Chapter Ten

Loren

 

I want to run, to flee, to wake myself up from this nightmare. But my body is frozen, my heart numb. Jagged pieces of the puzzle scatter across the corners of my mind, and fitting them together is futile. Threads of truth are missing, exposing the gaps between what’s real and what’s fabricated.

Taylor is still pressed against me when the EMTs rush in. They explode into the building pushing gurneys through the corridors and rushing out the victims who’d been bound, gagged, beaten, and drugged.

They were lucky.

They’d been saved.

But me? Turns out I’d just been duped. Heart shattered. Life destroyed.

I was a pawn.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Braxton and Cox huddled together after Sal had been taken away. He twists around, his troubled gaze landing on me. So many unspoken words hang in the air between us. I can feel the tears build, but I refuse to let them fall. Everything good in my life has been snatched away without warning. Why should this be any different?

An EMT bends down and checks Taylor’s vitals before loading her onto a gurney. I slowly rise, my knees quivering, hand clutching her cold and clammy one. Her eyes flutter open. “Don’t leave me…”

“Never,” I whisper, walking next to her as she’s wheeled from the building.

My chest tightens as the distance between us closes. Braxton’s strong hand closes around my arm and I push past him, shaking it off.

“Loren…”

I spin around, eyes narrowed, rage coursing through my veins. “I trusted you, Brax. I let myself fall for who I thought you were. But it turns out you’re not that person after all. You’re a fucking liar, and I don’t ever want to see you again!”

I rush out of the building and climb into the back of the ambulance with Taylor. A sob rises in my chest and I cover my face with my hands, allowing the tears to flow, to flush out the pain that festers in my heart, darkening my soul.

 He let me go. He watched me walk away. He lied to get what he wanted.

And now that it’s within his grasp, I’m no longer part of the grand plan.

You have to trust me, Loren…

“You need to listen to him,” Taylor murmurs, her eyes still closed. “He loves you, Lor. Don’t push him away. Give him a chance to explain. You owe it to yourself. He’s the only one I’ve ever seen light you up like a freaking Christmas tree. Are you really willing to throw it all away without even understanding why?”

“He lied, Taylor. Look at you! Look at us! How the hell can I trust anything that comes out of his mouth? He let all this happen!”

“Look, all I’m saying is, you don’t know the full story. Don’t run without hearing it first.” She lets out a shallow breath, a groan tumbling from her lips as the EMT adjusts her IV. “Okay, I’m officially done. You’re on your own for the rest of the ride.”

My pulse throbs against my neck, stomach damn-near ready to revolt as the ambulance careens around a corner, getting swallowed up by city traffic.

That line between love and hate? It never ceases to amaze me how damned fine that line actually is.