“The whole point of my going to the school was to take Fort away from the area and you can leave without being seen. What are you still doing here?” I asked Tirone, who was still in my apartment, sitting in a corner in the dark like a creep.
“Staying at my girl’s place for the night. You used to be happy when I did. You couldn’t fall asleep without me, Jo. You told me I scared away the nightmares.”
“Until you turned into one.”
He inhaled deeply as he rose from the chair. I flipped on the light switch and flinched when he came closer. “Are you literally scared of me?” he asked in disbelief.
“I want you to leave, Ty.”
“Why are you still mad at me? Why can you not see that I only left to protect you and came back as soon as it was safe to be by your side again?”
You put a gun in my vagina and threatened to kill the one person that made me happy. “You came back for you not for me. You only reappeared in my life when you saw me being happy with someone else. You couldn’t stand it because you’re sick.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You’re not happy with him. Any feelings you have for this man comes from your anger at me. Once it’s gone, you’ll see I’m the only one you love. The only one that can make you truly happy, not give you the illusion of it.”
“If I told you I was no longer mad at you because I genuinely don’t care about your abandonment anymore, if I told you my feelings for Furore were real and so was the happiness I only felt with him, would you change your mind and let me go?”
He placed his palms on either side of my face, and my stomach tied in a knot of bile. His thumbs stroked my cheeks as he bent and laid a kiss on my neck. I shuddered at the touch I used to melt under yet now made my skin crawl. Then he looked at me with a smirk. “Never, little faerie.”
My eyes squeezed shut as pain seared me. Was this my destiny? A lifetime of punishment and pain and fear just for falling for the one person I should never have had?
“Did you do as I said?” he asked, the dark notes in his voice evident.
“I told him I was going away with him tonight and sent Fort away. Furore will be here at midnight, where he’d wait for me only to find out I was long gone.” I fought my tears. “Then he’d see that note you made me write that told him you and I got back together.”
“Good girl.”
My skin crawled at the two words I loved the most. I didn’t want to hear it from him ever again. Only from Furore. My eyes roamed at the boxes I hadn’t either unpacked or finished packing since the time I was about to leave the city. Only now there were fully packed. “What did you do?”
“Surprise,” he sang.
I batted my eyelashes in confusion. “You packed for me?”
“Yes. And the moving truck is on the way.” Excitement dripped from his tone. “You get dressed, we’ll pop quickly at my place to pack a backpack, then we’ll be off on our way, baby, just like old times. I promise it’ll be the ride of our lives.”
My heart felt like ice. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re moving out. Together. Did you really think I was gonna let you go by yourself even for a little while? Are you silly? I just got you back, and I’m never leaving you ever again.”
My head buzzed, and my vision blurred like I was about to pass out. “Tirone, this wasn’t the plan. We agreed that I’d break up with Furore in this hideous way so he’d hate me and stop trying to be with me, and only I would go away for a little while to convince him I did run off with you. You didn’t say anything about coming with me.”
“How stupid do you think I am, Jo?” His excitement vanished, and all was left was his dark side. “Not stupid enough to make believe once you step out of that door, you’ll come back to me. I know you’re planning to run away. I can’t let that happen, baby.”
I swallowed, the muscles around my heart squeezing. “What about your mother and school? It’s starting soon. You can’t waste another year.”
“Schools are everywhere, and I’ll find a way to convince Mom to come live wherever we’re gonna be.”
“What about work? My teaching job, if I still can get one somewhere else, can’t support us both.”
“Baby, have you forgotten who I am? I’m Tirone Wisely. My stepdad is loaded. Don’t worry about money at all. I got it all covered.”
“How, Tirone? Do you have any idea where we’re even going?”
“Yup. But I’m not gonna tell. It’s gonna be a surprise.”
I wiped my hands over my face, many times, trying to stay conscious and to wrap my head around all this, around the trap I fell right into and had no clue how to get out of. “Wow. You had it all figured out, huh?”
“I’ll do anything for you, Jo. This is me keeping my promises. I’m your man, and I’ll take care of you, make up for all the mistakes I made. We can be together out in the open. You’re no longer my teacher, and I’m eighteen. Nothing is gonna stop us now.”
I plopped down on the next chair because my feet could no longer carry me. He squatted in front of me. “Baby, you okay?”
I was stuck in an obsession as dark as hell with no way out. “I…I don’t feel so well. I’ll go to the bathroom.”
“Let me come with you.”
“The fuck, Tirone? I can’t get some privacy even in the bathroom?”
“You can have all the privacy you want. I’m not holding you captive. I just wanted to help in case you were gonna be sick. You know, hold your hair or something.”
I staggered out of my seat. “Thanks, but I’ll manage.” Locking the bathroom door behind me, I whimpered. I couldn’t live like this for the rest of my life. Something had to be done.
I took off my wig fast, my stomach acting up. Nausea hit me hard, and I emptied my guts in the toilet. I washed up and looked for something to ease the nausea and anxiety in the medicine cabinet.
Knock! Knock!
My whole body jumped, and I almost fell off my feet. Shit. I needed to pull myself together if I had any chance to survive this.
“I’m worried about you, baby. Please let me in. Let me take care of you.”
