Page 84 of The Burdens We Share
The only way out of this room is the way I came in, but that’s going to be near impossible with him blocking the exit and charging at me. I grip the lamp pole tighter in my sweaty palms and lift it above my shoulder, ready to strike at the right opportunity. I know a measly lamp pole isn’t going to cut it at the end of the day. I need to find something sturdier, heavier.
I’m careful not to take my eyes off of him as I take in the room around me. It’s a set of our studio, instruments hung on the walls, replicas of our actual instruments on display only feet from me.
Calvin growls, “You’re really upsetting me, Ivory. I could’ve given you everything.”
I need to distract him while I look for a weapon so I scoff, “What’s everything? News flash, freak. There isn’t a single thing you can give me that Dallas can’t. I willneverwant you.” This does exactly what I needed it to do and he grunts, leaping forward just as I swing the lamp pole at his cheekbone.
It lands true and he fumbles a step back. I go to strike again, but my grip on the pole slips from the blood still pouring out of my arm and onto my palms, making a mess of everything. He catches the pole and uses it to pull me close and I quickly drop it to avoid getting even within a foot of him.
“Last chance, Ivory. I’ll give you one last chance to love me willingly before I force you,” his head turns to the side, a twisted gleam in his dead eyes and a slight curve of his crooked smile.
I raise my chin as I take retreating steps toward Brody’s drum set, “Go. Fuck. Yourself.”
His smile falls and his eyes darken, another side of him coming out. He charges at me and I wait, freezing where I am because I know I’ll only get one shot. When he’s about a footand a half away, I reach down without taking my eyes off of him and wrap my bloody hands around the neck of my pink glittery guitar replica, and swing at the side of his head. Bastard has taken so many headshots and he hasn’t fallen until this point. No. Now he falls, the wind knocking out of him.
I don’t wait. I just run. I run full speed to the door I came through and continue running until I open the door Aria disappeared through. It’s a stairwell leading to the second level of the set. I immediately start racing up the stairs, my blood dripping from my arm and leaving an angry red trail behind me.
As I round the first flight, I hear the door open and I know it’s him. Fuck. Why won’t he just stay down or I don’t know, pass the fuck out?
I feel lightheadedness as I continue racing, taking the stairs two at a time. I know it has to be from overexertion and blood loss because my arm is just pouring. I refuse to stop running. I refuse to let him kill me.
I try to push through it the best I can, but my head grows dizzier and my speed slows. I don’t hear him gaining on me. I only know he’s directly behind me when a hand latches onto my ankle and drags me down the stairs. I scream as my head hits a cement stair and Calvin looks down at me with pure rage on his face. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
“Fuck,” I pant, “you,” my voice is breathless.
I kick my leg at him, but I’m such a fool. I’m such a fool because I’m lightheaded and probably severely concussed after the fall I just took. So much so that I don’t see the glint of silver metal as it stabs into the top of my thigh. The scream that tears from my throat is one of agony and it’s all I remember before everything fades to black.
Chapter 26
Dallas
I’m on a rafter,having split up from the other guys. I’m on the second floor of the big set building. We swept the rest of the area and didn’t find anyone so we took the biggest building in hopes this was the right one.
It’s dark as all hell in here, but I can see just enough to know where I’m going. I’m running full speed in search of Ivory or one of the girls. The faster I get through this building, the faster I can find her.
I’m running so fast I don’t hear the footsteps coming from my left and just as my rafter intersects with another, a body collides with mine and rebounds so quickly, I hear a loud thud and a grunt of pain on the floor below me. I was thrown off balance, but whoever it is is small enough that I barely moved. I look down, my heart swelling with hope that it’s Ivory, but when my eyes find an angry-looking blonde with black streaks and makeup-stained cheeks, that hope dies. “Brody,” I take her in. I scan her from head to toe as I reach down to help her to her feet. I can’t see her face too clearly in the dark, but it seems she’s mostly intact aside from some cuts and scrapes on her face.
Brody’s eyes widen in surprise and she launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Oh my fucking God. You’re here. You’re really here. We’re saved,” she says to herself into my white dress shirt. I didn’t have time to change.
I gently pat her back. The only person I’m affectionate with is still missing. Brody and I have become sort of friends? I mean, she’s dating my best friend and I’m dating hers so we’ve grownrather used to each other. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved to see her very much alive and somewhat intact. She drops her arms from my neck and grips my shirt in her fists, “Oh my God! Dallas, he’s crazy. He was chasing us all over, and he-” she’s flustered, the memories all coming back to her. “He has a knife and he’s just insane!”
I grip her shoulders, holding her in place, “Where is Ivory?”
Brody’s face falls and her brows furrow in fear, “I don’t know. We had to split up when he found us.”
“Fuck,” I mutter.
Footsteps pad from behind me and without hesitation, I shove Brody behind me and retrieve my gun, pointing it directly at the perpetrator. When I see my best friend standing across from me, I lower my gun.
Harvey’s face is fearful. He looks like he’s seen a ghost and it’s one of the only times the man has ever shown emotion in front of me. He’s truly petrified that Brody is hurt or worse and I know the feeling all too well. His face also seems as though he’s in disbelief like he heard her voice, but now that he’s not seeing her he thinks he made it up in his head. I realize then that her entire body is hidden behind me so I step to the side and look down at her before returning my gaze to his.
When Harvey’s eyes land on Brody, he starts breathing again and his shoulders sag. Brody has a similar reaction as a cry tears from her throat and she sprints to him, launching herself into his arms. He catches her and holds her so tightly against him that I doubt he’d ever be able to let go. His grip is iron as he uses one hand to support her weight and the other to hold her head against his neck. Sobs wrack through her chest and I see a single tear stream down his cheek before he looks at me and mouths,Find her.
I let them have their little reunion in peace and turn, more motivated than ever to have my own reunion with Ivory. As Itake my first step, an ear-piercing scream comes from our left and my head whips to the side. I know that voice. I know that scream. I know it just as well as I know my own voice, if not better.
Ivory.
Rage. Panic. Anxiety. Fear. It all forms an overwhelming feeling in me so uncomfortable that it feels like my heart was wrenched clean from my chest, killing me instantly. In all of the many dangerous and life-threatening situations I’ve been in, I’ve never been as afraid as I am at this moment.
