AllFreeNovel
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“They’re bumping into us, Lo—”
“Pull over.”
“No,” I cut in, scared to be in a parking lot with Boom Box. The Bulky One tried to physically come at me, and we have no bodyguards.
“Find the safest place and pull over,” Dad forces. “They’ll run you both off the fucking road.”
“I’m going to pull over,” Mom says, even though I’m shaking my head a hundred miles a minute.
“No, please,” I say “It’s Boom Box.”
“Stay in the car,” Donnelly tells us.
“Boom Box?” Dad questions.
“These two paps—”
“Mom, wait”—I wide-eye the street—“is this…?”
She’s turned on to a slim road that resembles a darkened alleyway, a normal shortcut, but road work signs and orange barrels block off the exit. We’re in a dead-end.
“Lily?” Dad calls out.
“I’m trying to get out of here.” Mom attempts to reverse, but headlights glare in our rear windshield. She hits the brakes. Boom Box is right behind us.
We’re trapped.
“Where’s here?” Donnelly asks.
I scramble with my cellphone to drop a pin of our location. “I sent you a pin. We can just stay parked, right?” I ask Mom.
She nods, already putting the car in park. Our wipers squeak in the quiet, and exhaust billows out the butt of our car, further obscuring the paparazzi who’ve confined us here. “We’ll be fine,” she tells me.
“Lock the doors,” Dad says urgently. “Just wait in the car. We’re coming to you.”
“Security’s on their way too,” Donnelly tells us. “You alright, Luna?”
“Yeah.” I try to control my racing heartbeat with a few breaths. I try to picture their dinner together, only happiness on the menu. I try to imagine we’re safe in a forcefield more durable than adamantium and vibranium combined. I try to envision a perfect tomorrow.
I hope.
And believe.
I’m okay. We’ll be okay.
Mom stretches over to my side and fumbles in the glove compartment. She hands me the only bottle of pepper spray.
“Mom—”
“Take it.” She’s already dropped the bottle in my lap, and we keep eyeing the idle gray sedan behind us.
Fear tenses my bones, and I grip the pepper spray like a lightsaber. We’ll be okay.
And then all four of their car doors swing open. Four doors?
“Wait…” Wait. My pulse is in my throat. Is Boom Box riding with more cameramen? The two of them couldn’t have opened all four doors.
“What?” Donnelly asks. “Luna? You alright?”
Dread wraps around my windpipe like a vice, and I can barely breathe.
“What’s going on?” Dad questions. “Lil? Is she okay?”
“They’re getting out of their car,” Mom tells them.
“Jesus Christ,” Dad curses with a string of threats that echo distantly in my pounding eardrums.
“The car is locked, Luna,” Mom reminds me, trying to level the shakiness of her voice. “They’ll just take some photos and be gone. Poof.”
I’m really scared.
My ribcage constricts painfully around my lungs, and I hardly blink as these tall figures emerge on either side of our doors. It’s dark, rainy, but as I twist to my window, I catch sight of his hands.
There is no camera.
“That’s not Boom Box,” I say. “Donnelly!”
“STAY IN THE CAR!” he yells.
They smash our side windows. “Mom!” I scream as we’re showered with glass.
“Get out of the fucking car!” someone shouts.
“LILY!” Dad screams.
Everything happens so fast. Mom tries to reverse and run them over, but an arm swoops through her broken window, caging her by the collarbones and pulling her against her door. He’s wearing a black ski-mask.
I unbuckle, reach over, and spray his eyes.
“Fucking bitch!” he swears, not letting go of Mom, not even as she fights harder against his iron-like hold.
“We’re almost there.” I hear Donnelly distantly, but the glimmer of hope is too far away to catch, and my mom’s eyes suddenly widen at something behind me.
“NO!” Mom shrieks. “Don’t touch her!!”
I glance back, just as another man tries to snatch me around the waist. His face is also hidden in a ski-mask. And my door is already unlocked. Open.
I spin around and kick at him with all my might.
He seizes my foot, only to tear off my sneaker. And then he comes halfway into the car and picks me up like I weigh absolutely nothing. Terror envelopes me, and I reach for my phone. It slips from my fingers as he pulls me out into the rain.
“MOM!” I scream.
“LUNA!” Mom wails. “DON’T HURT HER, PLEASE! PLEASE!”
“MOM!” Tears burn my eyes, and I’m thrown onto the rough cement. Glass shards dig into my hands and knees. A boot slams up into my chest, and I cough. Rain droplets blur my vision, and I try to crawl to my feet.
Another boot to the chest.
I want to curl up. To become a real roly-poly in a soft shell and never emerge. Not until it’s safe.
Another boot.
“Donnelly,” I cry out.
“Which one of us is she asking for?” A chill rakes my entire body, and my head whirls like I’ve sucked on too much helium.
