Page 16 of Madness & Mayhem
Does my mom know what’s happened?
“You can’t go looking for him, Lakyn. Let him die.” Kyler steps toward me, and I take another step back, knocking into the table behind me. A glass pumpkin rattles on top of the table, and I reach back, righting it.
“I can’t leave him out there to die or get caught. We need to help him. We’ve always fucking stuck up for each other, and I’m not stopping now.”
“He fucking betrayed us!” Archer roars, his hand flying in the air. He points at me, his finger tense, looking lethal as it juts in front of my face. “We stick up for one another when we’re against others. He betrayed all of us. He killed one of us!Fuck him,” he seethes.
Tears spring to my eyes, and I feel nothing but my insides clawing into shreds. “I’m not giving up on him,” I gasp, pain ripping through me. “I’ll never give up on him.”
“You’re fucking stupid then,” Kyler snaps, taking one more step until he’s toe to toe with me. His hand reaches out, and he brushes his fingers along my lower lip. “He’ll never be with you again, Lakyn. Hopefully he’s dead. Hopefully you drained him of his blood,” he rasps, an evil smile taking over his face.
I bring my hand out, shoving my palms against his chest. He barely budges, barely moves an inch. “I hate you.” I glance at them, everyone who looks at me in pity, in fucking anger. “I hate all of you right now. I don’t even know who you are anymore. He is one of us! It was a fucking accident.”
“He lost that fucking right when he killed Creed. When he tried to killme!” Eloise snaps.
I shove myself past Kyler. Archer snaps forward, grabbing me around the chest. Kyler grabs my waist, lifting me in the air by my thighs. I kick and thrash, desperate to get free, but their grip is tight as they walk toward the stairs.
“Where the fuck are you taking me?” I scream.
“You’re going to go do some reckless-ass shit and get yourself in trouble. You’re blind right now, but we’re not going to let you ruin your life. Go the fuck to sleep, because you look like shit,” Archer growls as they carry me up the stairs.
“I’m not going to sleep!” I scream, arching backward. It doesn’t do a thing, they only hold me tighter.
“You’re going to sleep, because you aren’t leaving your room. You aren’t going anywhere besides your bed.”
They make it to the top of the stairs, turning right down the hall and into my room. Their hands release around me, and I tumble to my mattress in a heap of limbs.
Archer points at me. “You aren’t leaving this room, Lakyn. So don’t even fucking try it,” he snaps, his eyes narrowed in rage. He’s about to leave, when he turns around at the last moment, walking up to the bed. He leans down, his fingers curling in the back of my hair, pulling my head up toward his. My forehead knocks against his, and he grips my hair tightly, until I feel a pinch of pain. “The only way you’re leaving me is death, Lakyn. Remember that. Remember who the fuck it is you belong to.”
He presses his lips roughly against mine, so briefly I have no time to react, before he shoves me against the bed. “All of us. Every single fucking one of us.”
Kyler grips my fingers, turning my hand over and glancing at the blood, at my bruised knuckles.
“You’ve always been wild, Lakyn, but I’m starting to wonder how deep the madness runs.”
He gives me a look before he spins around, walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.
And I lay there, wondering how I will ever survive this.
How any of us will survive this.
Chapter Four
REIGN
With one more glance, I see the coast is clear, and I dart across the street, toward the house I know where my baby Lake lay. Is she asleep, in pain, or is she awake, waiting?For me?
Archer’s car is out front, and for all I know, they’re all waiting for me, weapons in hand and ready to wield them at my throat. I wouldn’t be surprised. Actually, I expect it.
I can’t stop, though. I can’t not reach for her, search the world left and right until I find her.
My side aches as I walk around the house, and my hand goes to my blood-stained shirt, the stitches beneath haphazard and painful.
Only after another day and into the night have I gained the power to leave the motel. When the cops stopped scoping the area and I felt safe enough to stumble out. I know they’re searching for me, their eyes scanning the faces of everyone in town as they look for mine.
They will never find me. Not even one of them.
Making my way to the side of the house, my hand reaches up, my stitches stretching as I grab the lowest branch. I pull myself up, gritting my teeth in pain as my entire being clenches in agony. My leg swings over the thick branch, and I grip it with my hands as I bend over, hissing through my teeth. My strength isn’t there. I’ve lost too much blood in the last few days and need rest to gain my strength.