Page 13 of Embrace the Darkness
Tears started spilling from my eyes. There was nothing I could do to stop them but quickly wipe them away.
“I need you to come get me,” I said, doing my best not to sound like I was crying.
“Okay. Where are you?”
To be honest, I'd expected a million and one questions from him. So I was a little surprised that he'd agreed to come get me so easily. “You can’t tell Brody or Stefan you’re coming to get me.”
“Damn it, Maura. Just tell me where you are,” he snapped.
“Promise me you won’t tell them,” I shot back.
“Jesus Christ. I promise.”
I told him where I was, and he told me he was fifteen minutes away.
The party was still raging on downstairs. I did my best to keep my head down. It took a few minutes to calm down enough and find the nerve to leave the bathroom. I didn’t look around for Zack or Tyson. I didn’t look at anyone. I kept my eyes to the floor as I tried to slip out of the house unnoticed. I got a couple of double takes, but no one stopped me. With the front door in sight, my heart sped up. When I was through it and making my way down the driveway, I felt like I could breathe again.
By the time I made it to the curb, Jamie’s slick black muscle car came into view. Before he had time to even stop, I yanked open the passenger’s side door and climbed in. Jamie's eyes locked with mine and his foot slammed on the brake, causing the whole car to jerk before he shifted it into park.
“What the fuck, Maura!” he yelled, flipping on the interior lights. His eyes bounced all over my body. Taking in my ripped shirt and every visible injury. I knew I looked bad.
“Did you get jumped?” a voice asked.
I glanced behind me, finding Louie sitting in the backseat. “You brought Louie! I told you not to tell anyone!”
“You told me not to tell Stefan or Brody. I was out with Louie when you called.” He sounded angry. “What thefuck was I supposed to do? Kick him out of my car in the middle of nowhere?”
“Well, yeah.” I was aware that I wasn’t being reasonable, but I couldn’t muster enough fucks to give.
“I’m really feeling the love, guys,” Louie grumbled.
We ignored him as Jamie and I had a stare-off—a battle of wills. The muscle in his jaw was twitching and his eyes were dark with rage.
“I need to call Stefan,” he said.
“No. You promised.”
“He’s going to find out when I take you home,” he argued.
“I’m not going home tonight. You’re taking me back to your place.”
“Am I? Why the hell would I do that?”
I understood why he was upset, I would have been too, but I didn’t have it in me right now to be patient. He just needed to give in because I wasn’t going to budge on this.
“Because I need you to! I need time to myself to process what just happened. I just need fucking time! This happened to me. Not anyone else. Can you please just give me the night before I have to lay it all out for everyone to fucking judge?”
They both went quiet, glancing at each other. I closed my eyes. “Can you both promise me you’ll keep quiet about this until tomorrow and then let me tell Stefan?” I included Louie on the promise because Jamie wasn’t the only one who worked for my father. They both did.
“I don’t plan on making any phone calls tonight,” Louie stated from the backseat. Jamie stayed quiet as his eyes traveled over my body again.
“Please, Jamie? I don’t know how much longer I can hold myself together. I’d prefer no one else sees when I fall apart,” I whispered, pleadingly.
He turned away from me, looking torn. I watched as he thought it over as he stared out the windshield into the dark street.
“I have conditions,” he stated before looking back at me. “I want to know everything that happened. I want to know who did this. You’re clutching your left side. That tells me you got hit in the ribs. I don’t know how severe your injuries are. You’re going to show me every single one. No matter how small, I want to see it. If I think they are bad enough, we’re going to the hospital and I’m calling Stefan.”
The thought of showing Jamie everything made me want to screamfuck you, then jump out of the car. There was no way I could show him everywhere they hurt me.But what else was I going to do? Where would I go? He’d call Stefan the moment I got out of the car and would follow me wherever I ran off to. Within the hour, the whole family would know that Stefan Quinn’s daughter was raped.Damnit!