Make her bleed, p.5
Make Her Bleed, page 5
Suddenly, my arms bring down the trophy on his head, and I gasp, dropping it. My dad drops to his knees, clutching his head, blood soaking his hand.
"Dad, oh, my god!" I cry as I run to him. "I'm sorry!"
"It's okay. Go, kiddo!" he urges, but I shake my head.
"I can't. You're bleeding."
"Do as I say!" he screams at me, and I jump back. "Take the keys and my wallet. Nothing else. Just run," he hisses.
I quickly snatch up the keys and his wallet, racing out into the garage. I throw open the door to my dad's car, jump in, and open the garage door. Throwing the car in reverse, I slam on the gas and speed out of the garage, praying that no one recognizes me driving my dad's car.
I'll need to ditch it and get a rental somewhere along the line.
I'm speeding through the neighborhood, my heart racing a mile per second, and I beg the car to go even faster, as fast as possible, but I'm pushing down on the accelerator as hard as I can.
I make it to the exit of our neighborhood, and luck isn't on my side. There at the red light is Kai in his blue sedan, his eyes widen when they settle on me.
He sees me and knows I've thrown a curveball his way.
"Goddamn it," I curse before slamming on the gas again, racing off toward the highway as fast as I can.
Luckily, the car has a built-in GPS my dad already set for some unknown destination; I don't have to guess where I'm going.
Oddly though, Kai doesn't seem to be following me.
He must be confident I won't get far if he's not chasing me down.
I keep speeding, feeling blessed, and once I exit Royal City, I feel my body relax.
I did it.
I escaped Malakai Harris. I pray my dad is okay and that Kai hasn't hurt him. I'm tempted to call and check on him but I know better. If Kai has as far of a reach as my dad says he does, he might be able to trace the call.
I can't risk it or all of this will have been for nothing.
I exit the highway when I see a sign for my dad's bank, remembering how he said I need to withdraw all the money for my travels and survival.
The sudden realization hits me. Even when I get to wherever I'm going, how am I going to survive? I can get a job then pay my way through a GED program and college but Malakai Harris knows my name and my date of birth. He probably even has access to personal information like my social security number. He can still track me even if I manage to find a job.
But, there is an alternative. What if I report him? Whenever I get where I'm going, I can file a report with the police station and tell them how he raped me. I’ll explain all about C-4. They'll send the report to Royal City P.D. and then …
My thoughts trail off because I know what will happen in reality.
He would get away with it. Kai is too powerful, and he'll still find me.
This is just delaying the inevitable. My dad is willing to put his life on the line for me to have this head start, and I won't let that be in vain.
I sure as hell hope Malakai Harris finds me because, when he does, I'll be ready for him. I'll fucking destroy him the way he tried to destroy me.
I turn into the bank parking lot when suddenly something fast, hard, and strong slams into the car, flipping it in mid-air.
For a fraction of a second, I pray when I die, I finally get to meet my mom. I get to run into her arms and tell her, even though she abandoned me and I don't know her, I still love her. I imagine her looking like me: red hair, freckles across her cheeks, bright blue eyes, and full lips.
God knows I look nothing like my dad.
When the car impacts with the ground, everything goes dark, and I'm certain I've died.
I sure hope I have. If not, Kai will surely kill me for running.
CHAPTER NINE
KAI
My phone rings as I race down the highway in the direction I know Aria went.
I'm so fucking pissed. I'm ready to put a bullet between Tom's eyes.
I saw his head injury. I could believe he surprised Aria but I have the sneaking suspicion he has something to do with her running. The timing is too perfect to be coincidental. If it wasn't for the fact that I have no evidence to support my theory, he'd be dead for defying me.
"Yeah?" I answer the phone, speeding down the highway.
"I found her, Kai. She's really bad off. Looks like some jackass ran her off the road," Nico answers quickly, sounding incredibly alarmed.
"How bad is she?" I press aggressively.
"She banged her head pretty bad, and she might have a broken rib. Take Exit sixty-four and you'll find us."
I hang up quickly and gun it to the proper exit, adrenaline rushing through my veins.
Why the hell am I freaking out? So what if she's injured? It doesn't change a goddamn thing.
Even in that case, I want to wring the neck of whoever ran her off the road and put them in the fucking ground.
Still, in the back of my mind, I want her to be okay. I want to tend to every injury she has before I break her psyche bit by bit.
I see the crash site as soon as I exit the highway.
She wasn't just ran off the road. Tom's car fucking flipped into the ditch.
She could've died!
I quickly pull up behind the car and see Nico and Knox bent over her motionless body next to the car.
I jump out of my car and race over to them.
"Is she okay?" I ask as I lean over her, assessing the blood running down the side of her face; it almost blends in with the color of her fiery hair in the setting sun.
"She won't wake up," Nico says, anxious.
"Fucking shit! Is she gonna die?" Knox asks, concern on his face.
All of my guys have spent time with Aria since she and Tom moved to Royal City—to say they all like her would be an understatement. They care deeply for her which goes for anyone who meets her.
