Page 51 of Pen Me

“I knew when I hit public pavement, my life was on a timer. They’re gonna find me… I just wanted to spend what time I could with someone who mattered. Someone who could make my last few days on this Earth special.”

His words hit me like a brick. I dropped his wrist and stared into his eyes.

“You came here to die?” I couldn’t even find my voice to say it, the horror kept my tone almost beneath a whisper.

“No. I’m not disturbed, Sammy. I’m just unwilling to die in a cage, slowly, at enemy hands. That shit would be gruesome as fuck.”

“You can’t–” I panicked, blinking back tears as my thoughts collided and something swelled in my throat.

I didn’t wish that kind of ending on anyone. To go out in a hail of police bullets? Jesus.

“There has to be some way–” I didn’t know what I was even saying.

Was he supposed to call the news and report that he was an escaped, abused inmate? Should he call nine-one-one and hope they sent a negotiator instead of a SWAT team?

“Hm?” he gently murmured, his fingers brushing my wet cheek.

“You can’t stay here.” I shut my eyes, hating myself for saying it.

He needed a friend. He needed help… but I couldn’t be in the middle of some shit like this.

This was serious!

“I’ve no intention of it,” he assured me, or so I thought, until he finished his thought, “I’m not leaving you here, either.”

I swallowed and locked my gaze on him as a chill shot up my spine.

“Look,” he cleared his throat, “I didn’t want anything ugly…”

“What the fuck did you think was going to happen, breaking in here like this?”

He huffed out a laugh. “It ain’t like I had the option of showing up with roses.”

“Why did you show up at all?”

“Because, when they tried to kill me– The only thing that kept me clinging to consciousness was the regret that I never got to kiss or know you-- That I never got to claim you as my first and only ol’ lady. I told you– I ain’t leavin’ here without you. So, if that means we’re kickin’ it here, and the last thing I see is your yard lit up in red and blue– So be it.”

Tears stung my eyes and slipped down my cheeks. The man I thought was Mr. forever had been nothing but a lie, and one I thought would never see the light of day was willing to give me everything he had left. It was fucked-up. Even more fucked-up that I found sentiment in it, I supposed.

“I’d much rather it be a place we can both call home, if only for what little bit of time we can squeeze out of it together. What do you say?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Amongst Hostages and Accomplices

Menace

Damn. I didn’t realize being honest with a chick made you feel so vulnerable. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I really didn’t want to drag her out by force.

“You don’t want me,” she whispered,drawing a choked-back laugh from me.

“Yeah. I do.”

“You don’t know.” She all but shrank into the corner, but I wasn’t budging, I stepped into her space.

“Stop,” she pleaded, so quietly it pained me. “I can’t be what you want. I’m– “

“Perfect.” I cut her off.

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