13. June
June
Is this how the guys feel? This agony in my chest. This aching fear consuming my entire being at the thought of someone hurting Cora.
If it is, there’s no wonder why they’re reacting the way that they are. If Cora gets hurt because of me, I could never forgive myself. I would stop at nothing to inflict twice as much pain on whoever touches her.
"We'll find her," Magnus calls out from behind me. He catches up within a moment and reaches out to stop me. "June. Please."
“You don’t get it.” I turn to him, facing him with what must be a wild look on my face.
He tilts his head. “I do, trust me, I do. But reacting irrationally isn’t going to do any of us a favor.”
“How do you expect me to be rational?”
“A minute ago, you didn’t believe me, now you’re storming off in a hurry.”
"You think I care what happens to me?" I picture Cora sitting where I was the other night. The knife pressed against her cheek, the blade digging across her flesh. No fucking way will I allow her to experience that. But what if I’m too late? What if the damage is already done?
“Obviously you don’t. But I do. And I bet Cora wouldn’t want you putting yourself at risk to save her.”
He’s totally right. Cora would be pissed.
“Then what? What am I supposed to do?”
“Where’s your phone? Call her.” Magnus pats my pockets and pulls the device from the one in the back.
I unlock the thing and click on the last person I had called. Cora. It goes straight to voicemail. “Fuck.”
“Send her a text.”
I thumb a few words together and hit send, the little bar at the top pausing and not wanting to go all the way through. Her phone is definitely off.
“Where should Cora be right now?”
I think back to the last time I saw her, getting into that car with the random dude from the bar.
He seemed nice, but isn’t that how they trick you?
They lure you in and pull the rug out from under you when you least expect it.
She had sent me a message the next morning, a few emojis to let me know how bad her hangover was, but other than that, I haven’t spoken to her.
I was too embarrassed to admit what had happened to me that night after I had left.
Here I was worried about her and it was me that got caught up with a psychopath.
I try to process the days, align the details Cora has told me when her classes are and her social calendar. Maybe she’s at home, having some quality time with her partially dysfunctional family.
What if she’s tied to a chair, bleeding out onto the floor of that house? The one I can’t even remember where it was because I was fueled into a self-preservation frenzy to get the fuck out of there as quickly as I could.
“Campus, let’s try campus.” Because the idea of her sitting through a boring lecture is far more appealing than the alternative.
Magnus nods, pulling out his own phone and pushing a few buttons. “I have a car coming.”
“I’m not waiting on an Uber, Magnus.” I continue on the path I had taken prior to him stopping me, making my way through the gated area and out onto the sidewalk in front of the park.
A blacked-out vehicle approaches, slowing to a stop near us.
“Me either.” He grips the handle and opens the door. “Get in, princess.”
I swallow my pride and hop in the back, putting entirely more faith than I’m comfortable giving into this tattooed man I barely know. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if I want to find Cora, I need all the help I can get.
Magnus’s phone buzzes and he answers it, pressing it to his ear. “Yeah?”
I can’t make out the mumbling on the other line.
“She’s with me.” He flits his gaze to me. “She’s fine. We’re trying to locate the other girl, Cora.” He waits while the other person speaks then continues. “If she’s important to June then she’s important to us. End of discussion.” He disconnects the line and steadies his attention out the window.
We drive the few blocks across town in the opposite direction I had come from and arrive at the university's grounds.
I hop out before Magnus can stop me and make my way across the grassy area. It wasn't too long ago that I was a student here and yet it feels like an eternity. Each passing day is a hurdle that grows larger, reminding me that I probably won't overcome the challenges that keep coming at me.
“June,” Magnus calls out. “You have to stop.”
I round the corner, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest as my sights settle on that familiar blonde-haired girl. I gasp, bringing my bandaged hands over my mouth to hush the noise that escapes me.
Magnus rushes around me, drawing a gun from who the fuck knows where.
I put my arm out to stop him, to disallow him from going any further.
Cora. She’s alive. She’s smiling, laughing, and gripping the arm of another girl.
I drag Magnus away, going back behind the wall and letting my weight fall against it, savoring the relief flooding through my body.
