Escaping Death

Chapter 25

Dead to me - Chloe Adams

You are dead to me 

'Cause what you said to me, Cut so deep 

And now you're dead to me

Dead to me

You were a friend to me, But I put you to sleep

And now you're dead to me

— — — — —

Solana

Hunter doesn't let go of me, not even when I pull away towards the passenger side of the car. Instead, he opens his door and has me get into the car through his side. My body moves on autopilot as I slide across the front bench to make room for him. I don't stop to question or resist him, I just want to get out of here.

The engine roars to life and the gears complain when he hastily shifts between them before we're peeling out of the parking lot like a couple of thieves.

Four years I've trained to be better than the girl that was left beaten and broken on that basement floor. Four years I've spent among the cruelest, darkest creatures to roam the Earth and I've slaughtered every threat I've faced. But somehow those four years vanished into thin air when Reef pointed at me and demanded I be sold as a breeder to the highest bidder as payment.

I reek of failure.

I'm disgusted with myself and I'm fucking pissed. I thought I burned away the last of my weaknesses long ago, but one blast from the past and I'm back to being that naive little girl from the grove.

Flames blanket my palms and kiss my fingertips, my claws extend and my canines drop. Resisting the heat and the shift is painful, nothing would feel better right now than to burn, but Hunter doesn't have that kind of heat tolerance. And as much as I want him to hurt the way that I have hurt, an equal and opposite part of me wants to let that all go.

It all becomes too much. The anger and betrayal from the last four years wars violently against my gratitude that he was there for me today. I want to bottle it all back up again, but it's like wanting to fill a shaken soda bottle — once that cap is lifted, everything will come spraying out.

Try as I might to stop it, that's exactly what happens to me now. Rogue tears burn their way down my cheeks. They continue to rebel against my wishes until a sob escapes me when I notice Hunter has pulled off the road at a private scenic overlook.

Hunter's large, strong hands pull me across the bench seat and into his lap where he ensnares me in his arms.

"It's okay, Sunflower. I've got you."

I crumble along with every wall I've worked to build. The vault around my heart shatters in his embrace and a deluge of darkness kept within comes flooding out. I curl up around myself in his lap, my head resting on his chest while my hands cover my face. It's bad enough that I'm reacting this way, I don't need him to see my face while I ugly cry.

Hunter holds me the whole time as I unleash four years of unshed tears, rage, and heartbreak. He lets me soak his shirt to the skin and he doesn't make a single move other than to rub small circles against my back.

I'm embarrassed by how blindsided I was by shit that I thought I had buried a long time ago. The twisted part is that the person responsible for my suffering back then is the same one who is trying to soothe it all away now. Maybe he didn't just protect me because it's his job. Maybe a part of him does still give a shit what happens to me.