Chapter 8 #2
As instructed, I shut my eyes, acutely aware of how close she was to me. It feels like you’re free.
Maybe it was the weed, maybe it was something else, but the thought hit me with the speed of light—this poor girl was trapped, and I wasn’t the one who did it. She was trapped with a psycho father and in an abusive relationship. I was just the cherry on top.
“Like you’re free?” I asked, remarking that she looked like a mirage on this dark roof. She was bathed in moonlight and marijuana smoke and I. Couldn’t. Stop. Staring at her. “You are free. You’re not in prison.”
Prison. That reality was looming on the horizon like a dark cloud.
She chuckled, plucking the joint from my fingers, touching me just for a second. My mind melted right out of me when her fingers grazed mine.
“Freedom…is an illusion, Alex.”
The words oscillated at the front of my mind. An illusion…because she wasn’t free. And maybe I could let myself believe the lie that I was the one who helped her out of the cage. Maybe she was free now. In this house. On this roof, high as a kite, and sitting beside a stranger who kidnappe—
Who stole her.
“I’ll give you another answer if you take another hit.” Her dainty fingers held the joint right in front of me, and I weighed my options, trying to bypass the effects of the drugs and figure out if I should ask what I wanted.
The warm wind curled around us and I decided once again…fuck it. I leaned in and inhaled, asking the question as soon as the smoke left my lips. “Jade, why aren’t you afraid of me?”
Slowly, evidently not expecting that question, Jade turned to me again, her eyebrows rising slightly in surprise. Mild panic swirled inside me because at that moment I realized…I was afraid to fuck this up. Afraid to fuck things up with her.
“Are you going to do anything scary? Going to pull a gun on me again?” Jade chuckled, the memory of that first day with her still giving me chills.
“Are you going to taunt me again?”
She shrugged, smiling. “Maybe, but…to answer your question, you don’t seem very scary,” Jade said, her tone even and genuine.
“You have all the traits—tattooed, armed, emotionally repressed. But real monsters are…” she trailed off, searching for words.
“Real monsters are deceiving. And you don’t seem to be.
They also don’t get high with their captives. ”
“I’m not…emotionally repressed,” I denied, a little offended at that assessment.
“Mm-hmm, you are.” She plucked a bit of weed off her bottom lip and I watched. “Your shoulders are always tense, and your eyebrows are always furrowed, and you’re trying very hard to hate me.”
It was getting too much. This girl read me like a fucking book, and I couldn’t deal with it, but before I had time to retort anything, Jade scooted a little closer.
She puckered her cherry lips around the base of the joint, keeping her eyes on mine.
I was enthralled, fully acknowledging that I was tumbling into a dangerous trap.
She inhaled, her eyes shining in the dark night, and then, as if this was a dream, she tilted her head and jutted her chin out, her gaze falling to my lips.
Obediently, forgetting where we were and what I was doing, I leaned toward her, parting my lips just in time to receive her exhale. The smoke slithered into my mouth from hers, the proximity between us rendering me paralyzed.
The moment stretched into the abyss. She was so fucking close—just a mere inch between us—and she wasn’t just shotgunning this puff. She wasn’t just sharing the THC.
She was doing something far riskier than that.
“Look at that.” She pulled back slightly, her scent overpowering everything else. “You do know how to have fun.”
Her words, the smoke, this night…It all hit me like nothing else in life had. My head was just an empty shell, but my heart beat inside me like Joey fucking Jordison on meth.
We sat there physically so close, but a thousand miles apart, and it was best we stayed that way.
I just had to put some distance between us and I could do that, notwithstanding the fact that somehow…
I kept driving by this house every day. Somehow, I kept checking the cameras.
Somehow, I texted Maksim a thousand times a day asking for an update.
This had to end.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I prompted Jade, sliding down toward the ledge.
“Aww! Come on! I didn’t even smoke it all yet!”
“If you finish that joint all by yourself, you’ll die. Come on,” I beckoned her, refusing myself the indulgence of helping her up.
Reluctantly, she scooted closer and stood up, wobbling just slightly.
“How the fuck are we getting off this roof?” The question seemed to hit us at the same time as we stood on the very edge, looking down, precariously close to tumbling over.
“Hmm. I guess I didn’t really think this through. Maybe we can just jump?” Jade’s voice, full of naiveté and hope, sounded beside me.
