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Shit, it’s locked. Of course, it’s locked. It’s always locked and only the residents have a key so they can take out the trash from the back.
The key is in my apartment. Hooked on the side of the cabinet, right next to our trash can.
The rush of the situation is making me stupid and careless. That mistake could cost me my life.
I follow the brick wall on either side of the gate, unsure what I’m hoping for.
No such luck.
I don’t care. I’m not going to die today. I throw my backpack high over the gate. I have to try twice to pass it over. It’s high and so are the walls. Way too fucking high to climb.
And still, I don’t care. I try to climb it, not realizing it’s a hopeless situation. I’m too small. I’d have to be a trained soldier to climb this shit.
It’s impossible to get in without a key. Mainly, it’s impossible to get out.
I throw my head back, looking at the gray sky above me. “Fuck.”
A sense of resignation washes over me. Elliot is after me because Sawyer spilled my secret. Maybe he wanted to save himself. Elliot is going to kill me for what I did. Ethan will encourage him to do so.
I’m stuck here…a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Struggling to breathe, I take several steps back, craning my neck, looking up at the top of the gate as I lean against the brick wall of the building. I let myself drop to the ground, bringing my knees to my chest, my head falling onto them.
I’m going to die.
It’s too soon that I hear the building’s back door open, and someone approaches, feet crunching the gravel I’m sitting on. I don’t look up. I don’t want to see Elliot’s beautiful eyes tainted with a need for murder.
He’s on me after a few steps. I sense him right there. Observing me.
I don’t need to look up to feel him squat.
He softly puts a hand at the top of my head. My heart is beating in my ears, an insufferable ringing. I’ve had this hiding mechanism my entire life.
When debt collectors came to our apartment to speak to my dad, I’d hide in the corner near the bed, my head on my knees and my eyes closed.
When my mom announced her cancer, I hid in that same spot, refusing to hear her.
When Ethan broke up with me, I sat on the floor of my kitchen, knees to my chest, blocking out the world.
The second I learned Sawyer was dead, I sat right next to my mom. My ass cheeks got numb from spending the night on the floor, my head down, not wanting to accept the truth.
I can’t look up right now. Just put a bullet in my head and let me die a coward.
“Jade.”
My heart stops. This isn’t Elliot.
It’s Ethan.
That’s what makes me look up and gaze into the black eyes.
My own fill with tears. “Don’t bring me to him, please.” Throat closing, my voice becomes barely a squeak. “I know you hate me. But he’ll kill me.”
And then he says the few words that will change my life forever. “I’m not bringing you to him. I’m helping you leave.”
I can’t speak. I can’t utter a single word. My eyes wildly look around as he helps me up. Surely, this is Elliot’s plan, fucking with people’s minds again.
“He’s still at your front door,” Ethan explains. “I said I’d check to make sure you don’t escape from the back. Now come before he starts wondering what I’m up to.”
