“I’m just saying, you know it’d work.”
Alfie’s eyes open again and lock onto mine. “It’s not in her soul to not fight back.” He says it with such earnest. Like he’s known me to be this way for years. It’s a deep insight into my being that I didn’t realise he’d been looking at so closely. “And she shouldn’t have to. He should be able to control himself better, not lash out at every little thing. It’s not like him to have such a short fuse.”
“Well, we know why that is,” Fiz mutters down into his lap, inspecting his nails.
“I think we need to all spend some time together,” Alfie says. The hand he’s got in the bath comes out to stroke my outer thigh. “Fiz and I haven’t been good buffers, but we can be. We didn’t want to intervene, but I think we have to now. It’s gotten out of hand and…” whatever he’s about to say gets caught in his throat.He looks down to his hand on my leg. “I’m not a fan of seeing you hurt.”
I look over to Fiz to gauge his reaction to this. To see if he’ll disapprove or throw some inappropriate comment. He doesn’t though. His dark eyes bore into mine as if to say,me either.I could be hallucinating though, I am currently fighting off shock.
I thank Alfie, knowing that there’s no point in saying anything to that. He won’t see me hurt for much longer because I won’t be here. While I was lying on that floor, sometime during my brief blackout before Alfie scooped me up, I decided to forget my target money. I’ve got enough to get me going. I can’t spend any longer here. Not after everything that’s happened in just three weeks. Not after what Caden said to me in the car. Not when every moment I spend here drops me even deeper into a pit I fear I’ll never crawl out from. I’ve been broken my whole life, but being here is beginning to wither the shredded remnants of my soul, the one thing I have left.
It’s time to stop fighting. I’ve expended every ounce of strength I have to resist men like him. I have to go before I’m completely destroyed. All I have to do is get into the computer room and send the money to the accessible account I printed the card for and I’m fucking gone. Because if I do stay here, Caden Blackwood will kill me. Or I will do it for him.
CHAPTER 46
ELODIE
They leave me alone once Alf gets me dried and dressed. I don’t protest while Fiz watches everything. He doesn’t shoot me any obscene jokes, doesn’t smack my ass or even winks. It doesn’t matter what it means, doesn’t matter if this has been some turning point for him. I won’t ever see them again after tonight.
I wait it out a while, waiting for the perfect plan to form. But it doesn’t come. I’m going to have to wing it. The first step is making sure everyone’s in their bedrooms and finding out where those damn dogs go at night. I’m screwed if they sleep by the doors.
I creep over to the door and step out into the hallway. All the lights are off, I’m immersed in darkness, and it welcomes me with open arms.
As I make my way along the downstairs hallway, I see a glow of light coming through the door. I sigh, knowing it’s game over, but I still continue through. I’ll see who it is and scout for the dogs while I’m down here, at least I can note it for later.
When I reach the kitchen, however, I’m greeted by a fog and the unique sweet aroma of weed. I fan my way through the smoke and find Fiz sitting alone on the couch.
He mustn’t’ve heard me, so I creep in. He’s surrounded by smoke, joint in his hand, Bob by the end of the sofa asleep. Probably got stoned from the fumes, the poor bastard.
Fiz has his head tilted back on the sofa, blowing a thin line of smoke up to the ceiling to swirl around with the rest of his exhales. There’s music playing. “It’s A Vibe” by 2 Chainz vibrates through the massive speakers by the flat screen in front of him, although it’s at a mellow volume. He’s slightly swaying his head side to side, completely zoned out.
I inch into the kitchen, careful not to disturb him. I help myself to some juice and spy the front doors. The other two dogs aren’t anywhere to be seen. That’s a good sign.
I take the glass and try to creep back out.
“I don’t know what to do, Bob,” Fiz mumbles. It’s slurred and dragged out. He’s high out of his mind.
I look to Bob by his feet, he’s out cold.
I can’t help myself. “Perhaps start off by growing a heart inside that hollow chest of yours.”
It doesn’t startle him, or he’s just too mangled for his nervous system to work. The corners of his lips quirk up though. “Ah, Sleeping Beauty, what are you up to?”
“Thirsty.”
“Oh, right.”
He’s moving his head to the beat of “Hello” by Pop Smoke now.
I’m waiting for the obscene quip.I got something you can drink.OrThroat dry from all that dick sucking?But nothing comes.
“Well, goodnight,” I say, and continue towards the door.
“Wait, Sleeping Beauty.”
I roll my eyes. “What is it, Fiz?”
Finally, he rolls his head to the side and opens an eye at me. He holds out his half-smoked joint. “You wanna get high?”