Cora is fine. Unharmed. And showing no signs of trauma.
“Was that her?” Magnus keeps the pistol in his grip, not quite ready to holster it.
It suits his whole bad-boy appearance but doesn’t match with his genuinely gentle nature. His entire existence is a contradiction and somehow, it totally works for him.
“Yes.” I steady my breathing and let my heart take a break from thumping wildly.
“Why didn’t you go over there? Talk to her?”
“I don’t want her to see me like this.” I hold out my hands. “If she doesn’t need to know then I’d rather her not.”
Magnus finally puts away the gun, tucking it behind his back. “Why didn’t you get proper medical care?”
“Who said I didn’t?” Is there anything he doesn’t pick up on?
“I’m not an idiot. I’ve had my fair share of wounds. Those are going to heal like shit if you don’t get them taken care of.”
I push myself off the wall. “They’re fine.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home.” I turn to him. “Now that I know Cora is safe…”
“Just because she’s okay now doesn’t mean what I said is any less true. These people aren’t fools, June.”
“Okay, well, the more I’m seen with you, the higher my chances of being kidnapped again are. So wouldn’t it make sense for me to go home?” If I’m lucky, Carter won’t be home, and I can take a nap in peace before my night shift at the bar.
“Let me take you then, drop you off.”
“And lead them and you straight to where I live?”
Magnus steps forward, closing the gap between us. “God damn it, June. I’m trying to protect you. Don’t you see that?”
The million-dollar question rattling through me: why?
“Can’t you for one second put yourself in my shoes.
What you just felt for Cora, don’t you think that’s how I still feel, and have ever since the moment I first saw you?
You were in danger the very second I locked my eyes on you and you will remain in danger until either one of us is dead.
I take no pleasure in torturing myself with concern.
There’s no escaping it now, so please, for the love of all things holy, believe me when I say I’m trying to keep you safe. ”
I study his face, the concern lining his brow, the tightness of his jaw, set in a hard line.
His eyes pierce through me, begging me to understand what he’s going through.
Maybe he really is speaking the truth. Because why would he lie about something like this?
How would that make any sense? What would he possibly gain from taking time away from his life to look over me?
And given my run-in with that creep from the other night, wouldn’t it be smart to have a man wielding a gun lurking in the shadows, ready to leap at the slightest threat?
“Okay,” is all I respond.
He swallows, continuing to stare at me. “Okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. You can take me home.” I owe him that much after he brought me here. Helped me calm down enough to figure out where Cora was and ease the raging nerves that almost had me running through the streets of this city until I found her.
He breaks out into a grin and lets out a laugh. “I really thought I was going to have to throw you over my shoulder and cart you to my car.”
“Is that still an option?” I raise a brow at him and wink.
“Only if you keep tempting me.”
We walk to the vehicle at a much slower pace than the one we took away from it.
My body is already feeling lighter at setting my sights on Cora and confirming that she was untouched.
There’s still the chance of something happening to her, but it seems unlikely given the time that has passed.
If they were going to, wouldn’t they have acted soon after I managed to slip out of their grasp?
Maybe Cora isn’t on their radar at all, leading me to believe I was right with the original idea I had about it having been an isolated accident.
A freak fucking coincidence that I ran into some weirdo who thought I was someone else.
If he hadn't mentioned that a higher-up was pulling his strings, I would have chalked it up to a sick weirdo getting his rocks off on carving up girls. But no, he's a hired hand who gets paid to fulfill his twisted desires.
Magnus opens the door to the black car and climbs in behind me. “Where to, princess?”
Shit. I don’t really want him to see where I live. Partially because of how private I am, the remaining bits, a heavy embarrassment at the drastic difference from his place to mine. He lives in a literal mansion and I’m slumming it with a bunch of low lives.
"Um, Weber and Sixth," I tell him the closest intersection.
It’s not far from here but getting a ride beats having to walk. Especially when danger seems to prowl around every corner.
“What time do you head back out?” Magnus keeps his eyes trained out the window, surveying each person and building we pass.
“A few hours. Why?”
“I’ll pick you up.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Sure it is.” Magnus’s features harden again, like he’s preparing to fight me on this.