Page 1 of Ember
Ember
Ember crouched in the corner of the abandoned church, hoping and praying that her gut was wrong. Maybe she was just overreacting, or being paranoid, but her gut hadn’t been wrong yet, so she was going with it. Her ex-boyfriend had possibly found her again, and this time, she might not be able to get away from him. This time, he might just catch her and do the unspeakable things that he had promised to do to her.
His own mother had warned her about Marco, but did she listen—no. Really, she only had herself to blame, but that was something that she’d think about another day. Right now, she needed to figure out how Marco had found her again.
Ember had spent the last sixty-three days running and was no safer now than she was when she packed her bag and left Sarasota, Florida. She was careful, at least she thought that she had been. She even ditched the old pickup truck that she had made her escape in, trading it in for a rusted-out Ford Focus. She loved that fucking truck, and having to leave it behind nearly gutted her, but she knew that if Marco caught up with her, he’d do even worse than that to her. He had made her many promisesover the past two months, mostly leaving messages on her phone and texting her everything that he’d do to her once he caught up to her again. Ember ended up ditching her phone somewhere in Virginia, and giving up her only lifeline to her friends and family wasn’t easy. She was sure that her mom was worried about her but contacting her would only put her in danger. If Marco hadn’t gone by her mom’s place yet, he would at some point, and the less her mother knew about where she was, the safer she’d be.
Marco wasn’t always a bad guy. When she first met him, he was charming, had a good job, and treated her like a princess. But then, he was attacked at work by a janitor with a crowbar, and he started to change. He spent almost a month in the hospital while his skull healed, and had two operations to close the wound, but he was finally cleared to come home. He had a half-inch wide scar that ran across his head from one ear to the next, and he said that he liked the way that it made him look like a badass. Ember was sure that the novelty of being a badass would wear off for him, but she was wrong. That was when she started seeing changes in him. They were subtle at first, but by the end, she was afraid for her life.
Marco took up the hobby of beating the shit out of her whenever he got the chance, and she begged him to go get help. Ember hoped that sooner or later, he’d either end up killing her or moving on from her, but she was wrong. Filing police reports never worked in her favor. He’d turn on the charm and convince the cops that she was being overly dramatic, and since he was careful never to leave marks on her face or arms, they believed him. When she finally realized that there would be no stopping him, she packed her meager belongings and took off. Where she was going was a mystery, but staying in Sarasota wasn’t possible. As a singer in a popular band in Florida, Marco had many friends around town. If she hid at one of her friends’ places, he’d find her, and she didn’t want to put them in danger, too. So, sheheaded north, hoping to never see Marco again, but Ember had never been lucky in life or love.
“Hello,” a man’s voice called. Ember slipped back deeper into the shadows, hoping that she’d be able to hide from him. The guy didn’t sound like Marco, but that didn’t mean anything. She heard that his friends were helping him look for her, and she didn’t know them all. If this guy was one of them, she’d need to stay hidden, but the church was only so big, and if he started searching the building, he’d easily find her.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” the man assured. She wanted to laugh at his promise. She had heard that promise so many times from Marco, and each time, it had turned out to be a lie. Ember crouched quietly in the darkness, trying to control her rapid breathing. She was sure that whoever he was, he’d be able to hear her heart thumping in her chest. He didn’t seem as though he was going to give up and go away any time soon.
“I’m Jack,” he shouted into the air. “Jack Rodgers, but everyone calls me Spark.” He chuckled, and she wondered what that was about. “I’d tell you a story about how I got that nickname, if you would just come out and let me help you.” She was curious about his nickname, but there was no way that she’d leave her hiding space. Curiosity killed the cat, and she wasn’t about to fall for his tricks.
She could hear him pacing, and when he stopped just feet away from her, she held her breath, praying that she hadn’t given herself away. “Okay, well, if you decide that I’m not a bad guy and want to take me up on my offer of help, you can find me at this address. He put what looked like a business card on the front pew and turned to leave. “Um, just so you don’t get spooked, you should know that address is for a biker bar. But the guys are all nice and you’ll be safe there.” From the way he looked back at the dark corner, he knew that he had her cornered, but he made no move towards her. Instead, he turnedto walk back out of the small, abandoned church, and for that, she was grateful.
