Page 130 of Addicted
“Thank fucking God,” he breathes, his whole body relaxing in his seat across from me. I have to blink several times to make sense of the image before me. It looks like he’s also secured to his chair with handcuffs around his wrists and ankles. I try to move my own legs, finding that they only go a small way before the rattle of metal lets me know that I, too, am secured by my ankles like Tarl.
“W–What the fuck is going on?” I question, my voice croaky as my ears pop again. “A–Are we on a plane?”
I’ve never been on an airplane before, but this looks suspiciously like what I’ve seen in films. Though there only seems to be eight seats, which are large and luxurious looking. I wiggle and feel that they’re pretty comfy too, you know, if you ignore the fact that I’m fucking handcuffed to one. Tarl and I appear to be in one group of four, the other set of four is unoccupied and we look to be alone in the cabin.
“Yes,Koshgelam,” Tarl replies, and I don’t miss the way his body caves in on itself, the defeated way he looks away from me.
“What’s going on, Tarl?” I ask, my mouth going dry as fear coats my insides like a thick tar. Whatever it is, I know that it’s not good when his jaw works.
“Do you remember when I told you that my family was killed?” he inquires, finally looking up at me. There’s a fire in the depths of his beautiful eyes, making the blue one sparkle and shine.
“Y–Yes.”
“I believe that the men who took their lives have come back for me, and have taken you too, realizing that you’re important to me,” he answers, and the metal of my cuffs clinks lightly as my body trembles.
“And why do you think that, Tarl?” I ask, not even breathing as he stares straight into my eyes.
“Because I told them where to find me,Azizam.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“ARE YOU WITH ME” BY NILU
TARL
“W–What?”
Her soft voice cuts straight through me as my mind whirls with what I’ve done in my quest for revenge. A heavy sigh leaves my lips as regret coats my tongue like arsenic, bitter and likely to kill me.
To kill us.
My jaw clenches at the thought of any harm befalling our bird, but my stomach twists knowing that I didn’t start this thinking I’d come out the other side alive.
“My parents were very outspoken, liberals in my country, alongside several others that wanted to move away from the old ways and embrace the modern age,” I tell her, her beautiful, blue eyes laser-focused on me as I bring up the plan that I haven’t even told the guys. I wanted to do this alone, the risk to anyone else was too great. “Then one day, men burst into our house and killed them all, brutally and without mercy. I was out playingwith my friends when I heard the screams, but by the time I rushed back it was too fucking late,Eshgham. They were all gone, their blood sparkling all over the walls as though someone had taken a can of paint and thrown it at them. I remember sinking to my knees, then jumping out of my skin when a broken voice called my name.” I have to close my eyes and swallow hard at the next part, the memory of my mother’s voice, so shattered and filled with agony making fire burn in my veins. “It was my mother, barely alive, her torso ripped open, and I knew, even in my child’s brain, that she wasn’t long for this world. She told me to run, to hide far away, and to never return.”
“Oh, Tarl.”
I open my eyes and find her own full of tears, tears that I don’t fucking deserve. I watch as one spills down her cheek, and I want to roar at the fact that I can’t go to her and wipe it away.
“We have more in common than you knew,Eshgham, for I, too, held my mother as she died in my arms, vowing as her soul left her I would one day come back, find the men who killed my family, and make them beg for death.” The rage that flows through me is like a welcome friend, and I bask in its glow for a moment before remembering that she’s here too. And it’s like a bucket of ice water has been thrown over me, and for perhaps one of the first times in my life, panic tries to claw at me.
“So, you set this whole thing up? To avenge them?” she questions, and I expect to see disgust or condemnation in her eyes, but all I see is the softness of her face as she uses a gentle tone. “Tarl, I’ve heard about these groups. T–They do terrible things to people. They kill them, just like your family…” Her eyes widen and she tries to lean towards me, but her own cuffs prevent it. “You knew you wouldn’t come back from this, didn’t you?” Her cheeks are flushed, and her nostrils flare as she takes me in, my jaw grinding once more as I refuse to lie to her but can’t quite bring myself to say the words. “You didn’t tell theguys, did you? Knowing that this was basically signing your own death warrant. Fucking answer me!” The tears stream down her face, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest.
“There’s a debt of blood to be paid,Aziz-e delam. A death vow to be fulfilled.” My voice isn’t hard like I want it to be, an edge of pleading softening my words, but they land like blows anyway, and she flinches back in her seat. My soul bleeds at the hurt and betrayal on her face.
“A–And us? What happens now?” she asks, and bile rises in my throat at what we are facing. “Where are they taking us, Tarl?” Her eyes are panicked, her entire body trembling, and fuck, I know that it’s not just my death warrant that I’ve signed.
“They’re taking us back to Iran,” I state, watching as her breath hitches, and then her chest rises and falls with shallow breaths.
“A–And then?” I can see the knowledge settle into those blue eyes, and I deserve to die for killing the light that usually makes them sparkle. Her hands grip the armrests and it’s like she has a vise over my heart, the organ barely able to beat when I think about what I’m forcing her to face.
It’s the only way.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I vow, my voice low and gruff. It’s possibly the first and only time I’ve ever lied to her. The way her shoulders slump tells me she knows it for the untruth that it is too.
“You won’t be able to stop them, will you.” It’s not a question, and I see her swallow right before her face drops, going completely blank, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve done what we set out to do all those months ago.
I’ve broken our beautiful bird.
