Titanium Promises

Twenty-five

I come to with a blinding white light shining directly into my eyes. I blink to adjust my eyes and see two men standing in front of me, their arms crossed. The shadow over their faces makes them impossible to recognize if I know them.

My eyes drift down to my side where my white shirt is stained with deep, crimson blood. It's been bandaged, from what I can tell, but that doesn't stop the pain from exhausting the air from my lungs.

"We couldn't have had you dying on us," one of the men says, "though the bullet wound wasn't too deep. You just couldn't handle the pain and blacked out."

Then it all comes rushing back to me. Luke's father tried to kill us, but only got Rebecca. I managed to save Luke, somehow. The last thing I remember is someone dragging me out of the dining room after Luke got knocked out.

"Reid, is it?" the taller one says in a deep voice.

He takes my silence as a yes.

"You came here with Luke, right?" he says. "Why? You barely even knew him and suddenly you wanted to go back to his hometown?"

I look up at him, finally taking a moment to see his face. He has the same piercing blue eyes and slick hair as Luke, unlike Maverick. He can't be much older than Luke.

That's when it hits me. That's why he's so familiar. I didn't see him last time because he was recovering, and that explains the fresh gash on his forehead that starts just left of his eye and slides down to his chin.

"August?"

He silences me by swinging his fist and cracking it against my temple. White spots flash in my vision, the surprise exploding against my chest. My cheekbone has to be broken by the amount of pain that's radiating from it. I swallow down the blood from where I bit my cheek and stare at him.

"Don't you say my name, you dick," he barks. "Who are you gonna tell about all this, huh? You wanna have your own story featured in the news?"

He throws a quick punch, jerking my head to the right. I push down the pain that wants to rip out of my chest and look back at him. He looks pissed that I didn't call out and curls his fist for a third throw.

I try to remain aware of my body. I wiggle my wrists, and quickly realize the sweat had pooled around the duct tape and caused it to loosen. Never in my life did I think anxiety sweats would come in handy.

But I can't try to escape. Not yet.

I won't scream. I won't give them the satisfaction of causing me pain.

"You won't get anything from me," I say, my voice somehow staying firm.

"Then you'll die," August says through gritted teeth. He grabs the shirt of the other man and shoves him back. "Bring it out."

"Your father—" the other man starts.

"I don't care what my fucking father said, Z. If you don't listen to me—" He places a finger on Z's forehead— "I'll put a bullet through your head before my dad can kill me."

Z goes silent, his face hardening. He steps away.

"You should've just told him," Z says earnestly. "This is going to hurt more than you've ever known."

He approaches me, a small black box in his hand. He slides open the box to reveal a syringe and a small glass bottle filled with clear liquid.

The needle pierces my skin, a sharper pinch than I expected.

"That wasn't that bad," I cough out. "What's—"

I stop talking. Painful pin pricks dot the arm where the shot was injected, the feeling spreading like fire. I feel my body shaking, vibrating like an earthquake. The chair below me starts quaking as my body convulses. Z stalks behind me and grips the chair, preventing me from toppling over.