Taming Life

Chapter 18: Jane Arminio

Chapter 18 ~ Life ~ Jane

I'd lost count of the amount of time that'd passed since they had taken Lindsay, not one second of it passing without me pondering over what was happening, barely able to remain calm as the guilt inevitably gnawed at my stomach, the feeling so strong it felt as if it was eating me alive from the inside.

It was only when the sound of guns firing reached my ears that I completely lost my composure, proceeding to slam my fists against the door with as much force as I could possibly muster, screaming for them to let me out as hard as I could.

There were no words to describe the amount of fear I was in at that moment, wanting nothing more than to know what was going on outside, what was the cause of all of the commotion -- however my efforts in catching anyone's attention were completely inutile, so eventually I stopped trying, settling with helplessly waiting for someone to come for me, wondering if Lindsay, or even Ryder were still alive.

At the thought of what could have already happened to my boyfriend, I collapsed to the floor crying, a mixture of self-hatred and regret brewing inside of my stomach as I inwardly scolded myself for not telling Ryder that I was expecting his child, because it was at that moment, sprawled across the dirty floor of Emilio's basement that I realized that maybe it was too late. But I forced myself to eliminate the possibility as soon as it came to mind, unable to picture my life without Ryder Lewis, the person who I loved more than myself, the person who at that very moment I realized I would die for, my other half.

However before I could continue torturing myself by creating various case scenarios in my mind, the door creaked open, my eyes widening as they took in a wounded Emilio walking in, his face still covered by the mask that he'd been wearing from the start.

"Come on, we need to leave. Now," He demanded in a strong, spine chilling voice that almost had me whimpering in fear, walking down the steps toward me.

I immediately began crawling away from him, my expression hard and emotionless as I was determined not to show him just how much I feared him at that moment, how much I believed that not only my friends' lives, but my own were in his hands. "No," I replied in a cold, heartless tone. "Where are Ryder and Jace? What did you do to Lindsay?" The questions were escaping my mouth before I could stop them, a look of distaste etched to my face upon eying the disgusting man ahead of me.

His hand strongly wrapped around my forearm before I could stop it, pulling me forward with such force that regardless of how hard I resisted against his rough hold against me, I couldn't escape it. "Sorry to break it to you, but Coulter and your little boyfriend left, sweet heart."

"Stop lying, you sick fucking bastard!" I screamed, tightening my unoccupied hand around his wounded shoulder, a single drop of satisfaction swirling inside of my body as he hissed in pain. "If there's one thing that I will always be sure of its that Ryder loves me and he would do anything for me."

My reckless action only infuriated Emilio even more, causing for him to slam me against a wall, my muscles aching in protest at the impact. "I don't have time for your bullshit." Without another word, he wrapped his hand around my hair, basically dragging me outside of the basement along with him.

I ignored the pain in my head and fought against his strong hold, kicking and pushing at him in a failed attempt to escape, to survive what was sure to happen to me if he achieved to get me where he wanted. However my strength was nothing compared to his, and I soon found myself giving up, allowing whatever was meant to occur happen, the small amount of hope I'd been hanging onto vanishing as if it never existed.

Emilio shouted orders at his men, all of them proceeding to gather armor in case any complications occurred during their planned escape -- but unfortunately, everything seemed to pass smoothly judging by the lack of chaos, the possibilities of anybody coming to rescue me lessening by each passing second.

Until Ryder bursted through the front door just as we were about to leave, my chest twisting with pain at his beat up complexion, hating myself for being the cause of his pain, for being the reason he was in danger at that moment. A mixture of relief, panic, but most of all fear swirled inside of me as I analyzed a way to escape Emilio's arms, to help my boyfriend survive what was going to happen to him for trying to save me, tears threatening to escape my eyes once again.

"Let her go, Emilio, or I swear to God I will blow your brains out!" By the way Ryder shouted, I could tell he was blinded by anger, unable to throughly plan anything, acting on pure instincts.

A cold laugh erupted from Emilio's lips, his grip on me tightening even more, making me yelp out in pain, my eyes widening in horror as I felt the cold metal press to the side of my head. "If you don't let us go, I will kill your little bitch right now, Lewis. Move." He cocked the gun to prove his point, showing that he wasn't joking.

Ryder's knuckles were white due to the strong grip he had on his own gun, his finger lingering over the trigger as he pointed it at Emilio's head, eyes dark with anger -- the most angered I had ever seen him in my life.

A stray tear rolled down my cheek at the scene that unfolded before me, the feeling that settled deep into my stomach letting me know that someone was bound to get hurt in the situation, and my mind was set on not allowing for that person to be Ryder.

"Ry, please, please just go! Forget about me, you'll find someone else. . .Just please go, get out!" I frantically pleaded him, completely unable to pretend like what was happening wasn't affecting me any longer, allowing for everyone around me to know what I was feeling for the first time. Emilio slammed his gun against the side of my head in an attempt to seize my pathetic begging, a pained whimper escaping my lips at the impact.

Ryder shook his head at my suggestion, evidently refraining himself from shooting Emilio right there for hurting me. "I love you too much to do that, Janie."

All of a sudden, just as Ryder was about to shoot Emilio, Carlos fired his gun instead, the bullet crashing straight into my stomach, causing for everything around me to suddenly feel as if it was happening in slow motion, my mind barely registering the way Ryder caught me in his arms, allowing for Emilio and his men to escape as he was too occupied telling me that everything would be alright.

But I knew that it wasn't true, everything wouldn't be alright.

"I love you, too, Ryder. . .Please don't forget it." And those barely decipherable whispers were the last words I was able to utter before my world was consumed by darkness.

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Chapter by me(:
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