For me.
My breath hitched, coming in short gasps I couldn’t control. “Hurry,” I urged, reaching into the nightstand drawer to pull out a small knife I kept inside. “Please hurry.”
“I’m already on my way, Hales.” His voice was steady, grounding, the only thing keeping me from completely losing it. “Two minutes. Maybe less. Can you get out the window?”
I glanced at the framed glass, considering it as I tucked the knife into the waistband of my lounge shorts. I was on the second story with a decent drop, but there was a tree near the window. It might be possible…
Or I could break my damn neck.
It was a toss-up.
“I could try. Don’t hang up, just in case,” I told him, wedging the phone between my cheek and shoulder.
“I don’t want you breaking a leg,” he grumbled.
“But the alternative seems worse. I don’t think I can stay in here.” Not with footsteps climbing the stairs. Not with a locked door that wouldn’t hold if he really wanted in. Not with nowhere to go and a measly knife, buthewould have access to an arsenal of weapons if he took the time to look.
Fuck me.
How the hell did he get in? I couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea. Mom was always so thorough and careful with the security.
“I’m almost there,” Maddox said, the engine roaring in the background.
A door down the hall creaked open, the hinges squeaking. I thought it was my mom’s bedroom. They were getting close. Too damn close.
I had to get out of here.
I yanked the curtain aside and fumbled with the window lock, my fingers slipping once. The window stuck for half a second before finally giving, and I shoved it up, the night washing over my cheeks.
“Hales?” Maddox’s called through the line. “What are you doing? Talk to me.”
“There’s a tree,” I muttered, looking out at the thick oak, its branches reaching toward my window like an invitation. “Right outside my window.”
“Hales—”
“I can make it.” I had to get out of this room before whoever was inside my house came pounding on my door.
“Don’t—”
I shoved the phone into my back pocket, even knowing he would be pissed I’d gone silent. I needed a minute to climb out of this window to freedom. Maddox would have to wait.
Jade peered out from beneath the bed, her eyes huge and scared, reflecting light like tiny moons.
Shit.
This was going to be precarious and probably life-threatening for both of us, but I couldn’t leave her behind. Scooping her from out under the bed, I slipped her inside the front pocket of Maddox’s hoodie, the one I borrowed, continued to wear, and never gave back.
It still smelled like him, and somehow, the cedar scent gave me a burst of bravado. Praying I didn’t break my legs, I climbed onto the sill, my hands gripping the frame, feeling splinters dig into my palms.
The branch was farther than it looked.
Of course, it was.
Everything was always farther, harder, and more dangerous than it appeared in the moment before you committed. I reached anyway, pushing until the strain bit deep into my shoulder. As if Jade understood the perilousness of our situation, she buried deep inside the pocket. My fingers brushed rough bark before finally catching hold of the thick limb. It was solid beneath my grip, but my socked feet slipped on the painted sill, and for one horrible second, I thought I was going to fall backward on my ass, but I held on, finally able to swing my other leg out. I hugged the branch awkwardly before managing to get both arms around it despite the bark biting into my palms. Taking a second to catch my bearings, I didn’t have time to waste and let myself hang, my grip the only thing between me and a painful drop.
The ground wasn’t far, maybe eight feet, maybe ten, but it felt far enough to break a bone, leaving me injured and vulnerable if I landed wrong. I counted in my head…
One. Two. Three.