The genuine care in his voice messed me up. Every word he said no matter how sweet came from a dark place, but he believed it was all real. Fuck, I believed it was real. In his twisted way, he still cared about me. In my fucked up way, I wanted him out of harm’s way. How could he still sound so sweet? How could I care about him when he’d just ruined my life?
“Jo?”
“I’m fine. I’m coming out in a minute.”
When he was assaulting me, all I could think of was ways to get him off me without accidentally setting the gun off. I could have easily attacked his eyes, and then used the gun on him, yet I couldn’t do it. I was too scared to permanently hurt him.
Now, after I’d learned his awful plan, the only viable solution to this whole situation was to call Michele. He’d know how to scare Ty off and get me away from him, except Michele Pagani was a made man. His solution was painted red. The odds of Ty making it out alive were slim, and my stupid heart wouldn’t accept it.
What did that say about me?
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! “Please let me come in.”
My fists clenched as I swore at him under my breath. Then I opened the door. “I said I was coming out in a minute. Here I am.” I moved past him and glanced at the bed where one of my outfits was splayed on the sheets. “I see you chose my clothes for me.”
“If you want something else—”
“It’ll do. How about you let me change so we can get out of here?”
His hands fondled my waist. “You’re shy of me now?”
I fucking slapped him. I couldn’t take this anymore, and my palm rang across his face.
“What the fuck, Jo?”
I slapped him on the other cheek. “If you think you’re gonna see me naked or lay a hand on me any time soon, you’re delusional.”
He fumed, his chest heaving, his face crimson with my fingers marking it. He looked like he was about to pounce, but he just closed his eyes and nodded. “I get it. Of course, you need time. I’m sorry. I just miss you.”
“Close the door on your way out.”
When he did, I locked it and changed. Then I gathered my personal belongings in a purse. I glanced at the note I’d left Laius, tears threatening to spill. “I’m sorry. I hope one day you’ll forgive me and understand I did this for you,” I whispered, lifting my chin so I wouldn’t cry, and headed out of the room. “I’m ready.”
Ty was on the phone, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he hung up and wiped under his eyes. Was he crying?
Tirone wasn’t a man afraid of his tears, and I hated it when he did that because…I was a sucker for it. He tore me apart every time I saw his tears, and I couldn’t feel anything soft for him right now. “Who are you talking to?”
“Mom. I was asking her to get my things ready for me to pick it up so we won’t be late. It’s almost eight, and the movers will be here at nine.”
“Did you…tell her about me?”
“I told her everything this morning, but, for your safety, I didn’t give her your name or told her you were my teacher. Don’t worry. We have her blessing.”
I was neither worried nor did I care about her blessing. That ship had sailed weeks ago. But I saw a little window of opportunity here. “Ty, if you’re that attached to your mother, you have to stay with her. You’re her only son, and both of you went through hell with the attack. You can’t just take off. We can work out a different plan that doesn’t involve—”
“Nice try, but you can’t get rid of me that easily.” He grimaced, and I cursed my luck. “I wasn’t crying because I was leaving Mom. I’ll see her again soon, and she’ll be fine with my stepdad. My prick of a father can’t hurt her anymore. I’ll make sure of it. I was crying because I never thought there would come a day when you wouldn’t let me touch you. I was crying because I screwed up and almost lost you, Jo.”
I hated that my first reflex was to hug him, and that tears pricked my eyes. Ty was my first everything, and a few weeks ago, he was my only everything. Despite what he’d done, the things that connected and bonded us, the things that attracted me to him and eventually made me fall in love, the dark before the light, were pulsing in him. The part of me that loved him to death was still there and couldn’t be denied.
That was a weakness I couldn’t afford.
“Well, you’re here, and so am I. Let’s see if you can keep your promises this time.”
He strode toward me and kissed my hand. “I will. You’ll see.” His gaze spied the purse. “What’s in there?”
I opened it for him. “My contacts, medicine for the road, water. It’s late, and I don’t know how far we’re going. I like to be prepared for anything.”
He just smiled and took it from me. “It’s heavy. Let me carry it for you.”
“Thanks.”
He ushered me and the suitcases out. Then he loaded them in my car and drove to his house.
“What are you going to do about your bike?” I asked.
“It’s coming with the boxes. I know how much you love it. We can still get our rides off with the sunset, baby.”
“Great.” I pressed my thumb against the top of my stomach and moaned.
“Something wrong?”
“It’s that nausea again. I should take another pill. Good thing I got them all.”
“Sure.” He reached for the backseat and brought me my purse.
I went through it and popped in a pill. But a few seconds later I felt really sick. “Ty, pull over. I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“Shit. Okay.” He stopped the car and climbed out. The he opened the door for me. What a gentleman.
I bent over by the curb, holding on to the purse, and vomited. When I was done, I rummaged through the purse again. “Ty, can you help me find a tissue?”
“Sure.” The second he dug his head inside the purse, I stuck a syringe in his neck. The actual thing I was looking for. “What the f…” He couldn’t continue, falling unconscious in my arms.
I laid him gently on the backseat and drove off. Once I found a place away from traffic, I left his sedated body and the whole city of San Francisco behind me.
