My heart hurts at his dejected tone. “How long until you’re free?” I hedge.
“I have a month to get myself under control otherwise I’ll…they’ll…” A choked sob. “They’ll deal with me.”
“You’re going to get out of here, baby. I promise. I’ll break you out if I have to.”
“No, no. Please, Charlie. If I don’t succeed, then I don’t deserve to be out in the world anyway. I don’t want to hurt people. And I wanted to hurt Allie. Badly. I wanted to rip into her skin and drain her fucking dry. I couldn’t stop.”
“But…I can’t just leave you here…” I feel the heat of tears welling in my eyes.
“You can, and you will.” Kip says firmly.
“You don’t understand, I don’t think the bond will let me. It led me here, and wouldn’t let me do anything else until I found you. Not only that, but I don’t want to leave you here. You said it’s cold, and dark. I can’t leave you like this.”
I slide down the door, sitting cross legged in front of it with my head leaned back against the solid, cold steel.
“The fated bond. She said…she said it would grow stronger…” He sounds like he’s pacing now, back and forth inside the room.
“Who said that?”
“I don’t know! I can’t remember. I think someone else was here but I…I’m not sure…”
“So, I’m not crazy then? There really is something between us? Something more?” Relief floods me. “It isn’t only me?”
“No…I feel it too, sweetheart. I know you want to help me, but there’s nothing you can do. I promise, as soon as I’m out of here, I’ll come back to you, okay? But for now, please go. Please, I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“But how will I know that you’re okay?” And what if Kip is stuck here for more than a month? What does it mean that he’ll be dealt with? What if he never comes back, and then I’ll never know what happened?
“Tyson knows I’m here. He’s helping me learn control. I’ll ask him to keep you updated, as long as you promise to leave and not come back.”
I don’t fucking trust Tyson. He’s a prick. “He lied to me today, you know. I asked him about you, told you I was worried. You know what he said? He said you were ignoring me on purpose, because you didn’t want anything to do with me. He told me to give up.”
“Why would he do that? Charlie, you know that’s not true, right? I made a mistake before, when I ghosted you. But that’s not what’s happening this time. I’ll talk to him, okay? I know this is hard, and you’re worried and maybe scared. I promise, I’m trying my hardest to get out of here. But, I can’t do that and worry about you too. So, I need you to swear that you’ll leave and forget about me for a little bit. Go back to your normal life, and if I get out of here, and you still want to do this with me, we’ll give it a shot, okay?”
“You’re going to get out of here, Kip. I won’t come back, I swear, but I’m not going to forget about you. In fact, I have a feeling that Tyson and I are about to become best buds.”
With a heavy heart, I stand up. I press my palm to the door for abeat, before heading back up the stairs. This time, knowing where Kip is, and that he’s okay (for now), the bond lets me go.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kip
Despite All This Rage…
As I listen to Charlie’s footsteps ascend the stairs and fade away, I think I feel my heart cracking. I’m scared that he won’t make it out of Blood Rose without being caught. And I’m terrified that was the last time I’ll ever hear his voice. I have to make it out of here. I need to control this fucking bloodlust before it’s too late.
I’m getting better, I know that. And even though I don’t want to trust Tyson or rely on him, I think I have to in order to get out of here. Charlie needs me to get out of here. He needs me to protect him. He’s so small…at least compared to me. And what if someone besides us finds out that he knows about vampires? They could hurt him. I can’t let that happen.
I almost wish I could keep training myself against the pull of the blood while I’m alone, but who would keep me in check? Tyson can’t spend every waking minute here helping me, Iknowthat. But, still, he could be here more so we could get out of this situation sooner. Not that I want to spend time with him, but I do want to get out of here ASAP.
The corner feels like the safest place, even if I feel like my nuts are going to freeze off from the cold of this room. Seriously, I didn’t think it was possible for them to crawl back inside my body, but they’re one degree away from doing just that. It’s a dick move of Tyson to not even give me a blanket. I hope freezing isn’t one of the ways to kill a vamp.
Curling in on myself at tightly as I can, I’m tucked into the corner of my cell, stuck waiting for someone to come for me. There’s nothing Ican do in here but sleep and think. I’ve never been left alone with my own head like this. At least when I locked myself away after attacking Charlie I had access to the internet. This is…bleak.
How long does it take for someone to lose their mind? Hopefully I won’t find out.
The forest around me is peaceful, with only the sounds of wildlife and wind rustling the leaves on the trees. The sunlight breaks through the green leaves, warming my skin as I amble along the dirt trail that cuts between through the forest.
Although it’s been awhile, years actually, this place is familiar. I’ve been here before. It’s one of the state parks, right outside of the city. When I was little, my family would come here camping. Sometimes my friends and I would ride our bikes through the winding trails. I almost forgot about this place, it’s been so long. But now that I’m here, it pulls at me. Why did I ever stop coming to this place of calm?
