He waited for her to continue.
“Mira’s still my best friend, Carmen’s like my cousin, and Uncle Joel is, well, like my uncle, and you and Nick are still my friends, plus Leila is a great tutor and . . .” She sighed. “Yeah, I’m not going to lie, this is scary but I’m not gonna just leave.”
Chapter 26
Aria
She really hoped she didn’t say anything weird.
Funny how that should’ve been the last thing she’d worry about, but maybe her mind was done with big brain mode and was ready to do something less serious. Less intelligent.
“You’re . . . a good person,” Adrian said, his tone soft.
She glanced back at him. “I’m just doing what I do.”
“Yeah.” He gave her a small smile. “You’re a good person.”
“What’s up with the compliment?” she joked.
Then he gave her the worst response known to mankind . . . he just shrugged.
How dare he just shrug? Aria wanted to toss Adrian out of the damn window and into the fresh snow but the only thing that stopped her was the fact that they could have died today. Technically, if help didn’t get to them fast enough, they still could.
Eventually, it began to sink in.
Everything went by so quickly that it almost caused her to forget the meaning of time. She was taken from her school’s parking lot in broad daylight and was used as a hostage to make Adrian comply. Then they found Mira and escaped the clutches of their captors only to be stuck on the side of the road in the middle of winter.
She could’ve died today.
She could’ve really died, and her dad would’ve been left alone. They all could’ve ended up like Ivy or the others who didn’t make it.
They could’ve ended up as experiments . . .
She also couldn’t help but wonder how long those cretins have been doing this. How many people died because of them? How many bodies did they take care of? How did they get rid of their evidence? The more she thought about it, the realer the situation became.
If those monsters sedated or incapacitated Adrian then there would’ve been no way for them to escape; or if Mira was completely unconscious or seriously injured then their getaway would be that much harder. Not to mention that they barely made their escape from their kidnappers. If they were a few minutes too slow . . .
So many things could’ve gone so horribly wrong.
How did it not?
Tears started to form in her eyes.
They could’ve died today.
She wasn’t sure how long it took her, but Aria had a hard time composing herself after. The amount of emotional trauma from the day was just too much. Was it even the same day that they were taken? She didn’t know.
“Hey,” Adrian said gently while he kept a firm grip on her hand. “It’s okay. It’s crazy and I get it. Believe me, I’m still waiting for it all to sink in.”
“H-how?” Aria even hated how her voice shook. “God.”
“How what? How do I deal with it?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
“I think it’s because I’m still in mission mode. We’ve made it out, but those sickos are still out there. Theoretically, the snowfall is making it difficult for them to get through . . . but still, I’m still in fight-or-flight mode right now.”
“It makes sense,” she mumbled. “God, I sound like a baby right now. Mira’s sick while you’re holding up all together and here I am just . . . crying.”
“It’s fine, really. The emotional half has to catch up eventually.”
“Adrian, you’re so nice.”
“Oh, so I’m the nice one now?” He tried to lighten the mood.
She sniffled then used her free hand to wipe away any stray tears.
“Don’t worry.” He rubbed her hand. “We’ll get out of here.”
Among all the chaos of their lives, Aria couldn’t help but wonder how a guy like him really drew the short stick and ended up with her. Although Adrian had his moments where he’d try to take up too much responsibility, he was still a really good guy. He had a certain charm to him that was hard for her to shake.
The way he would talk about his family or his passion for cooking; the way he would sometimes nerd out about all kinds of movies, or get all scientific with her when the physics didn’t match up. He would even bring up stupid topics for them to debate on and because they were both a little too competitive, it always ended up as an entertaining albeit stupid conversation.
Another thing was that Adrian would always try to keep the troublesome things to himself, or try to take all the blame for something he couldn’t control. It was during those times that she wanted to hit him on the head.
Even though he was technically bound to her in some aspect, Aria felt like what they had wasn’t a fraud. Maybe at the beginning it was a little forced, but she didn’t really mind. Not when she felt so untouchable around him.
She wasn’t sure how to describe it because this was the first she had ever felt something so strong. It felt like she could swim into an abyss without much thought as long as he was with her. It sounded so pathetic but it was what she felt.
“Hey, Adrian?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think the EMT will be here soon?”
“I dunno, the snow is piling up pretty quickly. We’re only on the side, so we shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
A pause.
“Hey, Adrian?”
“Yes, Aria?”
She breathed in. “What do you think would’ve happened if we didn’t get out of there?”
He took a moment to respond, “I don’t know. We would’ve been moved that’s for
