I may have ran around in circles because I felt dizzy. I didn’t know how long I’d zipped in and through the crowds of people on the sidewalks. I hadn’t arrived anywhere. I hadn’t made any progress, and yet, the whole time, I knew there were people watching me. Especially now that I was crying and not even trying to hide it.
The loss of my parents had taken complete hold of me and I was sure I’d pass out now.
Very soon, whoever the men were that Aldo had sent to get me, were going to corner me in a dark and deserted alleyway. They’d either pump a few bullets in me like they had done with my parents. Or, worse still, they’d nab me again like last time.
I knew which end I preferred.
My left ankle twisted as I pushed through the crowd and then my legs buckled. I fell before I even knew it. My hands came out forward protectively while my body went crashing down to the street. But just before I hit the ground, I felt two very large hands grip my waist.
I was pulled up skywards. Tears still streaked my cheeks, dribbling down my chin and neck.
When the man twisted me around to face him, and I finally looked into the majestic green eyes of Tristian Doherty—I was convinced I was dreaming.
Everything seemed blurry. No voice or sound was clear. Everything was like a buzz in the background. Only the sound of the bullets killing my parents zipped through the air.
“Elsie! Elsie!” Tristian’s deep voice parted through the murky sound waves buzzing in my ear. “Can you hear me? Elsie, for fuck’s sake!”
I was like a sack of potatoes in his arms. My bones had all turned to jelly. If he’d have let me go at that point, I’d’ve fallen straight back down again.
But he didn’t release me. Instead, he lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder. Just like that sack of potatoes I imagined.
My arms hung down over his back, my legs hung over his chest, while he carried me. I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see the faces of the people who were undoubtedly watching us.
Word was going to travel fast. Tristian Doherty had rescued a mad girl and taken her off the streets. He’d thrown her over his shoulder like a caveman and carried her to his own home. What a gentleman.
But I didn’t have the energy to command him to let me go.
The only thing I could say was… “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t…I can’t live like this anymore.”
I thought I had murmured the words, but it seemed Tristian heard me loud and clear.
“Yes, you can, Elsie. You can do anything,” he said.
Sixteen
Tristian
By the time I got Elsie back to the apartment, she was hysterical. She was crying and shuddering and constantly repeating that she was being followed.
I drove back to the apartment from Nolan’s place when I spotted her whizzing through the crowd on a sidewalk. I parked my car in the middle of the road, screeching to a stop. Horns blared and people shouted until they saw me jump out of the car and recognized who I was.
The shit you get away with by being a Doherty in this town.
By the time I got to Elsie, she was on the verge of collapsing to the ground. I caught her just in time and threw her over my shoulder.
Back at the apartment, I managed to get her to lie down on the couch. I told her I’d make her some hot cocoa and insisted that she needed to not move while I got it.
She didn’t move, but continued crying.
“They were going to get me. Aldo. I saw him,” she murmured under her breath when I returned with the mug of cocoa.
I didn’t see Aldo anywhere on the streets. I hadn’t seen any Baron guy there.
“I wasn’t going to let anyone get to you, Elsie. Now, drink this,” I said, holding the mug up to her lips. She straightened up a little and took a sip.
Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes were swollen and red from crying. I was glad I got to her when I did.
She muttered something illegible as she drank the rest of the cocoa. I knelt down beside the couch and watched her. Slowly, she calmed down.
“Where were you going?” I asked her. She didn’t want to meet my eyes. “Were you trying to run away? Disappear?”
“I just want things to…go back to normal. I want my life back. I can’t keep living here,” she said in a broken, weak voice.
I hated seeing her like this. The Elsie I had gotten to know was stronger than this. She knew how to take care of herself. I didn’t have to worry about her.
But she was human and Aldo had broken her.
For that, I’d never forgive him.
“I know you want your life back, but you just have to wait. A little bit longer. But you have to wait here, with me. You can’t do this on your own.”
“How long?” she cried.
“I don’t know. Until the coast is clear. We’re going to help you. My family wants to help you.”
“And what about you? Do you want to help me? Do you even want me here?”
I knew this was partly my fault. Because of how hot and cold I’d been with her. Fucking her, then rejecting her the next moment. I wished I wasn’t so fucked in the head. I wished I could give her what she needed. Treat her the way she deserved to be treated.
“I do want you here, Elsie,” I said.
But she looked at me like she didn’t believe me.
So I knew I had to prove it to her.
What I said was the truth. I wanted her here with me. In my apartment. Sharing my space. Being a part of my day. My world.
I liked seeing her in my kitchen. Cooking for
