Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) (67 page)

Ignoring the pain in my
hand, I jump to my feet. I sprint again towards my only escape. Pain
registers soon after and I stop. I look down and realize that I must
have cut my thigh, too. I push past the agonizing pain. I bite my lip
to keep from screaming, and force myself to run through the pain.

I finally reach the
last few steps before the clearing on top of the cliff. The road is
right there. My escape, my freedom, is only a few steps away. I wipe
the rain and filth from my soaked face to clear the blurriness from
my eyes.

Lightning strikes,
illuminating the night sky. The roaring thunder muffles my scream. My
heart sinks into my stomach. There he is. Kohen’s glaring right at
me. His hair is dripping wet with rain and mud, his clothes are
soaked and torn. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the car making
the last turn, but I know I will never make it.

I
failed.

I should have known
that he would be here waiting. Kohen wouldn’t let me go that
easily. He can’t let me go. He’s going to catch me and he’s
going to kill me. I see it in his dark, murderous eyes, before he
makes his move. I sprint towards my freedom at the exact moment he
barrels towards me.

My
life is finally over.

Jax.
I summon strength from him even though he’s nowhere near me and run
with all my might. Kohen follows, but slips on the mud and grazes my
elbow with his fingers. Not enough to catch me.

I run out in the middle
of the road and wave my hand towards the oncoming car. I close my
eyes from the blinding headlights and hope that he stops. I’m not
moving. The driver will either stop or he will kill me. Either way
I’ve found my escape from Kohen.

The rain makes it
harder for the car to stop and it’s still heading towards me as the
driver slams on his brakes. The screech of the tires drowns out the
storm.

The car is coming right
at me, but I stand my ground. I’d rather it hit me than drive off
and leave me here with Kohen. I refuse to let that outcome happen.
No, the car will either stop or it will hit me.

One or the other.

Fitting, a car will
either save me or kill me. Oh, the irony.

The lights come closer
. . . closer. The car isn’t stopping. I close my eyes and brace for
the impact. Screaming finally pierces my ears, my screaming.

My body bends from
something slamming into my side. Hands fasten on me. I open my eyes
right before my face smashes into the cement. My arms reach forward,
trying to crawl away from Kohen, but it’s pointless with him on top
of me. He flips me over and licks the blood running down my cheek.

The car crashing, can’t
dilute the noise of Kohen’s malicious laughter in my ear. I manage
to kick him in the balls. He leans back as he howls in pain, cupping
himself. I jump to my feet and start to run. I fall to the ground . .
. hard. Screaming from the internal pain, I grasp for my ankle.
Before I can check the damage, Kohen stands me up.

He slaps me. “You’re
going to be sorry.”

I spit in his face.
“Fuck you!”

He smiles as he wipes
off the spit. I swallow my fear.
I
lost. Kohen is going to kill me.
As if reading my mind,
Kohen punches me in the face. My head connects with the pavement as I
fall. He makes me feel helpless as he climbs on top of me. I told
myself I would never feel helpless again. He stole yet another thing
from me.

Clasping my head with
his large hands, he forces a kiss on my unwilling lips. Then he
bashes my head back onto the concrete. I try to make my mouth work,
but it doesn’t cooperate. I can’t even scream. I’m dazed . . .
I start blinking rapidly, fighting with everything in me to keep my
eyes open. If I lose consciousness there’s no telling what he will
do to me. He slams my head into the ground again and my eyelids
close. Darkness takes over . . .

I don’t know how long
it is until my eyes flutter open again. I blink the rain out of my
eyes. I test my legs. They work. My hands obey when I ask them to
move. That’s good. I groan in pain and I know my voice is back. My
little nap has given me enough strength to fight him. Small
blessings.

“Get off me!” I
scream as I attempt to wiggle out from underneath him.

It’s then that I
realize my clothes are off me. Swallowing the bile in my throat, I
touch my hip. I nearly cry in relief when I feel my rain soaked
panties. He hasn’t raped me. Yet.

Kohen laughs at me. His
weight holds down my body. One hand presses against my throat making
breathing difficult, while his other makes a rough grab for any part
of my body that he can touch. His intentions become all too clear
when his hand roams below my belly button. I start bucking like
crazy, trying to toss him off me. Kohen leans down so he can lick my
cheek, the same one he punched moments ago.

