door.
Shock threatens to put me on my ass as I stare at the man from the last place, the one whose fingers I broke, standing in the hallway. His hand is in a brace, and I smirk, knowing I probably did that. He turns, spotting me outside of the room they locked me in.
I turn and take off in the other direction, deeper into wherever they’ve brought me. So many doors, but I’m scared to open any of them for fear of what I might find.
The end of the hall approaches too fast. I take a deep breath and open the door to my right, sliding through and shutting it as quietly as I can. There’s a man sitting behind a desk, his hair is dark, styled artfully on his head. He looks up, and smiles and something about him seems familiar…
His eyes are the same caramel color as mine, and my heart sinks.
If he’s who I think he is… tears gather in my eyes.
My nose burns with emotion as I stare at the man who helped give me life and then tried to end it.