Mad World (Gone Editing)

Chapter 24

Cori's POV

Sativa by Jhené Aiko feat Swae Lee

<Hello everyone. This chapter ended up being so much longer than I expected it to be but it's done and I'm moving on to the next one starting tomorrow. There are feels and lemons ahead so prepare your self. Enjoy >

The morning after Elliot begun telling me about his past, he came into my bedroom and with a grave look on his face.

"Love, I 'ave something to tell you," he said, his ocean eyes so serious that I was scared.

The fact that he'd called me love and let his perfect American accent slip, sent my heart racing.

"I talked to Trev and it seems that Mr. Gold and Mr. Silver completed a contract for the same person who has the contract on you," he told me.

"What does that have to do with me," I asked him even though my mind had already flown to the most awful conclusion it could come up with.

My heart was hammering in my chest as I waited for him to answer. Sweat had formed on  my upper lip and slicked my palms. My stomach was tight and my throat dry as all the horrible events that happened before Wolf Lake flashed in front of my eyes.

I sat down on the bed and immediately Rocket jumped up to lay his head on my lap. I stroked his silky fur and took comfort in his presence.

"The contract was on your brother. We believe that the contract on him was their way of showing your father they were serious," Elliot said but to my trauma stricken brain everything seemed slowed down and distorted.

The knot in my stomach got even tighter as bile rose in my throat.

The image of my brother's cold body laid out in my parents' black bathtub with an empty needle still in his arm appeared before my eyes. I could taste salt in my mouth as I saw Mr. Gold and Mr. Silver talking to my father at Corvin's funeral and him throwing them out. All the anger I felt toward Corvin, the resentment that he could keep such a secret from me when I told him everything, things I didn't even tell Cheryl and Baleigha turned to ash in my mouth.

I bolted off of the bed, startling Rocket who yelped as he barely moved out of the way in time. I ran into the bathroom just in time to start puking my guts out directly into the porcelain bowl. Tears and snot ran down my face as I fought to keep my hair from getting caught up in the mess.

Then Elliot was there.

He held my hair away from my face and ribbed my back in gentle circles. And when I was done, he produced a cool damp towel for me to wipe my face off. He looked me over quickly and then pulled me against his chest as my wracking sobs turned to hiccupping ones.

"How." Hiccup. "Could he." Hiccup. "Let me." Hiccup.

"Shhh, love. I know," Elliot said into my hair.

I wanted to pull away from him for so many reasons, but the feel of his strong arms, the rumble of his deep voice as he whispered reassurances and being wrapped in his scent all reminded me of the last time that I truly felt safe.

I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, but eventually I did stop crying. I didn't pull away from him either.

"I hate him, Elliot. When this is all over with, I don't think I can ever see him again. I don't want to see him," I told him in a strained voice.

My throat was raw from the puking which only served to remind me that I smelled like throw. up.

"You have every right to feel that way. He's constantly omitting things," Elliot admitted. "It's almost as if he doesn't want the people after you to be caught. I'm doing my best to work around him but..."