We’re sitting out front of my house, in Slater’s truck, and neither of us has said anything. I’m still clutching the necklace, and I’m wondering if I should tell Slater I have it. But if I tell him, then I have to explain I know it’s mine, and that it brang on a familiar feeling, kind of like I had at the cookout.

“Did you know that man?” he asks me finally, the truck so dim I can’t really see his face.

“No,” I tell him. “But know he works for him. They’re looking for me.”

“They’re not goin’ to find you. Got a watch on your house, in case we were followed. Gotta be careful, Ellie. They’re zoning in. It won’t take them long.”

I tremble, terrified at the thought of being found. Even more terrified at the thought of going back to him. And this time, not being able to escape.

“I’m afraid, Slater,” I admit.

He turns and looks at me. “Don’t be, because I will not fuckin’ let anyone take you away again.”

I try to hold his gaze, but I can’t and look away. The call falls silent again, and it takes a few minutes before I speak.

“How come you fight?” I decide to ask, even though I know the answer to that.

“Certain Finn showed you the safe, Ellie.”

His voice is low, and raspy. He’s staring at the steering wheel, he raises his big hands and curl them around it, biceps bulging. I have to look away.

“You get yourself hurt...for me?”

“I like the pain.”

“Because it makes you forget?”

He turns to me. “Nothin’ in this fuckin’ world could ever make me forget you. Nothin’.”

I swallow, and stare at him. And then I reach into my coat pocket and pull out the necklace, stretching my hand out and showing him. He stares at it, for a long moment, and then looks up to me. “Finn gave that to you.”

“I kind of...took it out. I knew it was mine, I just didn’t...I didn’t remember where I got it. Then I saw the tattoo on your chest...”

He studies the necklace, then plucks it out of my hand and curls his around it. My heart kind of sinks, because I was hoping he’d let me keep it, but I don’t have the right to ask that.

“Slater?” I ask, and his eyes swing to mine again. “Don’t fight for me. I don’t like seeing you get hurt.”

He studies my face. “I’ll fight for the rest of my life for you.”

I drop my head, and stare at my hands. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

I turn and climb out of the car, once again disappointed that he doesn’t say anything, though what do I expect him to do? Stop me? I already know he cares about me, hell, I can see it written all over his face, a level of affection I’ve never seen before. He doesn’t deserve me to make it any worse with some childish fantasy I’m cooking up in my head about him launching out of the car and scooping me into his arms.

I shake my head.

Am I getting a crush on him?

Or is it just feelings that have always been there, coming back to life?

A car door slams as I’m walking up the front path, and Slater calls out my name. I turn, staring at him. When he reaches me, he turns me around with a gentle push to my shoulder, and lifts up my hair. His hands come in front of me, and he drops the necklace around my neck, fastening it at the back. And I tingle all over. Every touch makes my body come alive. Like it knows, even if I don’t.

“This is yours,” he murmurs.

I wait for him to step back, but he doesn’t, for a moment, he just stands there, and then his fingers run along the back of my neck. And I remember. It hits me like a hurricane. I was so caught up in the moment, I forgot about the scarring against the back of my neck. There’s one large scar that runs up onto my scalp, from when he slashed me with a knife the first time I tried to escape. I’ll never forget it.

Not until the day I die.

I’m running, I’m so damned close to the front door. I can’t believe I got this far. My plan worked, it truly worked. I never thought it would but it did. He fell for it. The oldest trick in the book. I acted like I was passed out, and I was truly run down enough to have passed out. He shook me a few times, rolled me over, and that’s when I used the small piece of rusted metal that took me two weeks to get off the base of the bed. I cut my fingers up on more than one occasion, but I managed to break a piece off.

I stabbed him with it. Straight into his throat.

Then I got up and ran.

I got out of the unlocked door and up through the empty church.

So close, I’m so damned close.

I can taste the freedom.

I don’t know where I’ll go from here. I only know where I used to live, and that’s it. But that’s enough. If I can get back there, I’ll find my way. I’ll find something. But at least I won’t be trapped here any longer, trapped living day in, day out as his slave, as his personal punching bag, as his sick and twisted little game.

Someone grabs me by my hair and a burning pain shoots through the back of my neck. I scream and claw at the air, but I’m being dragged backwards. I lose my footing, but he keeps dragging me, through the empty halls and back down to the bottomless pit below the building that I’m going to spend the rest of my damned life.

He throws me, and my hands go out to brace my fall. I hit the ground so hard my wrist twists and I scream out in pain. It’s only then I see the blood dripping from my neck, big droplets splashing against the concrete floor.

“You ever try something like that again, and I’ll make you wish you were never born,” His voice is cool, and calm, and always collected. “Don’t try me, Raven. I won’t kill you, that would be too kind, I’ll torment you every day for the rest of your life. That’s a punishment worse than death.”

Then, he turns and walks out, slamming the door.

My fingers go up to the back of my neck, and I hiss as they graze over a gaping wound.

He stabbed me. Or cut me. Or something.

Whatever it is, it’s deep.

I hang my head and watch the blood trickle out onto the floor.

And then I cry.

I was so close.

I snap out of the memory when Slater growls, “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make that man feel the pain of a thousand fuckin’ cuts, Ellie. Mark my words, everything he did to you, I’ll do to him times ten.”

I blink back the burning tears threatening to escape, and step away, letting my hair drop. I turn and face Slater, tipping my head and looking up at him. If I’m open with myself, I can see why I loved him, and I’m sure I did love him. There is something safe about him. Something strong, and incredibly beautiful. Even now, I want to curl myself into him and never let go, just so I don’t have to be scared ever again.

“Thank you for bringing me home,” I whisper.

He nods, and stares down at me, so intensely I’m forced to pull my eyes away and turn. “Goodnight,” I murmur.

“Goodnight, darlin’.”

His words penetrate deep.

And I make a vow in that moment to try harder to remember.

To do anything I can.

Because suddenly, I really want to know what Slater Knight meant to me.

And I won’t stop until I find out.

~*~*~*~