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“It’s a deal, Grant.”
What are they talking about? There’s….there’s no way. He’s gonna let someone take her? Wire the money? What money? I don’t…
My heart accelerates and suddenly I’m unable to move my limbs. I’m frozen in place, unsure of what to do next. I can’t let them take her. I made her a promise that we would get out together. When he started coming for her night after night, I cradled her while she cried herself to sleep at night and swore on my life that I’d find a way out of this mess.
The door creaks, and footsteps quietly move throughout the hallway, growing more and more distant, along with the voices that accompany them. Drifting further and further away. When I’m certain the coast is clear, I finally exhale and tiptoe out of my bedroom, down the hall, looking for her.
Muted sniffles flood my ears as I approach her door, grip the knob and turn, sliding inside quietly.
“El?” I whisper.
“Z?” Pressed up against the wall with her knees pulled to her chest, she lifts her head and peeks up through her thick eyelashes. Her bottom lip is busted, bloodied, and tears stain her bright red cheeks.
“Oh my god, El…” I run over to her side and drop down to my knees, wanting to hold her but afraid to touch her.
“It looks worse than it is,” she sniffles. “You should go. Go before he comes back.”
“El, look at me,” I lift her chin with my knuckle and swipe the blood away from her lip with the sleeve of my gray hooded sweatshirt. “I - I’ve got some money saved. We’re gonna figure this out ok. You and me? I’m getting us out of here, I promise.”
She nods as another tear rolls down her cheek.
“Z?”
“Yeah?”
“Th-there was another man this time. He… they…it hurts…”
Dropping my eyes to the ground, the guilt weighs me down like a hundred pounds of wet cement, “I know.”
“H-he’s gonna come back. I - I gotta get out of here.”
“Just give me a few days. Please, El. Two or three days to find a safe way out.”
“Z, I don’t think I can.”
“Zeke?” Riot’s voice stirs me from the flashback, and I nearly leap out of my skin. “You ready?”
Clearing my throat, I run my hands down my face and exhale, “Yeah, I uh -”
“What’s that?” he questions, walking up behind me.
Shit!
“I uh,” I slam the lid to my laptop and rip the thumb drive from the USB port, curling it into the palm of my hand. “It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure? I mean it looked like…”
“I’m sure,” I interject, pushing myself to my feet and spinning around, swiftly grabbing at Riot’s waist with one hand. Before he can challenge me, I shove the drive into my pocket and grip his hips tightly, pulling his body flush against mine.
“B-” my lips interrupt any further questioning as they smash against his, kissing him hard and deep. Taking away his ability to speak, and my ability to breathe. He tastes like peppermint gum and the remnants of weed, and I find myself wondering if I could get high off of his lips alone.
“You ready to go?” I murmur between kisses.
“Yeah,” he nods, mumbling as I slip my tongue into his mouth.
Riot West has slowly become my everything, and I give him nothing in return. I only give enough to keep him coming back for more, and it’s fucking selfish of me because I know that I can never fully give myself over to him. To top it all off, I lie to him and everyone else, every damn day while I play vigilante in the dark. Searching for the answers that continue to slip between my fingers. Like trying to grab a fistful of water, I keep coming up empty.
They say the truth will set you free, but in my case, the truth will be the downfall of us all.