I stood in front of the door, preparing to come face to face with the man who could end my existence the second he saw me. But before I gathered the strength to walk out the door and live my worst fear, the door swung open, taking me by surprise and making me jump backward out of the way. Ashley entered, with Tony shuffling in behind her. The door swung shut, cutting off my oxygen supply with it.
“Thea.” A smile slowly spread across his face.
He shoved Ashley at me, and that was when I noticed the gun. I froze, not knowing what to do, my previous confidence draining from my body.
“Give me your phone,” he said to Ashley, whose face paled as she handed it to him. Tony smashed it on the floor, crushing it with his foot for extra measure. Then he moved behind me and pressed the cold gun into my back.
Ashley looked at me, an apology written on her face, but it wasn’t necessary. She shouldn’t feel guilty about this. This was my mess, my fault.
“Scream, and I kill her,” he said.
Then he raised his gun and smashed my best friend over the head, and her body went limp, her head bouncing on the floor from the impact, just like he had done to me all those months ago. I covered my mouth to stop the scream from escaping my lips, somehow knowing that he’d do worse if I drew attention to us.
My best friend was bleeding all over the floor, her head at an unnatural angle, her body splayed out like the murder victim she was on her way to becoming.
My cheeks were wet from salty tears as I realized that if she wasn’t already dead from the impact, she’d probably die from the injury if it wasn’t treated as soon as possible.
Tony pressed his gun into my side, his slimy voice instructing me, “We’re going to walk through the mall and to my truck. If you draw attention to us, I’ll kill anyone who tries to help. Then when I find you again, I will take my time torturing you. Understand?”
As the tears streamed down my face, I nodded silently, still looking at my best friend, who would probably bleed out and die because of me. Prodded by the gun, I reluctantly turned away from the bloody sight on the floor and took a step toward the door to leave the break room.
“Wait,” he said.
He smothered my mouth with his repulsive hand, pulling me in closer to him. Before I could even try to maneuver myself out of his hold, my eyes widened when I felt a hard sting on my outer thigh. I didn’t process what had happened until I looked down. When I saw the blood, I felt a heat like nothing I’d ever imagined, and a hot pain radiated through my leg from the spot where Tony had stabbed me with a pocketknife.
He yanked the knife out with a twist and I screamed against his hand.
“That’s to make sure you can’t run from me this time,” he whispered, his breath vile against my ear.
With his gun hand, the one not smothered against my mouth, he reached down to my wound and forcefully pushed his finger into it, making me squirm and cry in pain. I could feel the sting all the way up my spine.
“And that was for fun,” he told me with a gleeful smile.
My eyes widened when he brought his bloody finger up to his face and put it in his mouth, savoring the taste of my pain and misery. He smiled a warped smile, his dark eyes lighting up at my obvious fear and disgust.
“Just remember: do something wrong and people die. Let’s go.” He removed his hand from my mouth and forced me to walk, the gun pressed inconspicuously into my back.
I didn’t get a chance to look back at my best friend, who was bleeding out on the floor, or think of the pain in my leg. I just did what he said, stepping out of the back room and into my uncertain future.
The few people who had been in the store had left, leaving it empty, filled only with the pop music that was always on repeat. It was a good thing no one was in the store—I didn’t want to risk Tony hurting anyone else. The man had savored the taste of my blood for goodness’ sake! Who knew what else he would do?
We exited the store and walked toward the stairs. For some reason, the elevator music that filled the mall seemed blaringly loud—maybe because the mall wasn’t as busy as it usually was. My sluggish brain refused to come up with an escape plan. But I refused to give up that easily, to let him torture me, kill me. I needed to find a way to get away from him without getting anyone else hurt.
Before we got to the stairs, Frank, the regular security guard, saw us. He was the nicest man. He had two kids a bit older than I was, and was friendly to everyone. He had people who loved and cared for him, and even though he was the security guard, I couldn’t have him notice Tony and his gun. Frank would have tried to be a hero. Tony didn’t care who he hurt. I forced myself to look away, praying that Frank wouldn’t notice me or the bloody mess all over my jeans.
