Breaking Free

Chapter 29: Present

I locate my coat in the library and notice that my phone isn't in the pocket that I left it in. I looked around on the ground to see if it fell out somewhere.

"Looking for this?" My breath caught in my throat at the sound of his voice. I find him hiding in the shadows. He's leaning against the far back wall watching me with a smirk and my phone is in his hand.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in jail?" I can hear the fear in my voice. I eye the door and edge toward it.

A evil chuckle comes from Joshua as he stands up straight. "My father's the chief. You really think I would behind bars this whole time. How stupid can you get?"

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"I mean that you need to read up on the laws. They can't hold me when they have no proof of the crime committed other than a girl spewing about something that may or may not have happened." He is now in plain view, and I can see that he is wearing a tux, and his hair is slicked back. "I told you before, Paige. You are mine."

He lunges forward, and I take off out the library door. As I run from him, I am thankful that I didn't wear high heels tonight. I can hear my heart hammering in my ears while I try to find a place to hide. Anywhere to hide.

His laughter rings in the dark hallways around me. "Paige, you can run, but you can't hide." I need to get back to the dance.

"Oh, Paige. You went the wrong way. Now, what are you going to do?" His voice surrounds me. I check classroom doors, hoping, praying that one of them is unlocked. I don't dare to look behind me to see if he is closing in on me.

I finally find an open door, and I sneak inside it. I head straight for the teacher's desk and hide underneath it. I cover my mouth and nose to silence myself as tears fall down my face. I can hear his feet outside the classroom come to a stop. "Tsk. Tsk. Paige."

Nothing could be heard for several long seconds, and I feel a small ray of hope that maybe he left. Then a hand grabs my leg. He drags me out from underneath the teacher's desk and pins me against the whiteboard. Joshua Henley's dark, cold eyes stare back at me. "Because of your big mouth, everyone thinks I'm a rapist." He brings his hand up to rub his thumb over my bottom lip, his hot breath hitting my face. "I'm going to have to teach you a lesson for what you did."

I can't breathe. I can't move. I am frozen in full-fledged panic.

"Got nothing to say now, huh? According to Officer Combs, you had a ton to say a few days ago when you were vomiting lies about me to Officer Cunnings."

My eyes grow wide as what he says sets in. At the shock on my face, Joshua laughs. "Officer Combs and I have a mutual agreement, you see. He doesn't say anything about my extracurricular activities, and I won't say anything about his drug business. Who do you think supplies me with the GHB? Luckily, he was there when Wendy filed a report about me. He shredded it as soon as she left the police station." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Joshua moved his hand down and drags his index finger from one side of my throat to the other. "And another thing, getting my father involved was the stupidest thing you could have done. He doesn't care about me or what I do. Half the time he's so drunk he doesn't even recognize me, much less remember that I am his son."

"I don't care." I clench out between my teeth. Rage is slowly starting to take over my body. Feeling the adrenaline pump through my veins, I stare at him and repeat what I said. "I. Don't. Care." I slam my knee up. Connecting with my target, Joshua crumbles to the floor. "You are a worthless piece of crap." I stare down at him. "You can threaten me all you want, but I promise you that you won't get very far."