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My head drops from how much this is hurting me and him both. I just want to wrap my arms around him, kiss him until there’s no more air to breathe, but I have to guard my heart instead. Greyson goes to grab his hoodie from his room, while I wait in the foyer contemplating whether I’m ready for what he’s going to tell me.
We stay silent during the drive, not wanting to make things worse between us. He starts to take us on a path I’m not familiar with. As I look out the window, I see wooded areas surrounding us. Panic starts to crawl under my skin. He’s going to kill me. He’s taking me out here so no one will hear my screams when he kills me. Instinctively, I grab the handle getting ready to tuck and roll if I need to.
Greyson must sense my apprehension. He places his hand on my bare thigh, making me jump as my body stiffens. “Blaze, I’m not going to hurt you, I’ve already told you that. Please relax, we’re almost there.” Relax? This literally is a scene straight from a horror film. No one just goes to the woods for a chat without offing the other.Get your shit together, Lya and calm the fuck down.
Playing it cool, I relax my body, letting Greyson keep his hand on my thigh so I don’t work him up. If I need to get away or attack him, I don’t want him to think I’m already ready to pounce.
His thumb rubs back and forth on my thigh as we drive deeper into the woods. My body is in conflict with itself. My heart explodes from the gentle, tender touch, but my brain has me wanting to break his fingers for touching me. Brandon really fucked me up, just like he wanted to. He’s made me suspicious of a guy I’m falling in love with. A guy that has never shown me anything but how much he cares about me. I need these answers right now so I can put an end to these conflicted feelings.
The car slows down to a stop and he squeezes my thigh. “We’re here,” he says calmly, removing his hand so he can get out. I look around, trying to figure out where exactly “here” is, but all I see are trees and what looks like a cliff in the distance. Is he going to push me off of it? Is that how I’m going to die?
I round the front of the car to stand in front of him. “Greyson, where are we? What is this place?”
“Before you ask your questions, let me explain some things first.”
All I can do is nod my head, trying to brace myself for what he’s about to say.
“When I was a kid, my mother left me with my father and never came back. Her life with us was so miserable that she thought it would be better to leave. She didn’t even have the decency to take her child away from the man she knew was abusive. She became a ghost, leaving no trace behind. I’ve looked for her so many times, but I can’t find her. She’s gone and never coming back.” Pain slices through the air as his voice cracks talking about his mother. I empathize with him on this point. My mom didn’t walk out on me exactly, but she might as well have because she was either passed out or somewhere looking for more drugs.
“I was seven years old when she left. I guess I can’t completely blame her. My father was a monster. He was abusive, controlling, and manipulative. I remember one time at a party that my parents hosted, my mother was having a conversation with one of my father’s business associates. My father got so jealous that he quickly pulled her away. I followed them to my dad’s office, but they didn’t know that. He took her inside, took his belt from his trousers, and began whipping her back with it. She collapsed into a ball on the ground, as the blood from the lashes surrounded her body. The asshole just left her there crying and broken so he could return to his party. I came in and tried to comfort her, but she looked up at me with a soft caring smile and told me she was fine and that I needed to go to bed. She always put on a brave face and tried to protect me from my father, so I’ve never been sure why she left me with him.” Tears are beginning to roll down my cheeks hearing Greyson talk about what a cruel man his father was.
“It was about three months after that party when my mother left without a trace. My father said she ran away with another man and that she didn’t love us anymore. At the time, I believed him. Believed that she didn’t love me, but as I got older I realized more and more the monster my father was. There was no way he would have let her leave with another man. It would have embarrassed him and brought shame to his name. He was a possessive asshole so there’s no way that could have been true. Part of me feared that he killed her, but I know now that she really did leave me.” I want to comfort Greyson so badly right now, but I can’t. I can’t let my emotions for him cloud my judgment; I need to get answers from him.
He continues, “As I got older, I realized just how cold my father was. He made me do things. Things I’m not proud of, Blaze. Things that would make you hate me.” His voice is barely above a whisper now as I try to grasp what he’s saying.