“Hey, Hailey!”
Tony’s grip tightened on my arm and his gun pushed harder into my back, both hard enough to bruise.
“Hey, Frank.”
We kept walking. Tony started to steer me in a different direction, away from Frank. We were almost at the stairs when Frank stopped us. “Hailey, there’s blood all over your pants.”
In a split second, Tony removed the gun from my back and shot Frank. Time slowed as my friend clutched his chest and fell down, blood spilling through the slits between his fingers.
Shaking off the shock, I acted quickly. Pulling the letter opener out of my combat boot, I plunged it into Tony’s stomach. The impact forced him to drop the gun, but then he landed a punch to my face that caused me to stumble back. Nothing I’d learned from jujitsu and self-defense classes came to my mind—it was all gone like a child’s balloon being ripped from their hands in a violent windstorm. I scrambled for the gun while Tony pulled the letter opener out of his gut. The cold steel was just in my grasp when Tony landed a kick to my ribs, and I toppled over onto the floor. He kicked me again and put his knee on top of me, letting his full weight pin my small frame.
“I’m going to enjoy making your death a slow one,” he growled, clutching the bloody opener in his hand.
In this position, on my back and his knee on my stomach, a memory from practicing jujitsu surfaced of how to escape this position.
Tony raised his arm to stab me, and using his momentum against him, I brought my knee under his butt and bridged my hips at the same time, driving up toward the sky and causing him to lose his balance. He fell toward me but I put my forearms in front of my face so he wouldn’t land on it. He was forced to put his hands down to stop himself from smashing his face on the concrete floor, and his bleeding stomach came to rest on my forearms.
Then, adrenaline pumping, I abandoned all proper form and technique, and before he could regain his balance, I drilled my fist into his wound, hearing him yell, and used my hips and legs to throw him off of me and roll him onto his side. I sat on my butt and kicked him with the heel of my foot, then stumbled to get up.
Before I could even think of reaching for the gun again, I was violently shoved, sending me tumbling, and knocking the air out of my lungs. My head banged against everything and my body was tossed around like it was a rag doll. The spinning stopped and I look around in a haze, barely registering anything I was seeing. Everything was sore and I started coughing, blood spilling out of my mouth and onto my hand.
I forced myself out of the haze and sat up, realizing that I was sitting at the bottom of the staircase. Tony had pushed me down the stairs.
I stood up, my adrenaline helping numb the pain my body should have been feeling. I looked at the top of the staircase and we made eye contact. I had a sudden flashback of the first time I escaped from his house. The two of us on opposite sides, staring each other down, separated by only a few steps. He was staring down at me with a rage and a hate so venomous you could ignite it.
He raised the gun and without a second thought, I sprinted through the mall, gunshots sounding off behind me.
I ran out of the mall where there was already a police presence, and they noticed me running toward them. With raised arms, I approached the ones tha
t hadn’t already stormed inside. I told them what had happened. I told them that Ashley was bleeding out in the back room of a store, that Frank was shot in the chest, and other people may have been shot as well.
I did not tell them my real name.
5
Strong arms encircle me, pulling me into a comforting embrace and out of the trance I’d entered.
I hadn’t realized that I’d started crying—Aiden kept his promise and hadn’t interrupted me. His face is unreadable.
I rub the tears from my face. “My injuries weren’t too bad in comparison to those of the others—just a concussion, bruising, some stitches, and a couple of broken ribs—but I didn’t care about any of that. After that I became Amelia Collins, and then I started at King City High a couple of weeks later. I was supposed to keep a low profile and not make friends, so that I wouldn’t get attached when I inevitably have to leave, or watch them get hurt when Tony finds me like he always does.”
