Page 56

Elliott

I’ve been training every day for hours on end with Marcus in the gym for the past two weeks.

Fourteen whole days and no word from Kameron.

No texts.

No calls.

Nothing .

Which I mean isn’t abnormal, but I fucking miss him. I miss his cheesy jokes and the way he makes me feel, how he lightened up the mood in this house.

I haven’t been sleeping in his room, though. I’ve spent every night in Hunter’s bedroom and I loved it, but I wanted the other part of the relationship back.

Selfish, little bitch.

Everyday Marcus and I ran on the treadmill, sparred on the mats and he kicked my ass, but these last couple of days I’ve been able to at least stop him from completely busting me on my ass. I’ve also been able to block a few of his advances thanks to the moves I’ve been practicing with him.

I felt stronger, more in control. It felt really good.

I looked forward to going to the gym every morning.

Marcus, on the other hand, looked annoyed to have to keep doing this with me.

There were moments where I thought he looked a bit proud of my improvement, but that could all just be in my head.

I’m walking to the gym when Marcus steps in front of me, a backpack hanging on one shoulder and keys in hand.

“Let’s go,” is all he says, before turning around and walking away.

“Go where? Aren’t we training today?”

Please say yes. I need to get this anxious feeling out of my mind and body.

“Yes.” He states flatly, walking to the front door of the house now.

I take a breath of relief but am still confused.

“The gym isn't outside.”

“Good observation, princess. We aren’t training in the gym today. Now come on.”

I follow him out the door and to the driveway, where his bike is parked waiting for us. He stops beside it, grabbing a helmet and placing it on my head, fastening it down before doing the same with his.

He presses the intercom on, then mounts the motorcycle, “You ready?” He pats the seat and then offers me his hand.

“I guess so.” He helps me, then starts the engine, “Hold tight.” I don’t take his words as a mute threat since the last time I thought I was going to plummet to my death. So I wrap my arms around him, holding on tighter than before. “Okay, not that tight. Geez.”

“Where are you taking her?” Hunter comes running up to the bike with a pissed look on his face.

Marcus flips his visor up, “To train.”

“You have a gym for that.”

“Yeah, well, I am her trainer and she won’t always be in a gym if someone attacks.”

“You can’t take her off the property.” Hunter takes a step closer and my heart rate picks up.

He’s right, I haven’t left this house in how long? And for good reason.

“She is with me, Hunter. Nothing's gonna happen. We aren’t going far, but to a place in the woods nearby.”

“No.” Hunter’s voice becomes lethal.

“I wasn’t asking, big guy.” Marcus chuckles at him.

“Marcus, you aren’t taking her off the property.”

“Watch me.” Marcus shuts his visor and takes off down the driveway. I hear Hunter scream something behind us, but with the mixture of the motor and the gravel, I can’t make out what he is saying .

“Marcus. He is right, what if someone finds me?”

“No one is gonna find you, he is being overprotective of his new toy.”

“I’m not his toy.”

“Aren’t you?”

I roll my eyes at his asshole remarks, scared but excited to see the woods again, away from the place I have been calling home.

***

The drive doesn’t last long as he pulls onto a thin dirt road, a makeshift road at that. It looks like it only exists because someone has been down this way one too many times. Was it Marcus or someone else who had found it? Who knows.

Marcus pulls up to a small clearing, parking the bike and helping me off of it. Taking my helmet off for me and setting it on the back of the bike before removing his own.

“Alright.” he claps his hands together, “Here we are.”

“And here is?”

“The woods.”

I tilt my head at him with a not-so-amused look on my face, “Who is captain obvious now? ”

“When someone is protecting themselves, they are usually taken by surprise, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, we are here for the element of surprise.”

“We came here together.”

“Yes, but you are about to lose me, and I am about to hunt you down.”

“You’re gonna hunt me?”

“Yes, princess. The goal is to get you to jump into action.”

“Okay, so…”

He grabs my shoulders, turning me to face away from him into the woods, “So start running, I’ll give you a fifteen-minute head start.”

“What if you can’t find me? What if I get lost out there?”

“I’ll find you, stop worrying.”

“But what if you can’t?”

“Elliott. It’s my job to hunt people down, I’ll find you. Now go.” He pushes me forward and I stumble on my boots.

I shoot him a glare over my shoulder, but all he does is lean on his bike and shoo me away with his hands.

