Chapter 19 Olivia
OLIVIA
Irun through the forest. The cold air eclipses any warmth I’d been feeling from the pure adrenaline and seeps into my lungs, pinching tightly. It burns with every foot I pound into the ground. I know he’s coming for me.
I want him to.
I can feel it, the tear between what my mind has kept hidden and what the truth is.
It's hard to explain, but when he's near I can sense something. He's not telling me the truth or he's covering something up. I saw it in his eyes back there, something haunts him too. And though he claims it’s me and my supposed betrayal, part of me believes that it’s more than that and he’s just using that as an excuse to toy with me in the meantime. To hunt me.
But why? Does he see that I like it? Does he notice the quiver of my lip and the greed in my eyes when he gets me like this. Is this just his fucked-up way of making me aware of the fact that even after all these years, he still owns me?
Is he really here for just me though? Or is there someone else he’s after too?
I don’t stop until I know I’m far enough out where no one else can find me. Where no one else would even care to look. Rain drops swipe against my face, cooling my heated skin as I breathe heavily.
The sun is still pretty high in the sky, so any hope to be hidden by darkness is out of the question but at the same time, at least nothing can hide from me either.
I just need a few moments to try and recover the full memory of what I’d seen at the fire pit.
The memory with Seren. So I duck behind a tree and hope that he’s not closer than my gut is telling me.
I squeeze my eyes shut and try to tie my emotions back to the night, hoping that feelings will bring me back to it.
I recite the statement she’d made to me during that moment, imagining it to be in her voice.
Wanting to know who she seems to be afraid of and what he was going to ask her to do.
But I’m not able to recall anymore than what was shown to me, coming up empty handed.
I wonder why the memory has been stripped from me in the first place. What does that mean?
I close my eyes to try and remember anything involving Seren from that weekend and still, I come up blank.
I can remember burning marshmallows one of the nights as someone told ghost stories.
I remember gathering around to watch as everyone dared some kid from our class to run around naked through the forest. But Seren wasn’t there either.
Or if she was, I can’t remember. I do remember seeing Declan both nights outside of the night he was killed.
I even recall seeing Tyre and Jett too. And of course, the night everything happened has been full of gaps but now I have my final memory with my brother burning a hole in my brain like an angry ember. But nothing of Seren.
Why?
“Oh, Olivia.” I gasp, clasping my hands over my mouth.
Trace is near. How the fuck did he catch up to me so fast?
I sink to the ground when I hear the sinister timbre of his words, not ready to be found yet. But I grow curious. How close is he?
I decide to face him, standing up and wiping off the dirt from my pants before stepping out from behind the tree.
Other than the occasional whistle of wind, I’m greeted with silence.
I look around, trying to scope out where he could be but I don’t see a way he’d be able to stay hidden.
I take a few steps before I hear him again.
“I see you, Reckless. Are you scared?” I twist my body, certain his voice is coming from behind me. But I don’t see him.
I’m not scared. Or maybe I am. Maybe I am but I crave it. I crave this kind of fear.
I turn back around, and still nothing.
“Stop fucking around, you coward!” I shout, hoping to taunt him a little by portraying myself to be unbothered, but I know deep down it only fuels him. “Face me like a fucking man!”
I walk a few more steps, attempting to get a better view behind some of the trees, and then he calls my name again. This time it sounds like it’s coming from everywhere.
I freeze, feeling powerless but also . . . exhilarated.
“Trace?” I call out his name, now wondering if it’s even him hunting me. I’m sure it is, but it feels too apparitional to be real.
“Where are you?” I’m sure he can hear the worry, or fear, in my voice. The cold is now starting to seep into my boots and even the jacket he gave me isn’t enough. But then, as usual, my body starts to heat.
I turn around, over and over again. Trying to find him hiding in broad daylight. Getting dizzier and dizzier with every step I take, my heart is booming in my chest, and then…
Trace’s guttural, thunderous, thigh clenching voice.
“Run.”
I don’t even risk the wait. I just run.