Aiden opens his mouth to say something but I keep talking. “But then I met you and Char and Anna and everyone else, and you guys wormed your way into my heart. I’ve never had friends like this before, and believe me, it kills me to have kept this secret from you. But you understand now why I had to, right? Why I couldn’t tell you about my real identity? The more people who know, the more chance there is that Tony finds me and hurts the people I love most.”
I pull out of his comforting embrace, instantly missing his warmth. “Last time people died because of me. Tony shot people because of me. Ashley survived but Frank, and the others caught in the cross fire, didn’t. I can’t do anything to risk Tony finding me again, because it’s not only my life that’s in danger because of Tony, it’s everyone’s who’s around me too.
“I know you opened up to me and told me things that you’ve never told anyone else. I know that you’ve been totally honest with me and trusted me to do the same. And I’m so sorry that I couldn’t tell you about this, and that I’ve had to keep secrets from you. But just know that all this time, it’s been the real me. I may have a different name, but I’m still the same person you know and opened up to. I just … I did it for my safety, for your safety, for everyone’s safet—”
I’m cut off when Aiden surprises me by hugging me tightly to him, and I melt into his embrace.
“It’s okay. I understand why you did what you did. You’re so strong, Thea,” he says, and his deep voice fills me with relief. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
Aiden has single-handedly pushed off the giant weight resting on my chest. It feels so good to finally tell someone what I’ve been through—for someone to truly see me, the real me. To know that someone is here for me, unconditionally. Not because they have to be, but because they want to be. Because they choose to be.
Aiden lightly rubs my back, not even getting mad that I’m ruining his shirt with my tears. He moves slightly back so that he can see me, and moves his hand to gently force me to look up at him.
“None of it is your fault, Thea. You did not kill Sabrina. You did not kill or even hurt any of those people.” He emphasizes each word, as if to really make me understand. “You do not deserve any of this, okay? You don’t deserve to constantly run from Tony or to torture yourself with memories of your past, or to be so scared and plagued with nightmares that you have to take fucking sleeping pills to get some rest. You’re a good person, Thea. Stop thinking that you are personally responsible for all the shitty things happening around you.”
I just told him about my damaged past, about all the lies I’ve been telling, about all the people who were hurt because of me, and he’s telling me that I’m a good person? He’s not mad or repulsed by me. He’s looking at me like I’m the bravest and strongest person he’s ever met. I act without thinking; I can’t help myself.
I draw my arms around Aiden’s neck and bring my lips to his, pulling him in close to me. He’s taken off guard but recovers quickly, kissing me back with an intensity and passion that rivals the hottest flame, the brightest star.
His hands tighten on my waist and like last time, he quickly lifts me so that I’m straddling him on the couch, my knees on either side of his body. His arms wrap tighter around me, pulling me close, deepening the kiss as fireworks erupt in my stomach.
It feels like everything I’d been through—all the times I’d had to move, all my brushes with death, and all those terrified, sleepless nights—have been worth it for this. For Aiden. He pulls back suddenly, cutting the kiss much shorter than I would like it to be.
“Wait,” Aiden says, guilt and horror written all over his face. “The first day we met, the day you ran into me in the hallway and I dropped you onto the floor in front of your class. Your ribs were injured because you’d just been in a fight with Tony—you’d just been pushed down the stairs.”
He’s talking more to himself than to me, but I answer him anyway. “Well, technically, yes, but I told you I didn’t blame you—”
“What the fuck is wrong with me? I am the shittiest person ever. I felt awful before when I found out about your ribs, but now that I know why. Fuck, Thea, I’m sor—”
“Aiden!” I cut him off. “If I didn’t already have healing ribs and you did that, nothing would have even happened. If you did that to me now I wouldn’t be hurt. I’d probably be pissed and thinking of a way to get you back, but I wouldn’t be hurt. You didn’t know.”