I face the dense woods again and start to run, not looking back. I know if I do, I’ll start to panic that I’m too far away, or about to get lost.

“I swear to God, Marcus, if you don’t find me…” I huff out to myself as I continue to run further into the woods .

The run reminded me too much of when Marcus dragged me away from Everton.

At least this time it wasn’t raining.

***

My lungs are burning by the time I think the fifteen-minute mark has hit. I am gasping for air and my face is drenched in sweat, I can feel it stream between my boobs and down my back.

Bastard didn’t even give me water.

Probably because you wouldn’t be given water when someone was stalking and attacking you, but still, I needed something to aid the burning dryness in my throat.

I scan the woods around me, no sign of Marcus.

The small amount of air I have is slammed out of my lungs as my back hits the ground. The weight of a body keeps me from pulling myself off the ground. A knee comes down on my chest, pinning me in place.

My vision clears and I see Marcus’s dumb perfect grin looking down at me.

How the fuck did he get to me that fucking fast?

He chuckles slightly before lowering himself to me, his mouth hot on my ear, “Found you, princess.”

I am still trying to get air into my lungs when I swing my leg around his chest to kick him off of me, but he sees it coming and he spins on his feet and darts away.

“Gotta be quicker than that.” He shouts, coming back at me.

I rush to my feet. Finally the pain in my chest is dulling, only to erupt again as he pins me to a tree trunk.

“You aren’t trying, Elliott.” he hisses in my face. “Just like in the gym, come on. Focus!”

I kick my knee in his chest and he pushes back, only coming at me with a bigger smile on his face.

“How are you gonna get away from Samuel if you can’t get away from me?”

“I’m trying.” Samuel’s face takes over Marcus’s, and my blood runs cold.

‘I’ll have you again, Eden. You are mine!’

I panic and run, but a hand wraps around my waist and throws me to the ground. I look at the figure to see that Marcus looks like himself again.

“Fight, like I trained you!”

I bring my feet together and shove them up in the air just as Marcus goes to pounce on me. My boots land on his chest and I shove with all of my strength, kicking him over me. He stumbles as he hits the ground but recovers quicker than I can get myself situated for the next move.

“More. I need more fight, Elliott.” He grabs my ankle and I drop to the dirt-covered ground. Twigs and rocks scrape my palms as I pull away, but his hold is too strong.

When I look back, I see he has shifted to Samuel but this time he’s in the same cleansing ceremonial robe he wore that night. His body drags over my form as I kick and scream, digging my nails into his chest.

Mine. My Eden.

No. No. No.

“Get away from me, Samuel!” I shriek into the air as I shut my eyes firmly and kick again.

“Hey! Hey!” Marcus’s voice returns and he tugs me into his hold in a sitting position. “He isn’t here. I am not Samuel.”

I feel tears warm my cold cheeks. My breaths are gasping to fill my lungs with oxygen.

“Hey! Look at me!” He practically shakes me.

I snap my eyes open and look at him, his eyes are frantic, adrenaline pumping through both of us.

“I’m. Not. Him.” he repeats.

“Fuck!” I scream out frustrated at myself for failing this training. “I lost.”

“What?” He looks at me, his whole face scrunching up as he keeps his eyes on me.

“I failed the training. I couldn’t keep my shit together and I lost. You won.” I stand quickly.

“There’s no failing. There is no winner or loser. ”

“Yes, yes there is. I should be able to defend myself, but instead I am here crying while I have visions of my brother attacking me again.” I pace back and forth in front of him.

“We are here to fix it. To help you fix this.” He gets to his feet now.

“ We? ” I chuckle to myself.

“Elliott. You can fix this.”

"I don't know how to fix it, Marcus! You don't think if I knew the fucking magic words I would have said them by now!

?" I can’t stop the anger from building inside me, from screaming at the person trying to help me.

"I don't want to feel this way. There is this part of me that needs to rip this layer of skin off of me and let the new me fucking show! "

"What is the new you?"

I try to level my breathing, but the rapid inhales won't stop.

"Someone who takes what they want. Owns someone like they tried to own me.

" I look to the floor, tears start to well in my eyes, "How fucked up is that?

How fucked up am I ?" I throw my hands up, letting them drop with a loud smack as they hit my thighs.

"You aren't fucked up, Elliott. You are traumatized. You experienced a traumatic event, and you are just trying to heal and process it."

