Awake (Book 3)

Ten

It took twenty minutes to get to the training grounds. And twenty minutes for all the simmering tension in the car to finally explode.

            I wasn’t sure how they managed to nab so much land, but they had, and it was dotted with people everywhere. They all recognized August’s car and waved in greeting, some casting suspicious glances toward me in the passenger seat.  August pulled up in front of what appeared to be the main house, because it was pretty huge and in the center of everything. As soon as he cut the engine and pulled the key out of the ignition, all hell broke loose between us.

            And all because I said, “You shouldn’t have told me to sit in the car.”

            He gaped at me, shoulders shaking with his anger. “Are you shitting me right now?”

            I frowned. “No . . .”

            “What the hell happened to you?” he exclaimed, with enough force to lead me to believe he’d been holding this one in for a while.

            We fully faced each other in the car now, breaths heavy, shoulders heaving, bodies wired. He was angry, fine. That I understood. But he really shouldn’t have told me to back out with those Bounty Hunters. “I’m not sure I know what you mean,” I ground out, fighting to maintain control. I didn’t lose it often. I realized the only real times I’d ever lost it were with Augie, too.

             He threw his hands up. “Six months, Ellie. I think you’re dead for six months. And . . . and to see you again . . . for you to see me again, after how we left things . . .”

            “We were hurting,” I returned, the words tasting like battery acid in my mouth. “We were sad.”

            His jaw dropped. After a moment he snorted, composing himself. “Oh, so what? That was just sex to you?”

            This was unbelievable. I pushed open the car door. “I want to see Blake and Jessica.”

            “Good! You’re running away again! Just like you do every time you don’t want to face something!”

            “Maybe I ran away for a reason, Augie! Maybe you shouldn’t follow!”

            Our screaming match caught the attention of any bystanders as we stormed up to the door of the main house. Certainly we were creating quite the scene, but I couldn’t help it. We couldn’t help it.

            We crashed through the door. A grinning Jessica with tears in her eyes waited on the other side, hands clasped in front of her. “Oh, my God. Ellie—” she began, but didn’t get a chance to finish before August cut her off.

            “When I tell you to stay in the car, you stay the hell in the car,” he growled, grabbing my elbow to turn me around. “What about that is so difficult to understand?”

            “Maybe that you can’t tell me what to do!” I gritted out in return, teeth clenched.            

            Jessica bit her lip. “Guys—”

            “I’m not some helpless girl anymore, Augie!” I continued, right in his face. “I never was! I was born to kill. Born to be an unfeeling killer, and that’s just the way it is!”

            He released a humorous laugh. “You’re a walking contradiction, you know that? You complain about wanting to be human, and then at any chance to be normal you push it away! What the hell is wrong with you?”