All of My Soul (33 page)

Mackenzie screamed wildly and slammed my head
back against the door, causing tiny stars to appear in my eyes.
“You’re the disgusting one, you freak show! Everyone on that roof
just saw your hideous body. You can’t hide it anymore. Everyone
knows how revolting you are.”

As she spewed her insanity, I slowly moved
one hand up to where she had shot me with the stun gun. Two tiny
metal probes attached to the Taser by wires stuck into my hip
through my dress. I yanked them out, trying desperately not to
react to the pain as they ripped out of my skin.

I smiled at Mackenzie despite my loathing for
her. “I’d rather be disgusting on the outside than on the inside
like you. Everything about you is fake. You’re overprocessed and
artificial. If you weren’t so evil, I’d pity you. The truth is you
don’t deserve Lincoln. He’s a wonderful man, and he wants me. Not
you.”

Seething, she took a step away from me and
held up the Taser. I watched as her finger moved to push down on
the trigger. A second before the electricity flowed from the gun, I
threw the probes at her.

She screamed in terror and flailed her arms
as two tiny pieces of metal with the ability to cause agonizing
pain flew through the air at her and Asher.

My heart pounded as Mackenzie flung herself
backward in an attempt to not be electrocuted. She stumbled over
Asher’s feet and landed hard on her butt. When her sidekick bent
over to help her, she screamed at him to hand over his Taser, but I
was long gone. I whirled around, unbolted the door, and fled into
the hallway as she argued with Asher.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Adrenaline surged through me again as I
quickly analyzed my options. There was an emergency stairwell to
the right, but the elevator was to the left, and I wanted to get
back to Brody.

Running as fast as I could, I snaked down the
hallway in the direction we had come from. I heard a commotion
behind me, and I knew the evil bitch was coming for me. But she had
seriously underestimated me this time. I wasn’t going to let her
wreck me again. I was going to fight back.

Expecting to see Brody still lying on the
floor of the elevator, I momentarily froze when I reached the bank
of silver doors. They were all closed, and Brody was nowhere to be
found.

Had he—had he left me? If he had recovered
from being tasered, why hadn’t he come for me? He must have gone
for help.

Approaching heavy footsteps from down the
hall reminded me I needed to keep moving. There was only one
option. Mackenzie and Asher were between the stairway and me, and I
didn’t know what was at the opposite end of the hallway, but I
didn’t have a choice.

Kicking off my heels and hiking up my dress,
I hightailed it away from the elevators, darting down the hallway,
away from my abductors.

Plastic covered the walls on this side of the
hotel, and the carpet had been ripped up. I passed a small alcove
with a few vending machines and an ice dispenser. No help there.
Four doors, two on each side of the hallway, were the next thing I
passed. I banged on all four of them, calling for help, but none of
them opened. I didn’t think they would, but I had to try.

An open arched entryway was the next thing on
the right side of the hallway, and I skittered to a stop. It was a
small lounge area with couches, chairs, a microwave, and some board
games on a shelf. But the most important thing was the metal door
with an exit sign over it at the far end next to a wall of windows.
I looked back down the hallway. Mackenzie and Asher were closing in
fast. I had wasted too much time banging on doors.

The smell of fresh paint permeated my senses
as I weaved between an ugly blue couch and a yellow loveseat. I ran
as fast as I could through the lounge toward the exit door, my
dress swishing around my ankles.

A loud bang sounded from behind me, and the
terrible immobilizing pain was back, causing me to crumple to the
floor five feet away from the exit. Once again, I was powerless to
do anything except twitch uncontrollably as pain and electricity
flowed through my body.

The agonizing torture suddenly stopped, and I
opened my eyes to find Mackenzie and Asher standing over me. I
gasped for air as the tremors faded from my body. Tears built in my
eyes, and I desperately fought against them. I didn’t want her to
see my panic.

Asher’s boot collided with my side as he
kicked me, causing me to cry out and roll away from him. He grunted
as he savagely kicked me again and again, and I curled up in a
tight ball, trying to shield my ribs and face from his attack. The
pain was horrible, but there was nothing I could do except pray he
would stop.

