Stepbrother (Sequel to Stockholm Syndrome)

69

The elevator dinged and I held my breath as the doors opened. 

In my head, countless security guards swarmed us, pulled Luke and I away from each other, and dragged me back to that awful room. 

In reality, the whole floor seemed somehow serene.

 I was glued to my spot and Luke had to tug on my sleeve just a bit to coax me out of the elevator. The automatic door was trying to close as I walked through and I winced as it brushed against my arm. Luke put his hand out and pushed the door back in as I made my way out. 

As we walked towards the stairway he walked me through his tentative game plan. 

Once we made it to the stairs, I hobbled down each step, pitifully wincing as I did. 

"Will it hurt more if I pick up and carry you down?" Luke asked, bracing his arm as I used it for stabilization. I groaned. 

"It's going to..." I paused to regain my breath and stop tears from breaking out again. "It's going to hurt either way so just do whatever's faster." 

As gently as he tried to move, I still cried out in when Luke picked me up. 

"I'm so sorry," he couldn't look at me. I grabbed at the shirt fabric over his chest as he started making his way down, turning my head towards his shoulder in an attempt to help him know I wasn't angry with him. 

I didn't mean to pass out... Do you ever mean to pass out? Anyways, the next thing I felt was cold breeze from outside whipping my face. As I came back to consciousness, I felt the jolt of Luke running while I was still in his arms. 

I barely made out the sound of a car unlocking after Luke fished out a key fob from his pocket and pressed the button. He laid me in the backseat as gently as possible, told me to stay put and hold on, then closed he door and rushed to the driver's seat. I heard sirens and yelling and could only assume part of his plan had not gone the way he wanted it to. 

"You can rest, Madeline." He spoke softly but authoritatively from the front seat, turning briefly to make sure I was ok before spending the rest of his time looking between the front windshield and the rear view mirror. 

"Are there a lot of people following us?" I mumbled. 

The sound of police sirens basically answered my question. 

"Yeah, there's quite a few. It'll be ok. Close your eyes and try to save your energy- I'm going to be driving for a while before I lose these guys." 

I nodded, not even trying to look at the speedometer. At this point, I'm pretty sure it was better if I just didn't know. 

From the feeling of it, Luke took a few sharp turns and a lot of backroads in order to get the authorities off our track. I fought against exhaustion briefly but eventually allowed myself to lose the battle.