Something in me snaps.
With his face still close to mine, I turn my head towards his and
bite the first thing that my mouth comes into contact with, which
happens to be his ear. Perfect. I bite down as hard as I can. Kohen’s
agonizing screams gives me a sickening pleasure.
I
won’t go easy. If he wants me, he can come and get me.
Kohen
slams my head back down on the concrete, causing me to release his
ear. I spit blood in his face when he comes back into view and smile
at him.

“You’re going to
pay for that, Adalynn.”

I smirk at him. “Wort—”

All words die when he
bangs my head down again. The world goes black.

My head is spinning, it
feels like I got hit by a bus and then a soccer team decided to use
my head as a ball. Not good. I try to wipe the rain from my eyes but
I can’t. Kohen . . . Oh God! Lightning lights up the sky and I
scream but no noise comes out. Kohen has his hands wrapped around my
neck. His hands dig into my throat. I can see it in his eyes, he’s
going to murder me.

I start thrashing
around, but nothing happens. All it does is make Kohen grasp my neck
tighter. Kohen smiles down at me, showing the most haunting grin I’ve
ever seen in my life. I can’t let him kill me. My knee connects
with his tailbone. He winces, but doesn’t release his hold on my
neck.

I claw at his hands.
The evil smirk on his face lets me know that he’s enjoying this. He
loves that I’m helpless, underneath him and he’s in control. He
has all the power. It’s up to him if I live.

I don’t stop fighting
him as I picture everyone I love. I close my eyes so their faces are
the last thing I see, not Kohen’s. I picture Jax’s face last. The
memory of him is so vivid I can almost hear him shouting my name.

Out of nowhere Kohen is
shoved off me. Gasping air, I hold my neck. It’s more than tender
to the touch. Someone gently presses fingers to the pulse point on my
neck. I keep gasping in air. I have no idea how Kohen is off me, but
I know the danger isn’t over. I need to get away from him fast,
before he recovers and finishes me off.

Instinctively my head
turns to the right to follow the sounds of pounding and grunting. I
spot two men fighting. One limps, not fighting back as the other man
pounds into his face. It’s too dark to make out who’s who, but I
pray that the person on the ground is Kohen. As lightning strikes
again, my eyes widen and the tears finally start to come.

Jax.

Jax stands over Kohen,
beating the shit out of him. After wiping the rain and tears from my
eyes, I attempt to stand, but my legs collapse underneath me. I
desperately need to be near Jax, like I need oxygen to breathe. I
crawl my way toward the biggest mistake of my life and the love of my
life.

When I finally manage
to crawl to them, I notice that Kohen is out cold. He’s
unrecognizable. All I see is blood. Everywhere. Blood covers Jax’s
hands and streams down Kohen’s face. I try to call out to Jax, for
him to stop, but nothing comes out. Not a sound. My voice won’t
work.

I don’t give up. I
can’t. As much as I want Jax to kill Kohen, he can’t. Jax will
end up in jail if he kills him. Kohen isn’t worth it. I try again
to stand, but my leg isn’t working. Whenever I put pressure on my
ankle, I fall over. I know it’s broken. When Jax drops an
unconscious Kohen onto the ground I think the attack is over. It’s
not. Jax grips Kohen’s head in both hands. Seeing his intentions, I
will my voice to work this time.

“Jax,” I choke out.

It’s barely audible
to my own ears. I have no hope that Jax hears me, especially with the
roaring noise of the storm over us. By some miracle, at the last
second, Jax whips his head in my direction. Kohen forgotten, Jax lets
go of his lifeless body and rushes to me.

“Ads,” Jax says
quietly as he crouches beside me.

He lifts a red hand to
my face. I cringe from instinct, from memory. My body remembers being
hit, again and again. Jax mistakes me shuddering away from the blood
and drops his hand. I grab his hand that is pulling away from my face
and press it to my swollen cheek. Even with the rain soaking his
hair, dripping in his face, washing the blood away, he is still the
most breathtaking man I’ve ever seen.

