CHAPTER 50
MELANIE
THE EXPRESSION ON JORDAN’S FACE AS HE LOOKED AT HIS BEST FRIEND WAS ONE I hadn’t seen before. It was a study in barely controlled fury as he strode over to Blaine and lightly tapped on his cheeks to get him to focus.
“Hey hey hey, it’s me, Blaine. It’s Jordan” he said in a gentle voice.
Blaine’s eyes rolled over to look at him and he broke out in a smile “Hey! It’s J man!” he said, sounding excited. I was getting really scared for Blaine at this point.
“J man?” I asked.
Jordan straightened with his hands still on Blaine’s shoulders.
“The shock waves must’ve made him delirious. He hasn’t called me that since high school” he said to me, then bent over his best friend again, still using that gentle tone I’d never heard before.
“Yeah, it’s me. Look, I need you to let go of Melanie. She only wants to help you. She’s not running away,” he said but that only served to make Blaine shake his head and grasp me tighter.
“No. Bad things happened to her… I wasn’t there. Bad things won’t happen again.. I am here,” he said firmly though his words were still slurred.
My heart grew even heavier. He was in worse condition than I was and didn’t care that I was the one who could stand, yet he still wanted to protect me.
“Blaine, you should know whatever happened wasn’t your fault,” I said, lightly stroking his hair. He didn’t reply, just closed his eyes and lightly pulled me towards himself.
Jordan straightened “Okay. It’s clear he doesn’t want you to leave, so you’ll stay with him. My other men are going through the compound and clearing it. Can you describe who did this to both of you?” he said, returning to that clipped tone.
I’d been standing as upright as I could, but now a wave of dizziness and nausea made me sit on the arm of the chair “I don’t know who took us that night, but I know the mastermind behind the whole thing“.
“He’s a man on the small side, wears this stupid wolf mask, speaks with a heavy accent. Calls himself The Wolf but I’ve been calling him The Cub because it pisses him off,” I said.
Jordan made a sound and said “Only you” and turned to look at me. It was like he was seeing me for the first time. His eyes took in all the cuts and bruises and small burns peppered across my skin. I saw the fury in his eyes dangerously approaching explosion. He started to move towards me but stopped when I held up a hand and took a small step back.
“Don’t. I’m blocking them out right now. If you acknowledge them, then I’d acknowledge them and things would go wrong. Right now our priority is getting the hell out of here” I said, trying to steady my voice. I waited with bated breath until he nodded in understanding.
“Fine. Stay here, I’ll be back soon” he said.
He started to move out and was nearing the door when I spoke “Jordan?” he looked back and I shifted my dagger from my left hand to my right “If you find him, or a big guy named Bolt, I wanted a piece of them” I said firmly, the anger in me clearly visible. He nodded again “I’ll be sure to send them your way.” Then he was gone.
I sent a silent plea after him to hurry up as I diverted my attention back to Blaine, who had let go of me now that he was certain I wasn’t going anywhere. I stalked around the space, restless. I heard shouts and gunshots going off now, but so far nobody had come this way. I walked around the chair looking for any way to disengage it but I didn’t have any experience with electric chairs so I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.
When the sounds of fighting drew closer I kept the knife within easy reach and held the gun with both hands beside the door. However, nobody burst through and the noise receded again. It wouldn’t surprise to learn that Jordan had told his men to keep away from this particular building.
I didn’t know how much time had passed. It felt like an eternity even though it could have been over thirty minutes. But with every passing minute I became more aware of the pain that racked my body.
The only thing keeping me upright was sheer will. I refuse to fold when Blaine is still vulnerable. I started to wish I could go outside and do something when I heard rapid footsteps approaching the door.
Setting
14.34
CHAPTER 30
I swiftly walked to stand in front of Blaine and aimed my gun at the door, narrowing my eyes when the person flung it
open.
The man who called himself The Wolf stood in the doorway.
He looked almost unrecognizable; half his mask was gone, and blood streaked his hair and face. The other half of his mask hung on for dear life as he grinned, showing off teeth streaked with blood and a few missing.
His usually impeccable suit was torn in places and there was no sign of his tie “Not looking too pretty, are you?” I commented drily even as anger surged within me.
“Neither are you” he shot back.
“From your appearance, I presume you’ve realized your game is over,” I said. He gave a nonchalant shrug
“Is it? It can’t be when I still have my insurance. If I go down, you’re coming with me” he said with a gleam in his eye that had me making sure Blaine was fully behind me.
“Like hell you are. Didn’t I tell you to make sure you kill me before I got out of that chair?” I flashed him a grin of my own. He was crazy but I was crazier by a long shot.
I fired the gun at him at him but he was quick in moving to the side so the bullet only grazed his leg. I fired again, this time catching him in the foot.
I don’t know whether he was impervious to pain or the adrenaline was blocking it out, but he lunged at me. I gritted my teeth against the pain as my back hit the floor and we rolled.
He was on top with his hands circling my throat, then I was on top jabbing my fingers into his eyes. He yelled in pain and rolled again but I kept rolling to make sure he didn’t get on top of me again.
He finally managed to and his hands clamped around my throat, choking me. I tried to pry his hands off my neck but he only gripped it tighter. Black spots began to dance in my vision and I couldn’t breathe. Out of the corner of my narrowing eyesight, I saw Blaine give a jerk and the dagger I kept in his lap fell to the floor.
He then kicked it towards me and I stretched my hand to grab it. The man was so intent on killing me that he didn’t notice I’d grabbed the knife until I plunged it into his arm. I withdrew it and stabbed him again as he roared and loosened his grip
a little.
A hazy film of red was the only thing I saw and I kept stabbing him repeatedly long after he collapsed with his warm blood. gushing over me.
Setting
