Page 32 of Stalked

Tobias is silent as I word vomit. I’m uncomfortable and sweaty and feeling a little used. Tobias doesn’t say anything, just stares at me. And when he sits back, letting go of my hands, I do nothing but watch as he moves around the room. Picking up our clothes, he throws them into the laundry basket, and heads to the bathroom.

When he comes out, I hold my legs against my chest, feeling small and unimportant. I hate this feeling and I hate knowing that I just need to grab my clothes before I go back to my room.

Tobias crawls into bed, dragging the blankets up to his waist. When I don’t move, he snaps his eyes up to mine, furrowing his brows. “Are you just going to sit there?”

“Oh, right. Um, sorry,” I mumble, swinging my legs off to the side of the bed. I don’t get a chance to move off the bed before Tobias grabs my arm and yanks me towards him.

“Lay down, Little Rabbit,” he mumbles.

Lost at what to say, I start to lie down when he forces my head down onto his chest. Tobias drags the covers up, wrapping an arm around me.

“Tobias, are you cuddling me?” I ask, unable to stop myself from snuggling further into his chest.

“I’m not sure, am I?” He chuckles.

“You are. This… is cuddling.”

“Oh, I wasn’t sure, I haven’t done it before.” Tobias sighs. “And for your information, I’m twenty-two.”

“Twenty-two… that’s, okay,” I mutter, feeling more tired than I should be since I just woke up. But I can’t help myself when my eyes slowly drift shut.

17

Gabriel

“What’s going on?” Kiwi asks, stepping into my room. My eyes snap up to his, rushing forward to close the door. Peeking my head outside I glance around, making sure no one is snooping and eavesdropping. It’s the last thing Izel and I need. Not seeing anyone, I close the door behind me.

“Gabe, you're making me nervous, what's going on?” Kiwi asks again, his eyes widening when I point to the bag in the corner. “What’s that?”

Closing the distance between us, I lean forward, whispering, “We’re leaving.”

Izel and I never trust anyone in Dan’s clubhouse. They all hurt us.Izel usually gets the worst of it. Kiwi only showed up a few months ago, and instead of hanging out with the other club members he stays with me.

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” he blurts out, eyeing the door.

“Shhh,” I snap, my hand automatically clamping around his mouth. “Kiwi, we’re leaving, Izel and I… we’re… we have to leave.” Tears glisten in my eyes. I don’t want to leave my new friend, but I also can’t stay here. We’re going to die; we can’t stay here….

“Gabe, you can’t, you can’t leave,” he says, almost emotionless.

“We can’t stay!” I snap. Why can’t he understand? Why isn’t he helping me? He knows what they do. He knows, and yet right now he’s acting like he couldn’t care less.

A sharp knock on the door startles me, my breathing coming in ragged and when I look back at the door and then Kiwi, I whisper, “You can’t tell them, you can’t,” pleading with him to keep his mouth shut.

Kiwi nods before walking around me to open the door. Dan stands on the other side, glaring over Kiwi’s shoulder at me. “Office, now,” he snaps. Not waiting for Kiwi to answer, he walks off. Kiwi turns, zipping his lips before walking away.

My body shakes as I stare after Kiwi, wondering if I just made the biggest mistake of my life.

Tobias

An elbow connectswith my face, jerking me awake as well as causing me to reach under my pillow where my gun lays. My eyes barely adjust to the dark before I’m blinking at what the fuck just hit me.

“No….” someone whimpers. My eyes drop down to Gabriel lying next to me, only instead of him sleeping peacefully, he’s twisting around.

“Little Rabbit?” I mumble, pushing the gun back under my pillow. “Gabriel….”

“NO!” he screams, tears streaming down his face, sobbing for reasons I don’t know. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please… leave HER ALONE!” he yells, fists flying.

Unsure of what to do, I drag his body on top of mine, holding him against my chest. “Gabriel. Come on, wake up,” I murmur into his ear, rubbing circles onto his cheek, trying my best to calm him down. I vaguely remember having night terrors when I was little. It took me years to get over them.

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