Letting Go (A Before You Exit Fanfic)

Take A Breath

Riley and I walked to his house together. It was quiet most of the time. I didn’t really know what to sayto him honestly. I had just met him and he is already risking a lot to be anywhere around me. I had no idea why he would do that for someone he didn’t even know. It was sweet though. I wasn’t used to having a guy be nice to me like that.

Once we got to Riley’s house I figured we would just get in his car and leave but we didn’t. He took my hand and pulled me slightly to his house.

“Riley! What are you doing?” I asked in a hushed tone.

“I thought you didn't want to go anywhere looking like that. Don’t you want to get cleaned up?”

“Yeah but your parents are in there and so is your band. What if they see me?”

“My parents are out on a date and the guys are downstairs picking out a movie. Come on.”

“Fine.” I sighed.

He continued holding my hand and walked me upstairs to a bathroom away from everyone. He shut the door behind us and sat on a stool while I washed my face off. I looked up at the mirror every once and a while noticing Riley looking at me.

“Thank you, for everything.”

“It’s no problem. I have a question for you though.”

“And I may have an answer.” I replied while splashing my face once again with water.

“Why don’t you just leave him?”

“I can’t. He’d practically kill me. It would basically be like what happened tonight but 20 times worse. He’s been doing this for a little over a year now. I don’t know how I’m still here with everything that he has done to me.”

“And no one knows?”

“You’re the only one. I’ve become quite the pro at covering up whatever he does to me. My parents love him though. They practically encourage me to stay the night with him because they think he’s such a sweet guy. I hate it.”

“You’re not going back to him after tonight though…right?”

“I don't want to. But I don’t know how I’m going to hide from him. He knows where I live and he’ll hang out there with my parents and make up some bullshit lie as to why he is there.”

“I really wish I could help you somehow.” He showed a look of concern again.

“You have already. Thank you.”

He handed me a bag of his mom’s makeup for me to use to cover up everything. I covered up the bruise and anything else that you could visibly see from what Luke had done tonight. Riley opened the door and led the way downstairs back to his car. He told me to go ahead and sit in the passenger seat while he told the guys that he had to go somewhere real quick.

Riley got to his car shortly after me. We buckled up and pulled out of the drive way. I was afraid that Luke would still be out looking for me. I knew that he wasn’t going to stop until he found me. I just wanted to have tonight away from him. I’d figure out my next move when the time comes. When we got to Dyanna’s house I thanked him for everything once again. I got out of the car and walked up to the front door and turned around to watch him drive away. I have no clue if I would ever see the guy who practically saved my life again once he left.

Author's note: Sorry this chapter is kind of boring. It's basically just a little more background about McKenzie and Luke. But it'll lead up to something within the next few chapters. I really appreciate the votes and comments. It always puts a huge smile on my face! (:

~Cassandra