Chapter 44 Gabi #2
He shudders as I run the pad of my thumb over the necklace, a tenderness I often did when we were together, and the hand he once had over my mouth has now found its way to the curve of my hip.
His other hand is pressed against the wall above my head, and I can sense he wants to lean onto his forearm and let his guard down but just needs a bit of encouragement.
“Are you going to throw me out again?” I tease, trailing my descending fingers over each protruding abdominal muscle.
“Or is it possible that maybe, you miss me?” I ask as I somewhat violently shove my hand under the waistband of his pants and underwear, landing on the soft flesh of his semi-hard cock.
Jace groans, unable to help himself, as I gently palm the velvety skin of his shaft.
“Do you miss this?” I whisper, coaxing out his erection with each stroke.
“Stop, Gabriella,” he growls through clenched teeth, but makes no move to stop me.
“Do you miss us?” I ask, impressed by my manufactured longing.
I’m giving quite the believable performance.
He doesn’t answer. The man can barely get a breath down.
His cock is thick and hard underneath my palm, and in a moment of self-indulgence, I swipe my thumb over the tip, obnoxiously satisfied by the amount of slick precum I find.
For how long would Jace let this continue?
Part of me wonders what would happen if I kiss him, but that’s a line I won’t cross, not for his sake, but for mine.
“You know what I think about every day, Jace?” I ask, rubbing him harder as a distraction while I fish out the switchblade from my bra.
His pants are pathetic whimpers.
“I think it’s too bad you’re such a cheating piece of shit!”
My kneecap mercilessly rams into his groin, bludgeoning his balls. He grunts, doubling over in pain, as I shove him backward. He stumbles but manages to grab my tank top, and I strike, slashing the blade of my knife across his upper arm. Never have I heard such a satisfying cry.
I bolt, sprinting across the basement, flinging the door open, and race up the stairs.
The metal bar of the fire door makes a deafening crack as I slam into it and burst through, running down the hall and away from the dance floor.
I hear Jace’s voice scream my name behind me, but I don’t care to look back.
Another male shouts at Jace, asking him what’s going on, and again, I hear my name.
I run around a corner, and then another, praying that I’m following the same path I had several weeks ago when Jace carried me over his shoulder to an exit on the side of the building.
The next turn I take reveals a door, and if this isn’t right, I’ve come to a dead end, and I’m fucked. Throwing the door open triggers an alarm. They’ll be on me like bloodhounds in an instant if I don’t move faster.
Fallen leaves crunch under my feet as I pump my arms. Male voices echo among the trees, and soon, I know I’ll be surrounded.
Too late.
A body springs from behind a nearby tree trunk, but I don’t stop. Fingers curl around the back of my tank top.
“Gabi, stop running!” a female voice hisses.
“This way,” she tugs, and I don’t know why the fuck I do this but I follow her.
“Climb down here,” she orders. “Follow me.”
“What?” I choke, certain she’s asking me to leap to my death into the waters of the gorge below.
“Get down!” she snaps. I get down on all fours and gingerly extend a foot behind me. She grabs it and yanks, causing me to yelp.
“Over here!” a male voice booms.
Her hands guide me as I scramble down the stone, and once it seems like I’ve made it to a landing point, she jerks me up by the arm, and together we shuffle into what feels like a nook.
Our backs are pressed against damp, cold stone, and as my eyes readjust to the dark, my surroundings materialize under the silver light of the crescent moon.
“I swear I heard something,” a male voice explains, labored from running. I stop breathing. The volume of his voice makes me think he is directly overhead.
“Keep looking,” another voice barks.
Twigs crunch. The angry rush of water below drowns out the shouts of the search party, but I know they’re still looking.
If Jace finds me, he will kill me for what I’ve done.
I’m going to have to transfer schools. I should transfer schools.
I can’t stay here. God only knows the number of men hunting for me right now.
Wait, do they have actual bloodhound dogs? Is that what the cages are for?
A hand touches mine, and I jolt. I had completely forgotten that I’m standing under a ledge with another fucking person!
“It’s okay,” she says in a whisper that’s barely audible. “They won’t find us here, but we have to be silent. They will look for several hours.”
I turn my head toward the voice of my savior, expecting to see the face of a woodland fairy, the kind I read about when I was a child.
The blue hue from the moon traces her prominent cheekbones, kissing the full curves of her lips, and I debate whether I actually did fall to my death.
“Are you real?” I silently mouth back.
A quivering smile spreads across her face, and I can almost make out the ocean blue of her eyes, twinkling like the waves of the sea as they catch the moonlight.
Tears fall from her eyes as she nods, squeezing my hand.
I thread my fingers through hers, squeezing tighter, until I can feel the recurring thump of my friend’s pulse.
The world has lost its mind. Nothing makes sense. Nothing but this. Staring out at the night’s sky, hand in hand, with my best friend.