I don’t care what they want, I’m not leaving my parents. But across from me, my mom shakes her head, her mouth pressed into a firm line and her eyes sharp with resolve.
“Go with him, Haven,” she tells me.
“Mom, no?—”
“Yes. I’ve got your father, but if you stay with us it will only be more dangerous for you. You need to get far away from here. And fast.”
I shake my head. “I-I can’t just leave you.”
“You can and you will. We didn’t spend the last twenty years trying to protect you only to fail now. You need to leave.”
The ambulance sirens are louder, maybe a block or two away.
I glance down at my dad. His eyes are slits but he’s still conscious. “We don’t want to leave you, but you need to go.”
There’s a knot in my throat I can’t speak past. I’m torn in two, wanting to honor their wishes but also not being able to make my feet move.
My dad’s gaze travels past me. “Protect her,” he says weakly, speaking to Becks somewhere behind me.
“With my life,” he vows, and then rather than wait for me this time, he grabs me around the waist and picks me right up off the floor.
Even though it’s what my parents want, I still don’t want to be separated from them. They need me. I scream and claw at Becks to break free, but it’s like fighting against a stack of stones.
Unmovable and painful.
I’m pretty sure I do more damage to myself than him.
When he shoves through the back door, hauling me with him, I’m hit in the face with a cold gush of wind. The ambulance sirens are earsplitting, and then suddenly cut off, making me think they’ve reached my house.
Becks gets a few yards away from the house and puts me down. He immediately grabs the sides of my face, forcing me to look at him.
“You will see your parents again. I promise,” he vows. “But right now I need you to stop fighting me. We have to get as far away from here as possible. That’s the best thing you can do for them right now. It’s safer for them to be separated from you. Do you understand?”
My heart races a million beats a minute and my body screams at me to get back to my parents, but as I lock eyes with him, the panic begins to subside.
I nod slowly, and relief fills his green gaze.
“I need you to trust me right now. Is that something you think you can do?”
Despite the obvious rush, he’s speaking slowly and softly, his tone soothing rather than demanding, coaxing me to calm down.
I nod again. “Yes. I can do that,” I say, finding my voice.
“Good.” The corners of his mouth turn up, sending a subtle warmth threading through me as he takes my hand, utterly enveloping mine. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
Becks glances at me from the driver’s seat, the SUV eating up the country roads beneath us. His hair is tousled and his cheeks flushed, but the look in his eye is steady, controlled.
After leaving my house, we made a mad dash back through the woods to where his car was parked. He threw my duffel into the back as I climbed in the passenger seat, and then after getting behind the wheel, he gunned the engine and we were off.
That was fifteen minutes ago. It’s taken me this long to find my voice.
“As far away from the university as fast as we can.”
“That’s not really an answer.”
He rubs his lower lip, drawing my attention to its fullness before I force my gaze back to his face.