Ember let out the breath that she didn’t know she had been holding and rubbed her dirty hand over her face. If she were being honest, she’d admit that she was exhausted and ready to stop running, but there would be no one to listen to her confession, so it wouldn’t make a difference. She stood from the dirty floor and brushed herself off, as though that would help her appearance at all. It had been almost a week since she had had a shower. She was staying at a shady motel in southern Maryland when she realized that Marco had caught up with her. She didn’t have time to grab her things and toss them into her duffel bag. Instead, she grabbed her purse and a few odds and ends, heading out into the night, not bothering to look back. She knew what she’d find—her past, and that wasn’t something that she’d ever be willing to go back to.
Ember woke up to the sound of men talking and the smell of smoke. At first, she thought that she was back in the Sarasota bar that had become her second home. That place always smelled like smoke and was usually filled with people talking. She had foolishly fallen asleep on the same pew where that guy had left a card for her with an address on it. He promised her that she’d be safe there, but she wondered if that was the truth or not. She hadn’t felt safe for months now, and a biker bar wasn’t going to change that for her.
After Marco found her at the cheap motel she was hiding away in, she took off, leaving most of her belongings behind—including her car. Not that losing that rusted-out heap was much of a loss. She had taken buses and hitchhiked through Maryland,Delaware, and New Jersey. When she hit the New York border, she breathed a sigh of relief, believing that she had most likely outrun her ex—but she knew that nothing was ever that easy.
She sat up and looked around the church, wiping sleep from her eyes and trying to clear her brain fog. She saw no sign of fire or smoke, for that matter. As for the men talking, she didn’t see them either. Ember chalked it up to having a dream, but when she stood to leave the church, needing to find someplace to relieve herself, she practically ran into Marco.
“Got you,” he spat, grabbing her arm. He smelled like cigarette smoke, and if she had to guess, he wasn’t alone. “You’ve been hard to find, honey, but you had to know that sooner or later, I’d catch up with you, right?” She stared him down, refusing to answer his question. It was probably rhetorical anyway.
“What do you want, Marco?” she asked. Her voice sounded dry, even to her own ears.
“I want you to come home with me, Ember, where you belong. I told you that you’re mine, and I don’t let go of what’s mine very easily.” Well, that much was plain to see. He had chased her up the eastern seaboard, and she had a feeling that he’d keep pursuing her if she found a way to escape him now.
“I’m not yours and I won’t be going back to Florida, ever,” she spat, trying to pull her arm free from his grip. Marco backhanded her right cheek, and she tried to take a step back from him, but he didn’t allow her that space. Marco only tightened his fingers around her wrist, and she knew that she’d wear his marks later.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, honey,” he shouted.
“I’m not your honey, and I told you that we’re done,” she yelled back. This was usually how things went between the two of them, and most of the time, it ended with him backhandingher face or punching her in the ribs. She wasn’t about to let either of those things happen this time—not if she could help it.
“We’ll see about that,” he spat. “I’ve got her, Keith,” he shouted. Keith was one of Marco’s douche buddies from the band. He played the drums and usually kept to himself. He liked to sit in the corner of the bar and smoke pot with one of their other friends from the band, Alecia. Back in the day, Alecia and Marco dated. Hell, Alecia had even warned Ember to stay away from Marco, but she thought that was because she was jealous and still not over her ex. After she and Alecia got to know each other, she found out that Marco liked to knock Alecia around, too, and when she left him, and not the band, he moved on to Ember. The whole thing had turned out to be one giant cluster fuck, and if she had just listened to the warning about Marco, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
“Where the fuck is he?” Marco growled. “Keith, get the fuck in here.” There was still no answer from his friend, and for just a second, Ember had hope. She wasn’t sure what she hoped for, but still, it was hope.
“I guess he got sick of waiting for you and took off,” she taunted.
“No way,” he insisted. “Keith wouldn’t take off on me like that. Something must be wrong.” He tugged her to the front of the church, and she dragged her feet, protesting the whole way. “Stop being a bitch and come on,” he spat.
“I’m not going with you, Marco. I’ve already told you that. You want a fight, and I’m finally ready to give you one. That was a lie—she wasn’t ready for anything. She was tired and weak from lack of food. The last thing she could do was fight someone, especially Marco. He was big, and she knew that he could pack a punch. She had no weapons and no hope of fighting back, but she wouldn’t admit that to him.
“I think that you should listen to the lady, Marco,” a man’s deep voice growled from behind them. Marco turned her to face the guy, and she was sure that she knew him.
“You,” she breathed.
“Do you two know each other?” Marco asked, tightening his hold on her arm.
“No,” she insisted.
“Sure, we do,” the man said. “I’m Jack, remember? I dropped by here yesterday.” This guy was going to end up getting them both killed, and he seemed to have no clue how much danger he was putting her in.