His thumb gently strokes my cheek as he looks right through to my soul. “I’d never hurt you,” he says softly. “And I’m sorry for the times I have, even if they were unintentional.”
His words have a deeper meaning, and I know he’s not just referring to my ribs.
My heart stutters at his honest words, at this guy who’s being so open and vulnerable with me when to the rest of the world he keeps an impassive, tough, and confident façade. I remember how he always softens when he’s looking at me. I pull myself back into him, burying my face in his neck and instantly realizing how good he smells. His arms tighten around me, making me feel like there has never been any place I need to be other than right here, in Aiden’s strong arms. After Aiden’s reaction to my past and his comforting me, I realize that there is no mistaking this emotion that I’m feeling, that I feel whenever Aiden so much as glances in my general direction.
I’ve fallen in love with Aiden Parker.
Shit.
6
Aiden and I spent the afternoon lounging around on the couch, watching TV and occasionally stealing earth-shattering kisses, and we are now in the kitchen. The day passed by so quickly—telling secrets does that, makes time move at lightning speed—but I feel lighter than I have in ages.
“Should I call you Thea or Amelia?” Aiden asks me as we’re setting the table for when our friends get here.
This is the most open and vulnerable I’ve ever been with anyone, and it feels really good. Actually, it feels fantastic to know that someone knows the real me, and still likes me despite my fucked up past, present, and, let’s be honest, future.
It helps that this person is Aiden. Now he knows my dark past, just like I know his, and I think we might be stronger for it, closer … not that we’re a couple or anything.
“You’ve been calling me Thea since you found out.”
“Because that’s your name,” he says. “But when you mumble to yourself, you refer to yourself as Amelia, not Thea.”
I ball up a napkin and launch it at his head with a laugh, and he easily deflects it with an effortless wave of his hand.
“Hey, I’m not crazy, okay?”
“Says the girl who talks to herself.”
“Plenty of normal people have conversations with themselves,” I say.
“But they usually talk to themselves in their heads.”
“To-mae-toe, to-mat-oe.”
He hides a smirk from me, knowing he’s won, but then I get serious about his question. “When I move, I get in the mindset that Thea doesn’t exist anymore. I’m Hailey or
Amelia or whatever other name I’m given. That’s the way I was taught to think—it’s safer.”
He puts the last glass down and turns his full attention to me. “Would you prefer it if I called you Amelia?”
Looking at him there, his tall frame taking up space in my kitchen, a sense of comfort flows through me, melting any worries I may have had. I think honestly about his question and about what I want, not about what I think I need to do.
I haven’t been called my real name in so long; it’s nice to be reminded of who I am—of Thea Kennedy. Plus, hearing the way my name sounds in Aiden’s perfect, deep voice, just seems right.
I smile shyly, as if this admission somehow makes me even more vulnerable. “I’d like it if you called me Thea—only when we’re alone, of course. And only if you can manage not to slip up in front of everyone.”
His eyes light up briefly before he masks it, as if I’ve given him the answer he was secretly hoping for, almost like this small act is verification that I trust him with something huge. And clearly I do. I trust Aiden without hesitation, with my life—which is what it quite literally comes down to.
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
“I know.” I get serious again. “Really, Aiden, thank you. For always being there for me. I know I’m a handful sometimes, and I know I’ve caused a lot of drama between us and Kaitlyn and the Silvers. But I do recognize everything you do for me—for everyone—and you never get a thank you. So thank you. For keeping my secret, for being so understanding, for making me not feel so alone—”
He cuts me off when he closes the space between us with two big steps, grabs my face in his hands and forces me to look up at him.
“Don’t thank me for that. I’m here for you. Always.”
My heart hammers in my chest and I’m unable to string together the words needed to make a coherent sentence with him so close, looking at me like I’m all he’s ever needed.
He leans in toward me, his lips close to mine but never quite making it. Because the doorbell rings. And we pull apart.
Stay With Me (A Wattpad Novel) Page 5
