Bound by Honour

9

I slammed the apartment door, glaring at my brother's head. He was talking to Jaime, telling him what had happened. "Yeah, talk to the resident manager, search the security feeds. Ok, see you soon."

Cameron set his phone on the counter, turning to face me. He didn't say anything, but his eyes studied me. I stood before my bedroom, running a hand through my hair. "How long?"

"I've known for three days," my older brother muttered. "Maisie, I was going to tell you-"

I scoffed, shaking my head in disgust. "When would you tell me, before or after he held a gun to my head?"

"I know I shouldn't have kept it from you. But I also don't know what you will do. You're ..." he trailed off, clenching his jaw.

"I'm what ... unpredictable? A ticking time bomb?" I snapped.

"Unstable," he said softly. "You are unstable, Maisie."

Wow. I knew he wasn't entirely wrong, but just wow. "You're such an ass." I didn't want to look at him anymore and headed into my room, emotions boiling over. Anger and sadness ripped through me like wildfire.

I reached the desk and knocked the stack of books off. They flew to the floor, thump, thump, thump. Pain radiating through my hand and wrist, I slammed my palm down on the wooden window sill. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"Maisie," he shouted, "you need to calm down. Let me explain."

I kept shoving things off my desk, pens, notebooks, and calculator - livid.

"Why wouldn't you fucking tell me?" I cried, smacking my hand down on the desk again. A sharp pain shot up my arm.

Cameron stepped forward, about to reach for me, but I glared at him.

"Stay away from me," I warned, "don't touch me."

"Okay, okay. I'll keep my distance, but only if you stop throwing stuff around," he said as I pulled at my hair, distraught. "And stop hitting things; you'll reopen the wound on your hand."

"Fucking hell, Cameron," I shouted, throwing my hands into the air. "He will come after me. Do you not understand that? He'll kill me."

"No, he won't. I won't -"

"For once, can you just listen to me," I cried, "I fucking betrayed him and told the police everything! About the abuse, about his cruel and wicked ways. Did you not hear what that man said?"

"I did and -"

"And why would you not tell me he escaped? How is even fucking possible? Goddammit, Cameron, I told you I wasn't safe here. I am not safe anywhere!"

"This is what you were talking about, right? This is unbelievable. At Titan the other night. You knew then he escaped," I muttered, shaking my head. "Just when I started to trust you, you kept this from me."

"Let me explain. It's not -"

"Get out."

"Maisie."

"I said, get out!"

He held up his hands. I heard the apartment's front door open. Cameron gave me one last exasperated look before leaving. I collapsed onto the bed, shaking with anger and fear, swiping at the tears falling.

The door creaked open again, and Ashton appeared. "Maisie," he said, closing it behind him. I didn't look at him, my heart racing. "I didn't know. I promise you, I didn't, and I'm just as pissed as you."

The bed dipped. "They didn't tell me. I'm sorry."

"They shouldn't have kept it. He's not gonna stop until I'm ..." dead. I trailed off, burying my head into the palms of my hands.