“Greyson, you can tell me. It can’t be that bad, just tell me and we can work through it.” My voice is tender. I’m beginning to get worried. Greyson seems to be in a panicked state at the moment and I’m not sure what he’s going to do. I still don’t entirely know what we’re doing here. “Why are we out here?”
“This is the place my father used to take me when he was out of control. This is the place where my demons roam looking for their next victim.” My entire body stills, I’m not even sure if I’m still breathing. His next victim? Am I the next victim?
“My father wasn’t the clean-cut man that the world believed him to be. No, he had demons and monsters inside of him. He brought me here when he wanted to teach me a lesson. Those scars that line my body are from him. Every time I defied him, he would bring me out to these woods so he could mutilate my body where no one could hear me scream. Every time he would give me new cuts by slowly slicing into my flesh as I was chained down to a tree. He would stab me and hit me until I passed out. Then I would wake up and he would do it all over again until I caved into doing what he wanted. At my weakest points, he would make me do unspeakable things in these woods. Things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your life. Things that would always make him have a hold on me, so he could keep me in line.”
“Greyson, you’re scaring me. What did your father make you do?”
He turns to face me now. His eyes are dark, as blackness consumes them. Fear is all I can feel. The man standing in front of me doesn’t look like the same Greyson I’ve started to fall for. This man looks like pure evil, like the ghost of the man I know.
“I made my first kill in these woods. I... I also made my last kill in these woods. I’ve done bad, bad things here all for the sake of my father. Richard Nash was my puppet master. He was the Grim Reaper and the gatekeeper of Hell all in one. He gave me my ticket into the pits of darkness and now I’ve become the devil himself.” His eyes never leave mine. I’m convinced there is actual fire behind his eyes.
Getting nervous, I slowly back myself away from him. I still have no idea what he’s talking about, but the way he’s looking at me lets me know I’m in trouble. “I can’t let you leave me, Blaze. I’ve already lost too much in my life and I won’t let you go. You can’t leave me, baby. I won’t allow it.” He keeps repeating this over and over again as he approaches me.
Trying to remain calm long enough to come up with a plan, I state, “Greyson, look at me. I’m not going anywhere. You have me here and I just want to talk. We can work this out, just... just relax a bit, okay?” My voice is timid, giving away how scared I am right now.
He quickly brings his hand up to my neck and I feel a pinching sensation. He wraps his arms around my waist as my legs start to feel like jelly.Did he just drug me? What the hell?My limbs feel too heavy and my head leans into Greyson’s chest as darkness begins to cloud my vision. As I fade in and out, I can hear him whispering in my ear.
“You’re mine forever. I’ll never let you go, Lainey.”
Lainey? As in my sister Lainey? That’s the last thought I have before I am consumed by nothing but darkness.
Thirty-One
Gone. She’s been gone for four hours now. Where the fuck is she? Rage wraps its thorny vines further around my body the longer she’s away from me. She knows better than to go out alone with Brandon on the loose. What was she thinking? She probably wasn’t thinking. That woman is way too stubborn for her own good.
The only people I can think of to call are Tara and Greyson. Tara answered the first time I called, saying she was at work and hasn’t seen or talked to Lya today.
I try Greyson’s phone again. It goes straight to voicemail, again. I’ve called him twenty times so far. Why isn’t he answering?
I need to know where she is. This girl saved my barbed wire-wrapped heart from bleeding out. If something happens to her, I won’t survive. When I first met her, I hated her sassy attitude, but I soon realized I need that saucy mouth to survive. I’m so pissed at her right now for leaving without me. When she gets back, I’m going to throw her over my knee and spank her so hard she’ll feel my hand there for days. My dick twitches at the thought of her juicy ass jiggling as my palm meets her bare skin.
Zep, get your shit together. Your girl is out there alone and you don’t know where or if she’s safe, so stop thinking about her ass.