None of us want this beautiful, lively young woman to die.
"Re," I say to her, using her childhood nickname as I smooth back her hair. I cup her cheek in my palm. "Re, wake up," I demand.
She's still silent but her face scrunches up, providing a relief to the three of us.
"Kai," she whimpers my name in a soft breath. "The … lights," she mumbles but that's all she gets out.
She's still very much unconscious but I reached her, which is something big. She spoke and moved a bit.
"I'll call the doc to check her out once we get her to my house," I tell them before hauling her into my arms.
I lift her and carry her to my car.
"Ward, prep the implant," I order and he quickly runs to his car. He comes back with the gun as I lie her down in the back seat.
Knox hands me the implant gun, and I lift her shirt and inject the tracker into the pouch of flesh on her stomach.
If I’d put it in her arm, it would be easily noticeable. I don't want it to be obvious that we've tagged her in case she runs off again.
"Knox, ride with her in the back seat in case she wakes up. Nico, follow me back in your car."
"What about Coach Patrick's car?" he asks.
"It's his punishment." I don't give them any further explanation.
I lie Aria down gently in her bed in my house, pressing a towel against the wound on her head, as we wait for the doctor to arrive.
She seems so peaceful even though I'm pretty sure she'll have a horrible headache when she wakes up.
"If you die on me, I'll bring you back to life just to kill you myself, little bug," I whisper, only the two of us in the room.
I used to call her “little bug” all the time. The way she would crawl around on the floor as a toddler made her look like an adorable insect.
Who could've guessed that the young woman who drives me completely insane is the same little girl who once had me wrapped around her little finger? Fate is a cruel, calculating bitch sometimes.
"What the hell were you thinking, running off like that?" I ask, knowing she won't answer me or even hear the question lingering in the air. "If your father tried to send you away and I find out that's why you ran, I'll fucking butcher him."
I'd kill anyone who tries to hurt this spunky, fearless woman. The only one allowed to hurt her is me … and whoever I order to do so.
"Doc is here!" Dax calls into the room as the doctor strolls in. I quickly move out of his way as he checks her over.
"Are these injuries your doing, Malakai?" he asks, a tense irritation in his voice. He looks over his shoulder at me, leveling me with a scolding look.
I've seen that look too many times to count. The disappointment borders on anger.
"No, Dad. They aren't. She was in a car accident.” I hate that this man is my father, and I’m pretty sure I’m the bane of his existence as well.
"Then, why isn't she in the hospital? She could have a mild concussion, and she has severe bruising on her ribs and along her upper spinal column. This girl could have easily been paralyzed by these injuries," he angrily grits out.
"He's telling the truth, Dr. Harris. I found her on the side of the highway. She's Coach Patrick's daughter, Aria James," Nico rushes to my defense but I shush him before he can add more.
"Tommy Patrick's daughter? Hmmm. That explains it," he sneers in disgust.
It's no secret that my father has a huge distaste for me and sees me as a complete disappointment. He has plenty of reasons to. For example, I constantly have teenagers running around my house, and it's not exactly a secret that I've done some immoral things with said teenagers.
But, that's not why my father sees me as a failure. It all has to do with my career choices. He never saw sports as a valid career path. Even when I was in Gridiron, he called it a hobby. He won't accept that I've made a good living as a football player and now a successful coach. He thinks I'm a bum because I'm not a doctor or a lawyer.
His opinion doesn't matter much. He was never around when I was growing up anyway.
"Is she going to be okay, Doc?" Nico asks, nervously fidgeting from the doorway.
"She should be in the hospital to have everything monitored but since you called me here, I doubt that is in your game plan. For all the injuries she has sustained, she should remain sedated for a few days." He pulls a vial out of his bag and a needle, filling the needle with the medication before sticking her in the hip, earning himself an unpleasant groan from her. "I'll fill a couple syringes with the appropriate dosage and leave them in your fridge. She'll need a shot every six hours. Let her wake up enough to eat something before putting her back under. When she wakes up, check her cognitive abilities to make sure the concussion is resolving itself.”
"But, I thought someone with a concussion isn't supposed to sleep?" Nico presses.
I already know his answer.
"They aren't, but she already is, and even if her concussion makes her slip away, it's better than the alternative: waking up and realizing she's in this house."
He's not wrong. She'll probably lose her shit when she realizes her attempt to flee did nothing but give her life-threatening injuries.
That’s not what he’s referring to, though. He’s referring to the past, horrible things that have happened within these walls.
"Thanks, Dad," I say as he goes to leave but he just waves me off.
Fuck you, too, Dad.
CHAPTER TEN
ARIA
"Aria."
I hear a voice in the distance. It's quiet, yet masculine.
My senses are dull. I can barely feel my body, and I know I shouldn't. I should be dead. I'm supposed to be going into the afterlife knowing those guys can never hurt me again.
I always thought you don't become grown-up until you've experienced the darkness and evils of the world at least once. Something that makes you suspicious of the world and everybody in it.
