California Love

Chapter 26: Taken

Peeta’s POV

I push Katniss behind me so that I am shielding her and the baby. I feel her hands grip my shirt and I hear her whimper. “Peeta." She whispers, pained. Our group of friends are the only ones here, since it’s still early in the morning. Our whole table has stood up and is facing the door where a man is standing holding a gun, pointing it straight at Katniss and me.

“What do you want?” I growl, and the man sneers. He has white hair and a beard and he has an evil, red glint in his eyes. “I want her.” He smirks, flicking the gun in Katniss’ direction. “You leave her alone!” I say angrily. “Peeta.” I hear her whimper, and I reach my hand back and grip onto hers tightly.

“Give me the girl and no one will get hurt.” He says, moving his finger so that it hovers over the trigger of the gun. “I would rather die than hand her over to you.” I say. “Peeta, no!” I hear Katniss cry.

“What do you want with her?” I growl, and he takes a step towards us. I grip Kat’s hand tightly. “I’ve been watching her for a while now,” he says, taking another step closer. “I destroyed your apartment, and when that pathetic owner of the apartment complex came up to see what the noise was, well, you saw what happened to him.” He smirks.

My stomach drops because I do remember what happened to him. I remember Katniss screaming, me turning around and seeing a dead body on the floor, covered in blood.

“That was you?” I ask menacingly. He nods. “And then you were homeless and I was hoping Katniss would realise that she needed to take the record deal; that way she would always be easy to track down, being famous and all.” He smirks and I take a step back. I can’t hear Katniss crying.

“I'm not giving her to you. She’s not leaving my sight.” I say, and I feel her hands clench my shirt tighter. “Well then, I’ll just have to kill you first.” The man smiles.

“NO!” I hear Katniss yell, and she steps out from behind me. “Don’t touch him!” She says. “Katniss.” I whisper, trying to push her back behind me. “No, Peeta, I won’t let you die.” She cries. “And I won’t let you die, either.” I say, pulling her in close to me.

“Leave, now.” I say and the man surprisingly puts the gun back in his pocket. “I'm sorry,” he says, his eyes flickering over all of us and then widening in surprise “I don’t know what came over me,” he says, looking confused. “It…it’s blurry, but I'm sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing.” He says, turning around slowly and walking back out of The Hob.

I turn slowly to face the others, and we all share the same confused look. “What just happened?” Finnick asks, hugging Annie tightly. “I… I don’t know.” I say, and see Katniss has her face buried in my shirt. “Come on Kat, he’s gone. Let’s eat.” I say, and we all sit back down at the table and start to eat our breakfast.

I hold Kat’s hand the whole time as we eat. About half way through breakfast, Katniss stands up. “I need to go to the bathroom.” She says to me, kissing my lips quickly. “No, don’t go.” I say, gripping onto her hand. “Peeta, I really need to go,” she says. “I’ll be fine.” She assures me.

“Delly, can you go with her?” I ask, and she nods. “Yeah, sure.” Both of the girls stand up and head to the bathroom. I fidget nervously in my seat. “Relax, Peeta, the man’s gone.” Gale says, and I glance nervously out the front windows. “Yeah, I know, I just have a bad feeling, that’s all.” I say, looking down at my plate.