Afterlight ✔️

chapter thirty-three

— Jay Bieber

For the first time ever, I was in fear for someone else's life– I was legitimately scared.

In years, ever since my parents' death, I hadn't deeply cared about another person other than myself. Now, it was different. I honestly thought that my fascination with Chloe would lead to the death of me at the end of the day. I shook in anxiety, praying that Chloe was okay. Telling by the way Nick spoke on the phone, something fucked up had occurred and it was all my fault. She was going to suffer my consequences. She had been, and was, too innocent for this bullshit.

I sat at the table in my kitchen, hearing the ticking of the clock. With each tick, my anxiety grew higher. Time was flying before me. I couldn't wait any longer. Something could potentially be happening right now, and here I was sitting at my fucking kitchen table, but for now, it was all I could do.

With the rose in my hand, I couldn't help but to want to beat up on myself. I fucked up. None of this was new to me. But when it came to the safety of someone I cared about as much as I did for Chloe Romano? Completely different story. I needed her in my arms. All I wanted to see was her beautiful face and hear her voice, I yearned to make sure that she had been okay.

It was all suspicious to me. Who could it have been? I knew it had been way too late to have been thinking about this, but deep down inside, I thought that maybe Dean or Venom had something to do with Chloe being missing. I had my doubts, but I was hoping that she wasn't kidnapped, again. My heart ached for Chloe, she deserved to feel safe and at peace. Yet, she was in danger because of my mistakes. The bullshit would always repeat in a cycle.

"Fuck." I rasped to myself, grasping at my golden brown hair. I really fucked up.

If I hadn't walked out on Chloe, everything would have been a bliss between us. She'd be straddled on me, cleaning up my cuts, kissing on my aching body, and I would tease her, kiss her tender lips, and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. She was so good to me, so why did I always find a way to hurt her? It wasn't like she was some sort of girlfriend figure in my life at this point. I physically needed her in this house with me, it was as if a big chunk of me was missing. This was the last time that I was going to allow someone as special as her out of my sight.

The wait for Nick to arrive came to a close end when the front door of my house shot open. Stumbling in, a distraught looking Nick came before me. Sweat was tumbling down from his hair, down his temples; that scared me the shit out of me. Huffing to myself, I snatched my gun off of the table, following him back outside.

The sound of the crickets chirping filled the silence. Not a single word came out of our mouths as I stepped into the passenger seat of Nick's car. The faint aroma of strong cologne and a slight smell of weed made its way into my nose.

Starting the car, Nick took off before I could even remember what I was in the car with him for. I could see the guilt in his eyes. That was the most apparent thing of all.

"Jay listen, I–"

"Which one of the guys took her?" I cut him off, clenching my jaw. He began to turn sharply down the street, trying to get me where I needed to be. He glared over at me in confusion, then glued his eyes back onto the road. "Who took Chloe, Nick? Who the fuck did it?"

Nick peered over to me, sighing. He had realized that he has never seen me get that way over a girl– so protective, but also so stupidly caring. "Jay, please calm down. I'm taking you to where she is."

"And where exactly is that, Nick? I don't have time for this." I wiggled around in my seat impatiently. I had no clue where I was being taken, and my emotions were like a hurricane in full force, about to destroy everything in its way.