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Chapter Three

Emery

“You know you neveranswered me before, what's your name?” I asked, watching the trees pass by us like a giant blur. We were on the highway, and I had no fucking clue where he was planning on taking me.

But I wasn't going to let my fear take control and ruin what might be the last chance I had to talk him out of whatever the fuck he was doing.

We had been driving for about forty minutes, moving away from the city, and into the desolate growth of wilderness. The trees had thickened, the sky growing brighter as the sharp lights of skyscrapers and businesses faded into the distance.

Looking up, I could see stars and smoky gray clouds as they rolled and tumbled across the skyline. I couldn't see that in the city, there were no stars to watch, twinkling as if they were playing a symphony for the eye.

It was amazing really, and I wasn't sure if I suddenly found the sky so intriguing because of how I ended up beneath the glittering notes, or if it was just something I had taken for granted.

When I really thought about it, I don't think I ever really took the time to look up before, to examine and speculate what star I was looking at or what constellations I could find.

Drinking in every last drop it had to offer, I stared in awe at the sky, because I had no idea if I would get the chance to see it ever again.

The cars around us had thinned as he sped down the road, further and further away from the life I knew. Away from my friends, away from my home, away from the normalcy I had grown to know.

Everything was about to change—everything.

My life would never be the same. I knew that on some level, even though I didn't want to accept it at that moment. I couldn't and wouldn't think about it; because I was still breathing, because I wasn't on my knees with a gun to my head. I still had time to change the future.

If I let my mind wander, taking full hold of what was happening, I was afraid I'd give up. I didn't want to give up. There was a small flame in my gut, a single flicker of strength that was keeping my head from imploding on itself.

And I was going to nurture that light, holding onto it for as long as I possibly could. Every last ounce of strength I had would be used, until weakness starved my muscles, refusing to let me take one more step forward.

“You don't have to give me a real name, just give me something I can call you.”

No answer.

He wouldn't talk to me, refusing to acknowledge that I was even sitting beside him. I couldn't understand that, why he took me the way he had and left me with so many questions.

We were about to have sex an hour ago, now I was sitting beside a killer, a man with no soul, a man who had changed before my eyes from a thrill into a fear.

If he was going to kill me, I wished he would just say it. If he planned on keeping me chained up someplace, then he should be man enough to tell me. At least then I wouldn't have to wonder, I wouldn't have the heavy weight of not knowing my future making my heart ache.

“Nothing? You won't answer me?”

“Shut up. I'm not going to answer your fucking questions.

“What? Why not? It doesn't hurt anything, it doesn't change anything.”

“You haven't earned my answers.”

What the hell was that suppose to mean?

I didn't deserve this, I hadn't done anything wrong. The only thing I was guilty of was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why didn't he see that? Why was he making it seem like I did something to cause all this?

“Fine, be a dick about it and don't answer, but you can't stop me from asking.” Folding my arms over my chest, I lifted my chin high. “Like it or not, I've got questions.”