Page 108 of Run For Me
I follow the line of rope to the end of the bed where I undo it, then unwrap it from the headboard and from around her wrists. I help her sit up, and she looks up at me with this look of pure terror and innocence and pain, and it makes me want to burn the world down.
I kiss her again, keeping my hands on her face.
“I’ve got you, baby,” I whisper gently. “I’ll protect you.”
She blinks a few times, and I pull my gaze away to look at Mindy. I feel the change in me instantly.
Looking at Sailor makes me warm. When I look at Mindy? It’s ice. I’m the me I’ve always known. The me that came from my mother. The me this world is going to regret.
I take Sailor’s hand. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
“What about—”
“She’s coming with us,” I say, turning my attention toward Mindy. “Let’s go.”
I jerk my head toward the door. Mindy’s eyes go wide, and she shakes her head.
“No. I’m not going with you.”
“The fuck you aren’t,” I bark. “Let’s go before I throw you out the fucking window.”
“But I—” She looks from me to Sailor, terror in her eyes.
“Don’t you dare fucking look at her,” I say, stepping between them. “She isn’t going to help you. Get your feet working and go down the stairs, Mindy. I wasn’t kidding about throwing you out the window. And if you think that’s all, you’re crazy, because I’ll make you walk to my car on your broken legs and laugh while you do it.”
Her mouth opens and closes a few times, then more tears pour from her eyes. She wipes them as she moves toward us, her head ducked as she goes out the door. I keep Sailor close as I follow, the bat tight in my other hand.
Mindy makes her way down the stairs and heads through the room.
Sailor pauses when she spots the guy on the ground, head lolled to the side. He’s breathing, so he isn’t dead.
“Come on, baby,” I say softly. “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you again.” There’s hesitation in her eyes, so I tug on her hand. “Come on,” I repeat, this time gentler.
Her eyes stay on him, but she eventually moves her feet and we head outside, Mindy leading the way.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Sailor
“Come on, baby. Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you again.”
Jaxon’s words are so soft I hardly recognize them.
How can he be so sweet to me, so kind, when he’s capable of awful things? Things I’ve seen with my own eyes, felt with my own body.
Now I’m staring at a man who is hurt, and I know it’s at the hands of Jaxon. Yet… his voice is so soft when he talks to me.
“Come on,” he adds, this time even sweeter.
What happens if I piss him off? What happens if I do something wrong? What happens if I decide I don’t want this anymore? How will he react? Will he do this to me? Will he treat me the way he’s treated Mindy? What if he never lets me go at all?
He’s used possessive language from the very beginning, and it was thrilling at first. But now, after all this…
If I say no… what will he do?
If I deny him… what will happen?
The red flags are a mile long and as bright as can be. I’ve been staring at them, wishing for them, accepting them willingly. Now I’m starting to wonder if it was all a mistake.
