Kissable Assassin

Chapter 3

I meant it when I said I wanna get well, I wanna get well. All the rest of you, so content, stay where you are but it hurts like Hell. I’m sure it’s fun at first, test your pulse and check your vitals. If it’s only a game, you lost me. I quit it with the suicidal recital.

I knew they had gotten drunk when Chris picked up my hands and started dancing with me to “Blackout” by Breathe Carolina. Zac was singing the chorus in the corner, sloshing beer on Jayde's head, which was in his lap. He shakily pours liquor in her mouth, missing it frequently. I try to yank my hands out of Chris' grip but he grabs my waist and lifts me up over his shoulder. I pound on his back repeatedly as he staggers down the halls to his bedroom. I know he has a mattress and not a cot because my back can totally tell the difference. It'd be nice if Chris hadn't forced me into it and pinned me down with his weight. He was trying to get his hands in my pants.

"C'mon, Little Tramp. This'll be fun," he slurs. His breath reeks of alcohol. I squirm relentlessly before he takes my wrists in one of his hands and holds them above my head. His other hand fumbles with the button of my shorts with great difficulty. He sways for a moment, even though he’s on his chest, and then his head drops above my stomach and his iron-like grip loosens on my hands. Disgusted, I shove his hands off of me and push on his shoulders so I can push myself out from under him. Grunting and struggling for breath, I set aside 5 minutes of my life to get my entire body off of the bed and out the door. 

Zac and Jayde are asleep. There is broken glass all over the floor. I seize the chance for some alone time. I grab my jacket and run out the front door into the woods. 

The fresh pine air fills my lungs, much more preferred than the smoke and death I was always around. The sight of trees and mountains calms me. The first time I came here, I was with Austin. On my 14th birthday. He turned 16 the next month. I'm leaning against the tree where my first kiss happened. My mind replays the memory of us standing there, looking at each other in silence before we both leaned in and... 

Someone was screaming my name. My mind snaps back to reality, to the present time. I whip around and see a figure advancing on me. 

"ADRIANNE COLLINS WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Zac's voice rings out through the woods. I'm screwed. Totally and completely screwed. Should I let him find me? So I don't look like I'm running away? Or should I run back to the house unseen? The one that will get me the least amount of punishment. Well...it was probably going to be harsh either way. And why waste my energy? 

So I yell at him, "I'm over here, Zac!" He sees me and sprints toward me. I stop leaning on the tree, only to get slammed into it again. The pine bark scrapes my back as I fall sideways. 

"What do you think you're doing huh?" He shouts at me from a standing position. I try to crawl backward but hit yet another tree. I wince at the pain. 

"I was just coming out here for some air! I wasn't running away! I would never do that! Especially after today! I swear in my life Zac!" I struggle to speak back up at him. 

"Do you really think you could get away from us? You don't even have anywhere to go!" He barks. 

"No! I was coming back! I love the woods and I never get to come out here so I just thought I'd sit out in the forest for a few minutes!" For a moment, we're silent. Our breath puffs up into the midnight air. Then he seems to calm down. He turns and starts to stomp off. I scramble up and follow him immediately. Right in front of the house, he turns and backhands me across the face. I stumble into the porch railing, holding my cheek. He's still drunk. I know this when I see his faraway gaze as he closes in on me. I look up at him boldly, and then receive a blow to my head. My vision gets foggy. My head throbs. The world spins. And then I pass out completely. 

********************

My cot squeaks when I shift my weight. When I open my eyes, I see a few blurred shapes, but like a camera lens, it focuses to see an empty bedroom. I hear Jayde yelling in the kitchen. It sounds like mumbles, but I really hope she was yelling at Zac. Because he's yelling back. I sit up from my bed, crawl out and head for my door. Then I freeze in my tracks. I'm naked, from head to toe. Worry shoots through me. Who took off my clothes? What did they do? Was the person male or female? How long was I out and what happened while I was? I grab some clothes and dress as quickly as I can. I put my knife in my bra and make sure my lighter is in my hair before grabbing the handle. The door is unlocked, but it won’t budge. Rolling my eyes, I kick the door near the knob. The chair on the other side smashes into the wall across from me. Zac and Jayde stop yelling when they see me. Zac's hard gaze lands on my serious one. At this point, I am so pissed off that I don't care what consequence it ends up in. 

"It's ok, I got you into your bed a whole two nights ago," Jayde relieves me.

"Where's Chris?" I ask. 

Jayde looks down when she murmurs something. And after a minute, I finally hear what she said. And I feel my eyes widen. 

"What do you mean Chris is missing?" I shout. On the contrary, I was fine with him being missing. But alas, I knew that I would be the one killing whoever on a strip club or a sewer or an alleyway or an abandoned building after kissing them. Whatever is was it wasn't going to go down pretty. It never did. 

"She means he's missing. And I think we should go find him," Zac answers. 

"Well I think we shouldn't! He probably ran off! I say good riddance! He never did anything anyway!" Jayde starts yelling again. 

"He is our partner Jayde and what if he was kidnapped?" Zac retorts. 

"Chris is a big boy! He wouldn't get kidnapped in a million years!" Jayde shoots back. Zac throws up his hands and starts to leave the room. When he passes me, our eyes meet again, and then he wraps his arm around my stomach and carries me into his room. Jayde screams at us and dashes toward me. Her frame was blocked from view when Zac drops me to the floor, turns around, and locks the door. Jayde slams into the door and pounds it with her fists. 

"ZAC YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE AND LEAVE HER ALONE!" Zac ignores her and forces me onto his bed. 

I yell at him, trying to stand. He shoves me back down onto the mattress and presses against me. Jayde throws something at the door, creating a split in the wood. She throws it again. The crack widens. Zac circles his arms around me and squeezes my insides. I choke on the air that he constricted.

“Jayde, if you don’t stop banging on the door, I’m going to maim her until she wishes she was dead,” Zac threatens in a booming voice. Silence. A jolt. Stomping fading down the hall.

Attention turned back on me, he takes my small wrists into one hand and holds my clenching arms above my head.

“Adriane, the more you struggle, the more pain you’ll be in,” He growls as his buries his head in the crook of my neck. This doesn’t stop my resistance. “Do you think I’m bluffing? Shall we revisit your first year?”

I freeze.

Squeeze my eyes shut.

And shake my head.

“Good. Now stay silent and stay still.”

********************

The argument ended in a compromise- if Chris didn't come back in a week, we would look for him. And if we didn't find him in 2 weeks, we would give up. Meanwhile, Pete Jacobson, another assassin, had killed one of Jayde's friends. Marceline was the daughter of the assassin that killed one of Pete's partners because Pete's partner had owed him a debt that he never repaid for a special weapon. It seemed very complicated to me.

Pete was currently in America at the moment, but he would be arriving tomorrow afternoon. And I would be at his home to greet him. Zac and Jayde gave me full instructions on every single detail of my mission. And afterward, I was to burn as much of his property as possible without getting caught.