AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Suddenly my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I dig it out frantically, looking for some sign that everyone is okay.
Do you need to talk?We’re in a meeting.It’s Cyril that’s texted me, and I let out a long breath of relief and sag against the wall.
Idoneed to talk. I need to tell him what’s happened and what Sera told the woman this morning.
But if he’s fine now, then it can wait. As long as they’re fine and nothing has gone wrong, I can wait for them to get out of the meeting.
I need to talk to you, I say, and send it just as I turn away from the door.
And lay my eyes on Deacon Roger, who leans against a fancy black car and watches me with cool, blue eyes.
“I thought I might find you here when I couldn’t find them,” he says, his gaze locked on mine. “I’d asked that we not involve you, but if I just let you walk away, then you’ll tell them. And that would be inopportune for my brother and me.”
“What?” I ask, trying to scramble for words that will make me seem like I don’t know what he’s talking about.
A woman’s footsteps catch my attention, and when I glance over, a woman as tall as me and with a similar build turns the corner, hands shoved into her jacket pockets.
“Won’t you go for a ride with us?” she asks, and IthinkI recognize her voice as the woman who’d called me on my phone a few weeks ago, though it’s been so long that I could be completely wrong. “We just want to talk, Arista.”
“No,” I say, wondering how I can get any kind of message to Cyril and the others about this. My phone vibrates, and her eyes go to it just as my fingers tighten around it.
“Please don’t,” she says. “I’d rather you just get in the car and give that to me.”
I smile politely at her and with one hand move to press the H. I hit send just as she starts coming toward me.
When I send the E, she’s right beside me, and by the time I’ve sent the L, she’s got her hand on my neck.
I never get to send the P. She slams my head against the glass hard enough for me to lose all sense of what’s going on, and my phone clatters to the ground.
On the second hit against the glass, where I’m sure I can hear a crack, my knees buckle, and blackness washes over my vision.
Somehow, I have a feeling I won’t be making a daring car escape this time.
