Page 14 of Better Run

Tears well in my eyes, and I try to push them back but one slips loose and I choke on a breath. The choke does me in and I start sobbing. Oh my god. Getting kidnapped, beaten, and humiliated wasn’t enough to break me, but this is?

Cole stands and walks over to me, rubbing the back of his neck. “You okay?”

“F-fine.” I can’t stop the tears, and I hate myself for it. Why the fuck can’t I stop?

Cole sits next to me, shifts, then rubs my back awkwardly. That simple gesture makes me cry more. I hide my face in my hands.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” an angry voice demands.

“Nothing dude, I said I think she has a crush on you, and then this!”

“Snap out of it, Mary.” Strong hands land on my wrists.

“Fuck you.” I push Jayden away, looking at the floor, and try so hard not to cry I silently hiccup. I get up and walk to my room and slam the door.

I cry for a while longer. I cry until I remember what I stole earlier from Cole’s desk.

I pull a paperclip out of my bra. I hold it like it’s as fragile as a baby bird. Then, I tuck it up between the mattress and the box spring.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jayden

Normally, tears get me hard. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me because those tears made me feel something else entirely.

I shift and look back at the picture of her crawling toward me.

Sage will be so mad when I send it to her.

“Can you send that picture to me when you get a chance?” Cole looks up at me.

“Sure.”

“God, dude, I know I said it before, but she’s a hottie.” He adjusts himself. “Surely you guys have done it on every surface in here already. Don’t lie.”

I glare at the phone screen, wiping off smudges.

He notices my silence and sits up a little straighter. “You haven’t?”

I drum my fingers on the couch.

“Okay, just your room?” He smiles.

“No, Cole.”

His face drops, and he gets that calculating look. “What the fuck? Isn’t that what she signed up for?”

“She didn’t sign up for anything.”

He looks confused. “Your kink app?”

“That’s not a thing.”

He stares at me, his mind working. I see the second he looks at the scratch on my face and his eyes widen a fraction. Anger rolls across his face, and his voice gets lower. “Why is she here, Jay?”

I cross my arms and stare at him.

“Holy fuck.” He leans in. “She joked about us being kidnappers…but that wasn’t a joke?”