As my mind realizes
that I’m not in immediate danger, the adrenaline pumping through my
veins recedes, and in it’s place is pain. All the pain I was
pushing down, ignoring so that I could escape from Kohen, rushes
forward. Tears sting my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

Silently I scream. No
noise comes out thanks to Kohen crushing my windpipe.

I’m
safe. Jax is here. I can rest.

“Don’t close your
eyes!” Jax yells above the storm.

Blinking, I try to
focus on him but I can’t. With a will of their own, my eyes flutter
shut. Vaguely I’m aware of the ground moving underneath me, making
my head spin and intensifying the nausea I’ve been feeling all
night. My gag reflex has had a workout tonight so when another wave
of nausea hits, I can’t swallow it down as I’ve been forced to do
all night. Nope, instead I turn my head and throw up all over the
warmth that is surrounding me.

In the back of my mind,
I’m aware that the warmth that I’m throwing up on is Jax, my
savior. Time slips away from me after all of the bile is out. One
minute Jax is squatting down on the ground with me in his lap while
he holds my hair out of my face, and the next I’m sitting in his
car with the lights on, his phone flashlight in his hand, as he
regards me with pure hatred.

I shrink back. I’ve
never seen him look at me like this, or anyone before, even Wyatt. On
closer inspection, I notice that he isn’t glaring at me, not
really. He’s glaring at my neck, I can only imagine what it looks
like. Jax holds his hands up, silently letting me know that he won’t
hurt me. I know that. Jax could never hurt me. Yeah, like Kohen could
never hurt me. Gah! I’m so stupid!

“I would never hurt
you, Adalynn,” Jax says, reading my mind.

Closing my eyes, I nod.
I know this. I hate how much he is suffering, how angry he is. I know
it’s not directed at me, but it’s my fault. If I wasn’t so
consumed with having someone love me, truly love me, I wouldn’t be
here. I wouldn’t be bleeding, in pain, and unable to talk because
the man who’s been telling me he loves me had his hands around my
neck.

“Open your eyes,
Adalynn,” Jax pleads.

I comply, hating that
he didn’t use his nickname for me. My eyes water again, but I force
them not to spill.
I will not
cry. I’m a survivor. I won’t cry because of Kohen.
Turning
off the flashlight on his phone, Jax stares at me, all signs of
hatred gone.

“Keep those beautiful
eyes on me. Don’t close your eyes, Adalynn.”

He waits and I nod even
though he didn’t ask a question. He maintains his focus on me while
calling 911. As he tells the dispatcher where we are and what’s
going on, his eyes never leave me. They roam my face, pausing over my
swollen cheeks and again at my throat. He pales as he hangs up the
phone.

For some reason, I try
to cover myself. I know it’s stupid. There really isn’t hiding
anything from Jax at this point. I’m wearing rain-soaked bra and
panties.

“FUCK!” Jax curses
while squeezing his hands into fists. I can’t help tensing, as the
waves of anger rolling off him, even though I know he will never hurt
me.

“FUCK!” Jax curses
again while throwing the phone in the back. I jump at the sudden
movement and wince.

Angrier than I have
ever seen him, he rips off his bloody shirt and uses the only clean
portion to apply pressure to my still bleeding hip. I swallow,
moistening my dry throat so that I can talk.

Jax doesn’t say
anything with words, but says everything with his gentle touch. I
open my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out. Not
because I can’t, but because I have no idea what to say. What do I
say him? He just came to my rescue. That’s who I was running to,
the headlights, it was him. On some level, I knew it was him, that’s
why I never gave up. He was the strength I kept finding when I didn’t
have any left. I knew he was near, I knew he would find me.

Tentatively, I extend
my good hand and caress Jax’s face, needing to feel him again,
needing the reassurance that Kohen didn’t kill me and that I’m
here with Jax.

“You found me,” I
whisper.

“I’ll always find
you,” Jax promises right before his lips crash into mine.

I welcome the sweet
taste of Jax’s lips. The pain I was feeling seconds ago vanishes
and all that remains is his lips on mine. The kiss isn’t anything
like our “goodbye” kiss, it’s something more, much more. This
is the kind of kiss that makes promises that I’m afraid to
acknowledge.

“Ads,” Jax whispers
against my lips before diving back into my mouth.