I went in and shut it behind me.
Eagle was right; there was no means for me to escape from this place. The bathroom had no windows. No natural light.
There was a dim light here and despite it being the middle of the day, I could barely see myself in the small medicine cabinet mirror.
My lip looked a little swollen, but the bleeding had stopped. On one side of my jaw, I could see a purplish bruise where Eagle’s hand had met bone. I touched it lightly and tried not to wince. Even pressing my jaws together hurt right now.
Quickly, I washed my face. My eyes were tired, and my hair was messy and rumpled. I was staring at Ghost’s clothes in the mirror and wishing I were in his bathroom instead. What I wouldn’t have given right then to wrap one of his long warm towels around my aching body.
I used the toilet, washed up and since I didn’t want to anger Eagle anymore, I decided it was time to leave the bathroom and go back in there. I had no idea what else he had in store for me but hoped we could leave Grandma out of it.
I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to her if something happened to me here today. How would she make it on her own? Would Ghost uphold his end of the promise and look after her?
He didn’t owe me anything.
Slowly, I stepped out of the bathroom, starting to feel a little weak at the thought of having to return to that room with Eagle. As I walked down the corridor, I stopped in my tracks when I thought I heard something outside.
There were no windows to look out through but I could have sworn I heard the roar of a bike.
* * *
“Help!” I screamed the moment I was sure there was a bike in the vicinity. In the very next instance, Eagle came hurtling out of the room and lunged at me. I tried to turn and run in the opposite direction but he dragged me back into the room.
I screamed for help again, even though I didn’t know for sure who could be out there on that bike. But I had a gut feeling it was Ghost.
“Stay the fuck in there and shut the fuck up!” Eagle shouted as he banged the door shut. I heard the key turn in the lock. He locked me in just to slow me down, just so it would take longer to rescue me if someone was here for that purpose.
I banged my fists on the door, refusing to give up. It had to be Ghost. I knew it. Seconds later, I heard more thuds and bangs. Raised voices. Gunshots. It sounded like Eagle’s voice…yelping.
Then there were footsteps in the corridor and I stepped away from the door. It rattled, hard, the same way it did in the cabin when Eagle was trying to storm in.
With this door, it took fewer kicks. The door fell over, halved. Ghost was on the other side, his shoulders quaked.
“Mercy!” He shouted my name and before I could think about my actions, I jumped at him. He had his arms outstretched and I fell into him. He lifted me up and spun me around.
“What happened to you? He did this to you?”
Ghost was staring at my face, examining the bruise and my split lip.
“It looks worse than it feels,” I replied as he put me down. Having his arms around me felt like a dream come true. Why wouldn’t he just pull me into his arms again?
“We should get out of here, get you back to safety.”
“Where is he? Where is Eagle?” I asked.
“He weaseled out of here. I would have gone after him and caught him…”
“But you decided to come for me instead,” I finished the sentence for him.
Ghost looked away, feeling a little embarrassed now.
“I think one of my shots got his leg, so he can’t go far,” he added.
“You injured him?”
“Do you feel sorry for him? He’s not an animal I ran over accidentally.”
I shook my head. There was a tone of accusation in his voice while he glared at me.
“I don’t care about Eagle. He’s an evil man and deserves what’s coming for him.”
Ghost reached for my hand then and once again, I felt I was finally safe.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said and led me down the corridor and out of the house. It was bright outside, and I had to shield my eyes from the sun.
On the bike behind him, I could finally feel again.
A part of me had always known he would come for me.
* * *
“Do you wish you went after him?” I asked.
We were back in the cabin. I had a tall glass of iced tea in one hand and a ham and cheese sandwich in the other. I hadn’t realized how hungry and thirsty I was until we were back at the cabin and Ghost offered me food.
He was working on fixing the front door. Every time I looked beyond him at the porch outside, I shuddered at the memory of seeing Roddick lying there, Eagle’s face at the window, the terrorizing stillness of the woods around us.
Ghost looked over his shoulder at me.
“Eagle?” he asked.
“Yeah, if I wasn’t around, you could have done more than just shoot him in the leg, right? You could have gone after him and brought him back to your clubhouse to justice,” I said.
Ghost hammered a nail into the hinges, turning away from me again. Why wouldn’t he just say something? I wanted to hear the words.
“Maybe you should go now. Go after