“You stupid bitch,” Mackenzie said as Asher
dropped to his knees next to me. “Don’t you know I always win?” She
laughed wickedly as he grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm away from
my face.

“Please stop,” I begged him in a whisper. I
tried to find any sign of hope in his eyes, but all I saw was cold
callousness as he pulled his elbow back.

I cried out in pain as his fist collided with
my cheek sending a burst of light throughout my field of vision.
Everything hurt, and a wave of hopelessness overwhelmed me. This
time I couldn’t stop the tears. Mackenzie was going to win again.
She would never have Lincoln, but she would win nonetheless. She
wasn’t going to let me walk out of this.

Asher brutally hit me again, striking me in
my mouth and then the eye, which immediately began to swell shut.
Mackenzie’s cruel laughter echoed in my ears.

I decided my only hope was to act as if he
had beaten me into unconsciousness. I lay still, trying not to
react as he hit me again. The taste of blood filled my mouth, and I
wondered if he was going to stop before he beat me to death as
Mackenzie watched.

Lincoln. I’m sorry,
I thought
silently. I wanted him to know I had tried to be strong and brave.
I had tried to fight them.

I was so lost in my mental distress call to
Lincoln that I didn’t realize Mackenzie’s laughter had stopped
abruptly.

“Get the fuck off her,” a familiar voice said
in a menacing tone.

The weight of Asher’s body on mine was
suddenly gone, and I cracked my eyes open. Brody stood behind
Mackenzie with one arm around her, his hand wrapped around her
neck, holding her against him. His other arm was extended out with
his gun pointed at Asher.

Oh. Thank God.

Relief seeped through me. Brody hadn’t
abandoned me.

“Jillian?”

My head scraped against the carpet as I
nodded. I rolled over so I could crawl away from Asher. Slowly I
made it to the couch as Brody held them in a standoff.

Bracing my side where I had been kicked, I
pulled myself up to a standing position, using the arm of the couch
for support. My hip, ribs, shoulder, and face all throbbed with
pain every time I moved, but I was pretty sure Asher hadn’t broken
any bones.

“Good girl, Jillian. Now get downstairs. Find
a security guard and wait for the police.”

I didn’t want to leave him alone with the two
of them, but Brody must have seen my hesitation.

“Go, Jillian! Get out of here!” he
commanded.

I stumbled a few steps toward the arched
entryway before Mackenzie’s frustrated scream caused me to look
back.

She struggled against Brody’s hold. “Asher!
Do something!”

The big dumb brute turned and zeroed in on
Brody. Taking a step forward, he reached behind his back.

“Get your hands up!” Brody commanded and
pressed the gun against Mackenzie’s temple. “Don’t fucking move,
asshole. Not one more step.”

My heart pounded as I watched the standoff
among the three of them.

Asher let out a hard laugh. “Or what? You’re
going to shoot my girl? Believe me. The world would be better off
without that crazy bitch in it. But she’s halfway decent in the
sack, so I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”

Brody pointed his gun back at Asher. “Don’t
fucking move,” he warned, but suddenly he cried out in pain.
Mackenzie had copied my move and had sunk her teeth into Brody’s
hand causing him to flinch away from her. At the same time, Asher
pulled his Taser out of his waistband and pointed it at Brody.

The sound of the gun and the Taser caused me
to scream as Brody and Asher fired their weapons
simultaneously.

“No!” I yelled as Brody, Asher, and Mackenzie
all fell to the floor. Asher screamed as the bullet from Brody’s
gun hit him in the upper thigh, passing through his leg before
exiting out the window behind him. The glass held its integrity for
a split second before cracks began to snake out from the bullet
hole, and I flinched as the windowpane shattered with a loud burst.
Millions of tiny pieces of glass rained on Asher and down to the
pavement four flights below us.

Wind whipped into the room through the broken
window, and I turned to see Mackenzie attempting to reach Brody’s
gun. Somehow, despite being shot, Asher had managed to hit Brody
with his Taser. Brody now lay twitching on the floor, incapable of
stopping Mackenzie from getting his gun.

Knowing how much pain Brody was in, I wanted
to stop Asher from electrocuting him, but I had to stop Mackenzie
first. If she got ahold of that gun, I was sure both Brody and I
were dead.