"I don't want—"

"You don't get a choice if you feel this or not. Your only choice is how you are going to go about it. What are you gonna choose to do to help yourself heal?" He huffed out a breath. "How do you want to process this, Elliott? No shame, no judgment, no rules. What. Do. You. Need?"

I eye him, weary of whether he actually wants a response.

"Why do you care?" He doesn’t reply, he just clenches his jaw and scans my face. "You don't like me, you don't even want to be around me. So, why do you care, Marcus?"

"You think I don't care?" He strides towards me with long steps, "You think I would be here right now, teaching you these fucking defensive moves if I didn't care in some aspect?" He chuckles sarcastically, "Fucking hell. You drive me fucking insane."

"Exactly! So why do you care?"

"Because I can't fucking help it!" He slams his hand on the bark, right next to my head, "I can't get you out of my damn mind.

I can't stop picturing your face broken in that bath tub when I first picked you up, or the way you roll your eyes at my asshole remarks.

I can't stop picturing the way Hunter and Kameron had your sweet cunt on display in his office to enjoy every last drop you gave them.

The way you eyed me as if you were inviting me to join in…

" His eyes hooded, darting them to my lips and returning them to my gaze with a heat in them.

"You make it hard to decipher between hate and lust."

"Hate? Lust?"

"Yeah, a good hate fuck I guess."

I glare at him and he pushes me further against the tree .

"You want a good fuck from me? That’s it?" I push my hand on his chest, and he stumbles back a little, "Yet, you care about my trauma?" His jaw ticks at my words, I can see the growing annoyance in his eyes.

"Stop thinking everyone is falling in love with you, princess."

I can't help the laugh that leaves me. "I don't think that."

"Could have fooled me with the way you are with Hunter and Kam."

"Says the one who said they can't stop fucking thinking about me, and that they care."

"It's hard not to care about someone after you have lived with them for months. You’re a part of this house now, whether I like it or not.

Hunter is attached. Kameron is fucking balls deep.

So yeah, I have to care." His words hurt, but his eyes are telling me something completely different.

Like those words are hurting him just as badly.

"Let me make this really easy for you. You don't have to do shit . There is no strings attached when it comes to Hunter and me, Kameron and me, or me in that fucking house." I duck under his arm and make my way towards the woods.

I can hear the padding of his footsteps as he follows me, "You can leave now, Marcus. No strings attached. You aren't being forced against your will. I can find my own way back to the house. Bye."

"You don't even know where you are. You can't find your way anywhere. "

I start to hum mindlessly, picking up my pace as much as I could in these chunky combat boots he told me I had to train in today.

His hand grabs at my wrist, "Stop being so fucking stubborn, Elliott. I’ll drive us back, let’s just go back to my bike."

"I don't think I will." I say, yanking my wrist out of his grasp. Only for him to place both on my shoulders.

"Look, I'm not in the mood for this shit." He huffs out.

"Then leave , Marcus." I hiss.

"I can't leave you here by yourself in the middle of the fucking woods."

"Why not?" I cross my arms in front of my chest, my tits pushing more dramatically now in this tight workout jacket. Well, as dramatic as they could with how small they were. "What, because you care? " I taunt his words back at him.

"Watch that mouth, pri—"

"Or what?" I shoot out, pushing against his firm chest. He stumbles back a few steps, not because I was strong enough, no, because he knew he needed the distance from me.

I look him over. How can this man act like a complete asshole, a gorgeous, stupid, asshole.

One that I wanted to cave for me. But I was smart enough to know that he never would let himself.

"Just take me home." I weakly chuckle, "Sorry, the house.

" I walk in the direction we came from, frustrated and tired. Emotionally and physically .

The light steps of Marcus's boots padding behind me let me know that he’s following. I didn't give him as much as a glance as I waited by his bike. Even through the motions of putting on the helmets and mounting the bike, I didn't even give him a single look or word.

He clicks on the speakers, and the chime of them linking sounded off in my ears.

"Look—"

Click.

I shut off the speaker to my helmet, silencing him.

I wasn’t in the mood for his shit right now.

I didn’t want to bicker, I didn’t want closure.

I wanted silence.

He didn't fight me or try to reconnect them, he just softly nodded before starting the bike up. He zoomed out down the street, back to their house.

At least he gave me that.