Page 111 of Freshman

He curled in the foetal position and waited. He was being kidnapped by a man he had never seen before, one with crazed brown eyes and tattooed hands. The car jolted, and the engine purred. Alfie braced his bound hands against the side of the car as they took off.

More turns, more bumps in the road.

Alfie’s face rubbed on the rough interior of the car, and he picked up the smell of mud and earth. He spent longer in the car than in the prison van, and when the wheels screeched, Alfie gritted his teeth as he winced. They didn’t collide with anything but slowed to a stop on what sounded like gravel.

Alfie readied himself to leap up at the man and lash out with his bound hands, but when the trunk opened, it wasn’t the brown eyes that greeted him but deep-blue ones.

Wrinkles formed around Nate’s eyes as his lips lifted in a smile.

He laughed softly. “There’s my Freshman.”

Alfie’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open unflatteringly.

Nate snorted and reached inside to scoop him up. He held Alfie with ease, then lowered his feet to the ground, steadying him as Alfie swayed.

Alfie didn’t trust what was in front of him, didn’t know whether it was real.

“Breathe,” Nate commanded.

Alfie gasped in a breath as reality settled. He ached, his eyes stung, and the wind blew against his neck.

If he could feel, then that meant Nate was real.

Nate was real.

Nate had left him.

Alfie didn’t bother taking in his surroundings. He slammed his cuffed hands into Nate’s nose with all the strength he possessed. It wasn’t much, but it did the job. Nate howled, clutching his face, and blood leaked through his fingers.

Arms wrapped around Alfie and tugged him away. The masked man with the brown eyes tightened his grip until Alfie could barely breathe, then there was someone else.

A woman, who went to Nate’s aid, placing her hand on his back as he stooped forward.

Alfie couldn’t hear what they were saying. All he could hear was blood rushing in his ears. His feet were dragged over gravel, and he glanced around. The place he’d been driven to looked like a farm, but an unused one, with a barn with a caved-in roof and a house riddled with ivy.

Nate shrugged off the woman’s concern and marched towards Alfie.

Alfie’s attention snapped back to him, but he didn’t feel guilty. He was glad Nate’s eyes watered, and his nose ran with blood.

“You want me to knock him out?” the man with the tattoos asked.

Nate shook his head. “No, let him go.”

“But he just—”

“I said let him go!” Nate heaved.

The coil around Alfie’s chest vanished, and he gulped at the air, awkwardly rubbing his sore ribs with his elbow.

“Get the van ready,” Nate snapped.

He studied Alfie and bunched his eyebrows together. He held his hands up in surrender; blood ran from his palms. “I deserved that.”

“You le—left me,” Alfie gasped, hating the hitch in his voice but unable to help it. “You left me.”

Nate closed his eyes. “I had to.”

“You said you would take care of me, and you… I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have let you in. I shouldn’t have believed you.”

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