Page 91 of Entangled

No.

I can’t leave him.

I just can’t. I’m incapable of it.

I watch Kyle flick his eyes to the door behind me, the same thought having occurred to him and he begins to slowly circle around, putting him on the direct path to come up behind me.

“The thing is, Jace… you don’t really have the upper hand here, do you?”

I watch him slowly walk, baseball bat swinging back and forth at his side as he reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a knife. Flicking it open, he reveals a long, razor sharp looking blade that has my breath stuttering with panic.

Oh my god. We’re going to die.

We’re going to die here on this dirty bar floor, surrounded by the smell of beer and cigarettes.

I’m never going to make it home. I’m never going to make it back to the guys, they’ll crumble, absolutely crumble if this happens to me and they weren’t here to protect me. I’m never going to make it home with Jace. I’m going to die in this town, just like my parents.

My head starts to feel fuzzy, blackness creeping into the edges of my eyes and some removed part of me realizes that I’m hyperventilating. But I’m being pulled too deep under the tide of panic to do anything about it. Well and truly lost as my brain shuts down under the duress of the situation. Trying to save me from the horrible fate awaiting.

“Hey, Blondie.” Jace’s calm voice breaks through my panic, drawing my eyes to him and I see that flash of dimples despite the situation we’re in. “Come here, yeah?”

Everyone stops at his words, Kyle and Kurt darting their eyes between us as if unsure what to do with the odd request, whether to allow me closer to him or not.

But why… why would he want me to come to him? It’d just put me closer, right in the middle of things, that much easier for the bats and knife to reach.

“Trust, right? That’s what we’re all about. That moment in the sun together.” His eyes drill into mine, silently begging me to come to him. “You remember the first time I convinced you to do something? That night you came to the bonfire? Man.” He shakes his head, making sure to keep his eyes on mine. “It might not have shown but I was so nervous. You were standing there looking all kinds of gorgeous and then I went and fucked it up and we bickered right away. I was terrified you were going to leave right then and I would never see you again. But you didn’t. Remember that?”

Of course I remember. We bickered right off the bat because his dumb ass had questioned my competency when it came to…

When it came to having a gun.

“Come here, Ellie,” he softly pleads. “I want to kiss you like I did last week when you came up here.”

But last week…

Last week he had taken me to the office in the back and propped me up on his desk before playing with me for a solid hour despite Tiff’s shouts of protests from outside the door.

We had fought about guns and he had taken me to the office in the back.

Holy shit.

I try to keep my expression blank as I put the pieces together. He has a gun in his office. He must, and he’s trying to get me to come to him so that I can make a run for it.

But a gun…. My hands start to shake with fear at the realization and I clench the one not holding my phone into a tight fist to hide it. I don’t know shit about guns and that would leave him here. Alone and at their mercy.

Stupid, self-sacrificing, clever boy.

But it’s also the only way I can see out of this for us.

Taking a breath to steady myself, I take a hesitant step forward and Kyle lifts his bat in response, pointing it at me.

“You don’t fucking move.”

I freeze, eyes zeroing in on the bat he’s holding and the rage in his eyes, not knowing what the right move is, whether to keep moving or hold still.

“Promises, Ellie.” Jace’s melodic voice pulls at me, making me turn my head back to him. I can see the love shining from his eyes and mine start to burn in response, because it is love that he feels for me. Some part of me has known it for a while now. “I always keep mine, right? And Kurt here is going to let you come to me so I can say goodbye.”

I flick my eyes to Kurt and he pauses for only a moment before giving a nod. “Go on.”

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