“S—sure,” I respond.
“Good.” He puts the brush down next to me. He then yanks me by the back of the hair so I’m pulled back against his chest. He grips my throat as he turns my head and brings his lips to mine and whispers menacingly, “Don’t fuck with me, Fallon. I have access to everyone you love. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to your precious mother while she is laying in that hospital bed all alone, would you?”
He shoves me away and stands up. “I have business to handle today.”
He pulls on the cuff still dangling from my wrist and drags me with it. He latches it onto the headboard, and then leaves me there, with a new hair color and the fear I’ll never escape from here. Or from him.
I roll over and immediately regret it. My entire body feels bruised and beaten. My head is pounding, and I feel the contents of my stomach roil. I open my eyes slowly, hoping the walls will stop swaying as my eyes adjust to the intense light beating down on me. It takes a second to let the room come into focus, and when it finally does, I sit up on the side of the bed and attempt to figure out just how bad the damage is. I touch my mouth gently and hiss the moment my finger lands on it. That fucker split my lip last night. When I yank my hand away, I see fresh blood sitting on my fingertips. I wipe it away and grab my hoodie, pulling it over my bare torso. I take out the bottle of aspirin I keep in the drawer of my bedside table and grab the water I assume Jade left on top of it last night. I feel something under my feet, and I look down to see my shirt at the end of a trail of clothes from my bedroom door to the bed. At least I took off my clothes before I passed out in the bed. Fallon would kill me if I got in our bed full of dirt and rocks. It’s bad enough I got in it bloody.
Fallon.
The ache in my chest appears so swiftly and so strongly I almost double over. I can’t feel the bruises anymore. All I can feel is the missing part of me, the hole that has been growing inch by inch, day by day. It’s so fucking massive that I can’t even numb it anymore. Maybe I shouldn’t numb it—maybe that’s what I deserve. To let it take over. To be in agony.
I can’t take this anymore. I can’t do it. Fallon is better at feeling things. I don’t know how to feel this.
I have to focus. I have only one other option at this point. I’m desperate. I can’t find her on my own; that much is pretty fucking clear to me now. I stand up slowly, stretching my body so I can get the blood flowing into the muscles that I strained last night during the crash. I check the time on my phone. He’ll be in there—hell, he sleeps in there. I grab a pair of shorts out of my dresser, putting them on before padding my way downstairs. I walk slow and steady, making sure my footsteps are quiet as I pass my siblings’ rooms. They don’t need to see this. They would probably try to change my mind, and I just can’t let them do that. I promised I would do whatever it takes. Even this.
I can handle the pain as long as I know she’s safe. And it will be painful.
When I make the turn into the hall I can see the light streaming out from under the door. He’s in there, just like I knew he would be.
I reach the door but don’t go in immediately. I rest my forehead on the wood panel of the door breathing. It’s the only thing that I’m capable of doing right. One breath in, one breath out. I reach for the doorknob and turn it before I can change my mind.
God, I hope this works.
My father looks up from his mahogany desk and leans back in his chair, “Come on in son. Have a seat.”
I’ve been laying on my bed staring at the ceiling. It’s only been a few hours since I left my father’s office and I’m already dreading the consequences of my decision.
No turning back now. You do what you have to do for her. You save her.
The problem is I have no control over him and this means risking everything to save her. It means expecting his deceitful ways to come out. Somewhere in this, he’ll screw me—I know it in my bones. I’m just hoping it won’t be until after Fallon is safely back in my arms. I need at least a day with her before my world comes crumbling down because of that man.
“Man, you look like shit.” Cason’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I sit up to see him and Jade walking into my room. Jade flinches when she sees my face. I haven’t look at it, but judging by how sore it is, I’m guessing it isn’t pretty.
Why the hell didn’t I close my door and lock it? I don’t need to hear how stupid I was from them. I’m feeling it.
“What do y’all want?” I ask as I rub my face and lean my elbows on my knees.
“Little C is worried about you. She brought me in for reinforcement,” Cason plops down on my bed and leans back against the headboard. “She thinks she is going to convince you to go to the police.”
“Thanks for the commentary Cason,” Jade says. She turns to me as she leans on the wall. “But he’s right. I think you should go to the police and stop trying to handle this on your own. You pay them
