11
Gianna aka Ria (17years)
“I need you to listen to me. You need to run.”
I blinked as Zayne repeated himself. “What do you mean?” My eyes widened, panic causing my shoulders to tense up as he held on to them.
“Run into the woods as far as you can, I’ll come for you.”
“I-I can’t.” I gasped for air, my shaking body trying to keep up with the conversation.
His fingers on my shoulders dug a little deeper as though he was trying to stop me from trembling. “Do you trust me?”
I swallowed. “I don’t even know you.”
He inhaled with a sharp breath. “Listen to me. Jake Steiner isn’t a good man. I need to go back and make sure I finish him off and kill all his men so you can be safe.”
I startled. “Get rid of them...as in killing them...all?” I balked when he nodded.
Somewhere in the distance, gunfire erupted, and I flinched. Zayne noticed. “We don’t have time.” He ran the back of his hand down my cheek and the fear from a moment ago melted. “I’ll give my life to protect you.”
“But you don’t even know me.” I couldn’t explain the sudden jolt of desire to stay alive just for him, for us.
He cocked his head to one side. “I know enough.” At my frown, his soft expression turned urgent as though shutting down my silent probing. “They’ll start searching this place soon and if they find you, they will kill me and take you away. Do you want that?” At the vehement shake of my head, he continued. “Good.” Then he raked his hand through his hair. “If I was alone, I can get away easily, but you’ll slow me down and I can’t have that because I’d be focusing my attention on you. I need to be alert to take those fuckers down.” He stepped back, withdrew a phone from his pants, and pressed it between my palms. “Keep this on you. There’s a location on there and a GPS app to guide you. If you don’t find it, call the number saved as ‘Mom’, no other calls. Can you do that for me?”
It was all too much to take in and my response was a toss-up between a nod and a shake of my head. “What if you or this mom person doesn’t find me?”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. It’s a promise. You have to trust me, now go.”
I walked away, then stopped to glance over my shoulder, needing his reassurance. He tipped his chin at me and even in the dimness, I caught his smile. Turning, I headed in the direction of the woods. I’d barely taken a few steps when gunfire exploded behind me. Biting my lip to keep from crying out, I ran. Only stopping when my chest screamed for air.
What started as a beautiful evening had descended into something only action flicks and horror movies were made off. Yet, through it all, I couldn’t help thinking how Zayne had ended up at that party. How our paths had crossed a second time.
When I could breathe again, I checked the phone and located the GPS app. I let out a sigh of relief. The house stood just around the corner to my left. I followed the red dot on the screen and only stopped when the medium-sized house loomed up in front of me. Apart from a lone light out front, the entire property was in darkness. Either the owners were sleeping or not at home. I calmed myself with the first option.
Glancing over my shoulder, hoping to see Zayne, I walked through the waist-high gate and up to the front door. I knocked but there was no answer. Strolling to the edge of the porch, I scanned the area. Except for what looked like a long road to the side of the property fence, there were no other houses in sight. Maybe it was one of those farm types of places and the owners slept like the dead. I sat down on the wooden stair, wondering what to do next, and thought about how those men had ambushed us at the coffee shop.
Cold from falling into the pool, Ishara had suggested we stop for coffee. While she ordered, I’d gone to use the bathroom. When I returned it was to a woman, I didn’t know, fighting some men. God, she took them down like Supergirl. Then one of the men spotted me and before I knew what was happening, they grabbed me and held a gun to my head. Supergirl then grabbed Ishara and ducked behind the counter as the men opened fire. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved into a car. Tears streaming down my cheeks I squirmed and glanced behind in time to see Ishara and the woman run out of the coffeehouse before one of the men ordered me to sit still.
