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A video appears on my screen that makes my blood run cold. It's full of students walking around campus, going from one class to another, and if I didn't know her like the back of my hand, I wouldn't know what I'm looking at. Amelia is alone as she makes her way across the courtyard, but it's obvious if this person wanted to get their hands on her, they could.
The message that comes in after it isn't much better.
Blade: Leaving her alone is reckless, even for you. You're making it easy for me Zaynie.
Fuck. He knows I've been keeping an eye on her.
I've done my best to try to remain unseen, even going as far as dressing in clothes unlike those I usually wear. The only thing I haven't gone to the extreme of is hiding in bushes, but I would if that's what it takes.
Unable to handle this anymore, I press call and bring the phone to my ear.
“Oh, hey, Zaynie,” he answers. “How've you been? How's life?”
“Cut the fucking shit, Blade,” I growl.
He pretends to sigh. “Now, now. Is that anyway to talk to me?”
“Amelia and I broke up, so you can stop sending your little pictures and videos.”
It's quiet for a moment before a bark of laughter comes booming through the phone. Just like that, everything I've been trying to do, I know was for nothing.
“How fucking stupid do you think I am?” he quips. “The cliché, break up with her to protect her, act, Z? Really?”
I roll my eyes. “What do you want?”
“Oh, no,” he tsks. “Haven't you learned anything? Negotiations went out the window the moment you decided to ambush me. Four broken ribs, a broken nose, and a black eye, and you think you still get the courtesy of my compassion? Not a fucking chance.”
“Blade, come on,” I throw my pride away and weaken to the point of begging. “There has to be something. Name your price.”
“The price is her fucking life,” he sneers. “I'm going to hit you right where it fucking hurts, and there's nothing you can do about it. Enjoy the time you have left with her. Clock’s ticking.”
The line goes dead, and the phone falls out of my hand, clattering on the floor.
No matter how much I've tried to avoid it, all the things I've done to try to change our fate, it was always going to come down to this. It's like it was written in the stars. I wanted things to be different, but I'm pushed in a corner, and there's only one thing left to do.
I collapse onto the floor and call Knox, fulfilling a promise I made to him when we were in Rhode Island.
“Hey, Z,” he greets me.
“Vaughn.”
That's all it takes, just saying his last name. It was always a code we had when we were kids. If shit was really bad, we would call each other by our last names. It was a way of telling the other something was wrong, without having to come out and say it. I used it a few times when my dad would beat on me, and Knox used it when his mom would bring home another douchebag guy. Regardless, we always knew what it meant.
The background noise goes silent. “This is the call, isn't it?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Yeah, it is.”
I can faintly hear him excuse himself, probably from a customer. “Are you sure?”
“I've tried everything. He's not going to quit. There's no other way.”
He takes a deep breath. “You know I want to try to talk you out of it, but I can't. If I had the chance, I would have killed Cal a million times over. Jackson just beat me to it.”
My whole body is slowly going numb, as if my mind is made up and it's trying to protect itself from the trauma that is inevitably coming. “I have to protect her. If something happens to her...”
“Nothing will. You're making sure of that,” he consoles me. “I love you, Z. You've been my best friend since we were just little kids making a muck of things. No matter what happens, I'm on your side.”
His words are everything I didn't know I needed to hear, but I cling to them like air. “I love you, man. Just promise me you'll make sure Amelia is okay. I won't be able to, so you need to step up.”