“It’s like a twelve-foot drop,” I said, coming up with the brilliant idea of jumping down first. I could catch her after; it would be easy.
Without further words, I crouched down and swung my legs over the edge, jumping down to the ground.
“Wow! Must be nice to be a giant!” Jade shouted down as if the distance between us was a mile. “I guess I’m just staying here!”
“Jump,” I said. “I’ll catch you.” I stretched out my arms, feeling impossibly lightheaded.
“Are you insane? It’s like a twelve-foot drop,” she imitated me, giggling again.
“It’s not that high, I’ll catch you,” I assured her, internally giddy at the thought of touching her.
Jade hesitated but then made her decision. “Okay, but turn around. I don’t want you looking up my dress.”
“How am I supposed to catch you if I turn around?” I held back my laughter, knowing that whatever we just smoked fucked us both up. “I’m not going to look up your skirt,” I promised. “Just jump, please.”
Another moment of uncertainty stretched between us as Jade crouched on the roof, looking down at me, her silhouette illuminated by the bright lights coming from inside the house.
“Close your eyes then.”
“How am I going to catch you if—you know what? Fine. I’ll close my eyes. Just jump. Don’t fall—jump.” I shut my eyes tight, deciding to stop the argument. I just needed her to get down, and I would leave.
“Okay, I’ll jump,” Jade called out. “Ready?”
Oh, absolutely. With my eyes closed, trying to catch someone jumping off a roof—I was ready.
There was a rush of air and a loud yelp from Jade, and then her weight hit me full force. Instead of catching her in my arms, her body collided with mine, and we both flew backward.
She landed right on top of me with a muffled grunt, but I already shot my eyes open, taking in the way she was slumped on my chest, her whole body touching mine. I didn’t like her. It was just the weed. Just the weed. The weed. The we…
“Ugh, you’re like a wall.” Jade groaned while laying on top of me, her hair covering half her face. She had a tiny scar on her left eyebrow. And her eyes. She stared at me, the shade of green around her dilated pupils like out of a fantasy movie. They were light green, like a gemstone. Like jade.
She smelled…God, she smelled like something I wanted to absorb. Something I wanted to taste on my tongue and have spread through me. I wanted to bite it. I wanted to drown in that scent.
“You said you’d catch me,” she whispered, bringing my attention to the way her lips moved, promptly stretching into a small smile.
“You said you’d jump.”
It hit us both instantly. At first quietly, Jade giggled while I tried to hold it back, but then we both exploded, laughing loudly in the dark night. It was damn delightful. It was that warm feeling that pierces your chest, hurts your belly, and empties your mind.
And Jade.
Keep your dick zipped up in your pants, and no matter what happens, do not fucking let her touch it. That's your death sentence.
Andrei’s voice blasted through my mind when I noticed happy tears sparkling in her eyes as she lifted herself off me, the sight sending my blood to all the wrong places.
Goddamn, I had to go. I had to leave. As if electrocuted, I jumped to my feet, offering her a warning I knew she’d ignore. “Don’t do that again.”
“Can’t promise.” Jade was up on her feet too, straightening out her dress and already marching back inside the house like nothing just happened.
She moved around the kitchen as if it were her house, opening cabinets and humming while she searched for something. In half a minute, she pulled out a bag of chips, ripping it open and plunging her hand inside.
“Mmm.” She bit into the chip and closed her eyes, visibly enjoying it. I was still standing outside, watching her like a stalker.
Jade Bianca Moretti—my captive, high as fuck, getting the munchies.
I chuckled to myself and breathed in the fresh evening air, doing my all not to focus on how hung up on her I’d become.
It had been a week since the bite incident and the wound still hurt, but I liked it.
I liked the pain because it was the only thing of hers I had.
I’d rip the healed tissue and watch it bleed. I treasured it.
“Here.” She passed me the chip bag as soon as I took a step inside, renewing her search for more snacks.
My head—it was all fucked up, I could barely think. My cheeks hurt from how wide I had been smiling.
“I’m not coming to rescue you next time,” I lied and pointed a chip at her, watching her shake a can of whipped cream, the smile on her face like a work of art.
“I never asked you to rescue me.” She struggled with the little plastic cap, twisting it every which way. “You came all on your own to ruin my fun—ugh!” She scrunched her nose as she tugged on it fruitlessly.