I never thought the person who would lead me into that dark and skeptical place would be one of the people I trusted most in this world. The veil dropped and I saw behind Malakai Harris’s mask. I witnessed the true evil in his eyes, the eagerness to watch my horror and pain.
"Aria … wake up," the voice calls to me again.
I don't want to wake up though. I want to slip back into the memories of another life, memories from my childhood. My mind played the same memory on repeat …
It was Christmas Eve, and my dad was sick with the flu. He promised to take me to see the lights and to go ice skating but he was too sick to get out of bed.
Kai came over to help out, and he found me crying on the couch.
"What's up, little bug?" he asked, so concerned. I told him I was upset because my dad was so sick and we were supposed to go see the lights.
"The lights, Uncle Kai."
He didn't look at me like I was insane or being a big baby. He just smiled at me.
"Let's go then. Dry your tears and grab your coat, Re." I never expected him to offer to take me, and I was so excited to spend time with him.
He drove me around the city and I stared out the window at all the pretty lights until we got to the Winter Wonderland ice rink.
"The lights are so pretty, Uncle Kai!"
I smiled up at him and he grinned right back.
"Only the best for my little bug. Are you ready to skate?"
He always called me his little bug but as soon as Dad and I moved to Royal City, he stopped calling me that, and it should've been a sign.
"Aria, open your eyes."
There's that voice again. Why won't they let me sleep?
"Aria," he says again, and I feel his hand squeezing mine.
"What?" I groan, hating that I've been stripped from that memory.
Memories are better than the reality of my life. I just want to go back to that Christmas.
It was the last one before Kai moved from Little Rock to Royal City.
"Open your eyes," he says again, then I feel his hand on my face.
Why the fuck is this person touching my face? That's just creepy. I don't know him, do I?
"It's time to wake up, Aria!" the voice calls again.
Fine. If it's the only way to get him to leave me alone.
I clench my eyes and slowly open them but the light from the room is blinding. Everything's so blurry, and my lids just want to close right back.
"What?" I grumble weakly, struggling to wiggle the sleep from my arms but my fingers are easy.
What the hell is going on?
My dad's car. It flipped. I must be in the hospital. I didn't have any ID on me. How do they know my name?
"Aria, how many fingers am I holding up?" A hand moves close to my face, and I'm able to focus on it but focusing sends a pain through my head.
"Ow. Three, I think. I don't know." I see three blurry bumps.
"She just woke up, man. She's been unconscious for a while. Maybe she needs more time. I know I can't focus when I come out of anesthesia."
I finally lift my arm, which feels like dead weight, and rub my eyes; I’m hoping that will help. I've always gotten really bad crusties in my eyes when I sleep.
I open my eyes again, and they finally start to focus.
"Where am I?" I ask. Then, I look at three imposing men standing a few feet away.
Maybe my head isn't quite right because I don't recognize them immediately even as they stare at me.
"Hey, pretty girl. How are you feeling?" The man with the dark hair asks as a big grin spreads across his face. His green eyes sparkle, and how devilishly handsome he is reminds me of Brian Bloom. He gives off some serious young Dusty Donovan vibes.
Then, it hits me, the memory of him on my first day of school.
He runs up behind me as I'm walking down the hall with my new friend, Kaylee, and he throws his arm around my shoulder.
"Hey, pretty girl. How's your first day treating you?" he asks, all flirtatious with absolutely no shame.
"Oh, hey, Knox. It's going good.”
Knox. Knox Ward, one of the same guys who raped me.
Then, all their faces register.
Knox Ward.
Nico Mendoza.
Malakai Harris.
Three of my rapists.
I fling my body out of the bed, landing on the hard ground which probably makes me look like an idiot for reacting out of nowhere but after what these bastards did to me, I don't give a fuck what they think.
"Aria, are you okay?" Nico speaks, sounding worried about me hurting myself.
Fuck him. Fuck all of them.
I open my eyes and see a white pipe under the bed amidst all of the other miscellaneous junk and grab it, hurrying to my feet.
I wield the pipe the same way I did the trophy I used on my dad.
My eyes are still adjusting, my vision going in and out randomly.
"Jesus, Aria. Really?" Kai rolls his eyes and guffaws at me.
"Stay the fuck away from me!" I demand, my heart racing at them being around me. This is like seeing Nico in the nurse's office on crack.
"Come on. We're not going to hurt you," Knox says in what is meant to be a disarming tone but I'm no fool. I know the truth.
"Don't try to bullshit me, you bastards! My dad told me the truth. He told me about what you're doing. C-4. Ring a bell?"
I'm ready to bash their head in if they get close to me. I'm not about to let them do what they did to me in that classroom again...or worse.
"Why do you think I hit him over the head?" I add when none of them speak. They don't even exhibit any sign of remorse for what they did. Fucking psychotic assholes. "Don't you think for one second I won't do the same to you!"
My vision starts to blur again and I can't get my eyes to focus. What the fuck is wrong with me?