I take off through the trees, my feet pounding through small puddles, not knowing where I’m going as raindrops swipe at me like little tiny razor blades.
I know I got turned around so hopefully I’m not running back into a crowd of people.
But after a few minutes—looking behind me every few feet to see that no one is chasing me—I realize I’m close to my cabin now.
I can see it beyond the trees. But before I can eat up the distance, something catches me.
Trace.
His hand yanks me back as he grips me by the front of my throat, causing me to choke on air. He pulls me into his chest, a familiar position like the one from the shower.
I look out at the cabin, wondering if Alli made it back yet or not. I don’t see the lights on, then again it’s still fairly bright out. If I scream, will anyone hear me? Is anyone near?
Then again, do I even care? Because part of me knows I am exactly where I want to be.
“Thinking of leaving so soon, Olivia? The fun is just about to begin.” Trace’s words come down on me like a fucking avalanche. Rupturing my reserve and severing my control. My heart races. My body folds. I even let a little moan slip as I try to breathe through his grip.
“Fuck, baby. Do I really do all that to you?” He’s not wearing his mask, which makes me even more eager to face him, but I don’t fight his hold on me. I tried that before and I nearly lost that battle.
“Wh- what do you want, Trace?” I stammer. Gasping as I speak. “Why are you here?”
Trace lets me go, releasing my throat and I suck in a cold breath of air. I can turn to look at him now, but I’m nervous. I hate feeling like I can’t face him. It’s too fucking hard still. But I need answers. I need to understand what is going on.
I turn slowly, hearing branches crunch under my feet and when I’m fully turned around, I feel flooded with so many mixed emotions as I look into Trace’s eyes.
The cold air leaves his parted lips as he stares at me.
It feels forbidden to be this close to someone who has been missing for so long.
Even though we’ve had a few run-ins since his unsuspected return; this time feels different.
Maybe because I want to be this close to him.
Maybe because I finally have him alone and my hope for answers is now in reach.
Earlier, when I confronted him, all I could feel was anger. Now, I feel that and so much more. It’s everything all at once.
Trace reaches out, his fingers brushing my temple as he swipes some of my hair out of my face but I swing my hand up and wrap my fingers around his wrist.
“Don’t fucking touch me. You don’t get to fucking touch me,” I spit, looking him dead in his eyes. A devilish smirk crawls across his face but he doesn’t move as I hold his hand between us.
We stare at each other for a few seconds before he finally lets out a wicked chuckle.
“God, you make me fucking hard; running after you like. You like being chased through the woods, don’t you, Olivia?
You love it when I snatch you up by that sweet little throat of yours and squeeze until you’re too dizzy to see straight, don't you? It makes you wet, my little fearslut. It’s written all over your fucking face. ”
I crumble at his admission. I feel my body betraying me once more.
Heat swarming my core, butterflies attacking the ventricles of my heart, palpitations consuming me.
My eyes flutter closed as I drop his hand.
But then I remember why I was running in the first place and anger pummels me once more.
Anger, and jealousy, and lust, and humiliation, and need.
Everything feels too big for me to understand and I need to gain some control back, remembering that I can’t let him fucking take it from me again.
He’s already done that four years ago and he won’t get away with it so easily.
I take a step back, opening my eyes and aiming my heated glare at him.
“I don’t particularly enjoy your sick, twisted games. What the hell was all that for?” I ask, trying my absolute best to remain calm and sound like I am in control because in my head, I am reeling.
“That was not for you or me,” he starts. “That was for everyone else. I needed a distraction.” I’m shocked to hear him speak to me directly, somewhat answering the question I asked him in something other than cryptic words and angry sarcasm
“Have you fucking lost your mind?” I cross my arms at my chest. “A distraction? For what?”
“You’re worrying about the wrong things, Olivia,” Trace starts as I look up at him, his eyes burning into mine with fevered aggression.
He takes a step forward, closing the gap of whatever space we have left between us. “What you need to be concerning yourself with the fact that you are fucking mine and there’s nothing you can do to escape it.”