Bound by Honour

74

Autumn leaned on my shoulder, grasping my hand tightly. The sun glared down, making it miserably humid, but it was better than staying stuck in my hospital room.

"Thank you, Noel," I said, glancing up at him and kissed his cheek.

He leaned down and pecked my cheek. "Autumn will call when you want me to  come get you," he said, and turned to leave. When he disappeared into  the hospital, I felt a sudden out pour of overwhelming nausea wash over  me. 

No doubt from how anxious I felt seeing Autumn again.

"I'm  sorry," I said, taking a deep breath in. "I thought ... after Bryce  made you fight Victoria, I didn't know you were alive or I would never  have let them hurt you."

She  shook her head, nudging my arm. "Hey, it's not your fault, Mase. None  of this is," she said, "you did everything you could have and more.  Every time you stood up to Bryce for me or one of the others, you risked  your life."

"I would do it all over again too."

"Your brothers, your family," she said, "they seem ... like they care. They love you."

"They do and I'm lucky to have them," I trailed off, and looked over at her. "How's your mom?"

She shrugged, looking out over the gardens. "I told Sebastian I don't want  to go back with her. He helped me see that she deserves a second  chance."

"Second chances are complicated, huh?"

"Yeah ... and he's pretty persistent ... I cannot believe you killed Giovanni."

I chuckled. "I probably will never live that down."

She joined me. "No, you are quite infamous."

"Lucky me."

"I'm  sorry how all this turned out. I wish it could have different but ...  thank you, for protecting me." Her words hurt, but in a good way.

"Autumn, you are the one that saved me. Do you know how many times I wanted to give up? Every time I had to fight, I thought, I hope I die. Then I remembered you. You gave me a reason to stay alive." I knew that I had to do something and I did. When  Cameron and the others found me for the third time, I had a bus ticket  bought."

"Bus ticket? Where were you going?"

"To  live with Julian and Calliope. We planned on leaving the country, Canada or  England. Cameron and Jaime found me halfway out of Chicago," I said,  remembering the day, because at the time I hated them so much.

I  had been sleeping in dumpsters for the last three nights. Someone had  been following me, so I knew I had to stick to the shadows. Dumpsters  weren't a great place to sleep, with rotting food or trash, but safer  than park benches and books and crannies.

Never know who's out there, I thought. 

One  night, it was storming hard with torrential rain. I had been followed  by a man earlier that afternoon, but ditched him in a busy mall.

I  didn't know who it was, but there were endless possibilities. The  Burke's, any of their associates, my family, or a creep looking for his  next victim. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to take any chances and with  cold, nonstop rain, I had no choice but to find other shelter for the  night.

Two  blocks away from the hotel dumpster I'd been staying in, there was a  abandoned mall. It'd be the perfect shelter for the night. I had trudged  over, pulling my hood up and entered. Many others had the same idea.