Tag, You're It

Chapter 21

Count me in? Did he think I was stupid?

"No." My response seems to shock him. Jared tilts his head to the side.

"Lets face it, you need help. There's no way you're going to pull this off by yourself." His voice is sickeningly sweet.

"I can do this by myself. I have been and I-"

"Look, if you don't let me help you I'm taking you up to Alec." He puts his arms on either side of me. I frown.

"No you won't." I glare. He starts to argue but I put space between us, shoving him backwards. "You're not supposed to talk to me plus I-"

"Now what makes you-"

"You're a guard, right? I was well aware that the guards were supposed to stick to their room and you were not my-"

"Are you saying that I'm disobeying-"

"I would appreciate it if you stopped interrupting me." I snap. Jared glares at me. "You're not supposed to be talking to me. If Alec found out I-"

"Alec isn't going to find out because you and I are going to kill him." Jared says firmly. I'm about to hit him.

"I told you to stop interrupting me." I growl. Jared shakes his head.

"Quit being a girl about this and let me know your plan."

"The last time I trusted someone they ended up working for the monsters upstairs! So excuse me for not trusting someone who is already working for him!" I yell, raising my voice to an unsafe level. Sure, I was mad at Trisha, hated her with everything I had, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Jared stepped back.

"Now, calm down sweetheart there's no-"

"Don't call me sweetheart." I say lowly. Jared looks at me, partly frightened. Both of us are still beat up but I swear I would take him on in a split second if he even thought of-

"Oh that's right." He smiles. "I'm sorry... Darling." Jared doesn't have time to breathe before I'd launched at him.

Rage filled me as my fists pounded into his face. The audacity of this boy astounded me. My wrists were wrapped in hands and I was pinned to the ground. Immediately, I kicked, hearing Jared grunt. There was a moment where I couldn't see because my vision was filled with red and black but then I started moving again.

One of my hands fisted in Jared's thick, blonde locks and the other landed a solid uppercut to his jaw. His eyes glazed and then he went limp. I shoved him away from me and scrambled back, still on the defensive. My hands were shaking and I couldn't catch my breath. Pain was exploding in my head and I could feel blood dribbling out of my nose.

Once my heart rate had indeed calmed down I limped to the crates, feeling my ankle heating up, telling me I'd exerted it too much. I could feel my left eye starting to swell. My head was pounding and yet I didn't want to stop in my pursuit of getting the book.

Jared was not moving. I didn't feel bad at all for reacting as I had. He asked for it and I hoped I damaged his already sensitive ego. That boy would die if he said one more thing to me in any way that I didn't deem forgivable.

I sat down in front of the control panel when suddenly the bell went off. My heart dropped, fear running through my body. Nothing happened, at least, not to me. The trap I'd set up had been triggered. I smiled, starting for the stairs. Suddenly someone grabbed my ankle and I was brought to the ground.

"You can't go upstairs." Jared growls to me. I'm shaking as he continues to squeeze my ankle. "Everyone is looking for you." His voice is low, raspy. He's being much too serious for my liking.