Pushing past the pain that radiated out of my
side, I took a few running steps and dove for Mackenzie. She was
partially upright, bent over, reaching for the gun. I grabbed her
around her waist as I fell to the ground away from the gun, taking
her with me.

I cried out in pain as I landed on my back.
Mackenzie landed on top of me, and it felt like all her weight was
pressing on the tender areas from Asher’s beating.

She recovered quicker than I could and in a
matter of seconds was on her feet again, making another attempt for
the gun. I gasped for breath through the pain as I forced myself
onto my feet. She might have been faster than I was getting up, but
I could run faster since she was still wearing her heels. I put my
head down and plowed into her side with my shoulder.

Both of us flipped over the back of the
lime-green couch, and I grabbed my side, trying to prevent more
injury as I landed on the floor. Mackenzie landed a few feet
away.

The gun was now closer to me than her.

Ignoring my pain, I forced my muscles to move
quickly as I crawled to the weapon. I stood up straight, pointed
the gun at Mackenzie, and smiled at her with triumph.

She slowly rose to her feet and glared at me.
“You’re so stupid,” she said with a voice full of hate.

I ignored her words and glanced back at
Asher. A large pool of blood had formed under him, and it looked
like he was barely conscious. I wondered if the bullet had hit an
artery.

My head swung back to Mackenzie who had taken
advantage of me being distracted and was now a step closer to
me.

“Stop the Taser,” I demanded, speaking to
Asher even though I wasn’t taking my eyes off Mackenzie again.

Brody remained twitching on the floor as
Asher ignored my order. Mackenzie crossed her arms over her chest
and smirked at me.

“Look at you. What the fuck do you think
you’re doing? Do you even know how to use a gun?”

She had called my bluff. I had no idea how to
use a gun, but to be honest, as mad as I was, I could figure it
out.

She laughed again. “God! It’s so fucking
typical. You need to learn your place, and it definitely isn’t in
Lincoln’s bed or behind that gun.”

Rage built inside me as she spoke. The gun in
my hand felt so heavy, so powerful. I could easily pull the trigger
and make all our problems disappear. She had caused so much pain.
How many lives had she ruined? Three of her friends were in prison.
Asher was bleeding to death on the floor. Lincoln’s father’s career
could be in ruins. And the only thing she cared about was herself.
I would be doing everyone a favor if I just pulled the trigger.
Just a little squeeze. So tempting… So very tempting…

My heart felt like it was being torn in half.
All this hate. I wasn’t used to feeling this way. It went against
every fiber of my being to have this much negativity and animosity
toward someone, but I wanted her to suffer. Shooting her would be
too easy. She deserved to rot in a jail cell for the rest of her
life. I wouldn’t let this hatred I had for her change who I was.
The woman Lincoln loved would never shoot someone just to make life
easier.

While keeping the gun pointed at Mackenzie, I
quickly looked over my shoulder and assessed Asher. He was even
paler now, the pool of blood even bigger.

I looked back at Mackenzie. “He’s going to
die if he doesn’t get help soon. Can’t you see how much blood he’s
lost?”

She scoffed. “You think I care about him? He
was just a pawn in my game. He was handy to have around. He knew
how to get that shit Kallie put in your drink, and he turned out to
be extremely creative when it came to revenge. So I kept him happy
while he did my bidding, but clearly he’s no use to me now.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She
was a sociopath. She had to be. “How can you be so callous? Don’t
you care about anyone other than yourself?”

She scoffed and put one hand on her hip. “Why
should I? You fucking care about everybody, even worthless Daisy,
and where has that gotten you? You’re the same pathetic freak show
from freshman year.”

“Just tell me why. What did I ever do to you
to make you be so cruel to me?”

“It’s like I’ve been saying. You need to
learn your fucking place. You have never deserved to be with
Lincoln, and you never deserved to be my roommate. You were never
good enough to share my living space. I’m fucking royalty. I should
never have been forced to live with a disgusting pig like you.”

She was insane, but her words no longer hurt
me. I didn’t care what she thought of me. I knew it wasn’t true. I
had Lincoln and my friends and family. They were the only people
whose opinions mattered. It had taken me a long time to realize
that, and now that I had, I wanted to defend myself.