Crushed (15 page)

"They go pretty well together,
actually. And you can only create for so long and then you need a
break." I watched in awe as the screen blinked and flickered, lines
and lines of gibberish appeared and he typed back more gibberish
and then some numbers appeared. He pointed to the screen. "These
are the GPS coordinates on his phone."

I pulled out my phone and typed it
into my mapping app and let the machine do the work for me. They
were outside of campus boundaries. Claire was at risk. More curses
left my throat. "Fuck!" I ran my hand violently through my hair and
bent over as the burning moved between my ribs. I stood back up and
looked at Merit. "They're off campus." I shook my head trying to
concentrate. Why would they go there? Maybe it was a date. Maybe I
was over reacting. Maybe it wasn't. I couldn't take that
chance.

"Where?" Merit tried to get a view
of the screen.

"Fucked if I know! Two hours north
of here. Tse I'll text you, we'll need coordinates again to see
where he's going."

Merit gasped behind me. "How are we
going to get her? We don't have a car." I grabbed her wrist and
pulled her with me.

"Then we better get a fucking move
on and figure it out!"

Lucky for me I had lots of friends.
It wasn't hard to find a car to borrow. Once I was behind the wheel
I peeled off campus like a bat out of hell. I had to go get the
girl and ignore the searing pain in my body.

Chapter 23

Claire

I inhaled deeply as I suddenly
regained consciousness. I opened my eyes and a scream ripped from
my throat as I stared into the face of the immortal who had made me
hide my entire nineteen years. Psyche's marbled eyes stared into
mine and I tried to pull away but my hands were tied behind the
statue's back. I pulled at my feet but they were tied together and
to the statue's feet. From a distance it probably looked like I was
embracing it.

I looked around, trying to see
anything aside from the cold stone in front of me. I heard a soft
murmuring of voices behind me. I felt myself rocking and turned my
head to the side, hiding my lips against my arm to keep the vomit
in. The fear in my body was trying to come out. I was in a small
boat with a large statue and I heard a laugh behind me. Goosebumps
broke out on my arms as I realized it was Justice. What the hell
was she doing here? I pulled at the ropes, testing their strength.
They were not the largest of ropes but from my position I was not
going to be unable to untie them.

The sun was setting in the distance
and very soon it would be dark. I felt the boat wobble and then
move backwards.

"Sorry, Claire." Will's voice
sliced through my fear.

"I'm not." Justice laughed again
from behind me. I couldn't see them but they were close.

"You don't have to do this. Either
of you. I won't bother you, Justice. If this is about Neil..." Her
snort cut through my response.

"This is not about Neil. This is
about your Daddy and his wife's vengeance. I only toyed around with
Neil to torture you."

Will sighed, "Yeah, that wasn't the
nicest thing to do."

She laughed as she spoke, "I know,
but it was so fun. And if I'm going to have to kill her anyway I
may as well have some fun before it goes all dark and
lethal."

I felt my body shivering, there was
nothing I could do to control it. "I don't understand why you would
do her bidding."

"She has people we love, Claire.
This is the only way she'll give them back. We have no choice."
Will didn't seem as happy as Justice did about the situation, but
he was still going along with it.

"You
do
have a choice. Are you sure
she'll give them back to you? Are you even sure she has them at
all?? She's manipulative."

"Just like you, Claire.
Manipulating people into falling in love." Justice's voice was
spitting daggers. "If she's lying to us she'll get her
dues."

I was grasping at straws but it was
all I had, I started moving my wrists and ankles, trying to loosen
the knots, fray the ropes, anything I could as I tried to distract
them further. "She's immortal! What chance do you have against
her?"

Justice sighed softly, "I'm bored,
Will. Any last words for your almost lover?" There was the sound,
it was so loud to my ears, of a match striking against the box. And
then the whoosh as the lighter fluid inside my small boat caught
fire. I screamed and was jolted backwards as the boat sailed across
the water. I started to pull harder, my wrists and ankles red and
raw where the rope was scraping my skin off. I could not hear
anything aside from the crackling fire that was getting closer and
closer to my body. I could not see anything aside from the flames
against the black sky and the statue's blank eyes.

The boat cracked beneath me and
just as the flames were licking at my clothes I sank, the cold
water a temporary relief.

Chapter 24

Neil

When the match hit the boat, I
leapt into action, Merit's belt in hand, ignoring for the moment
the angry orange flames floating away. I jumped on Will's back and
pulled the belt tight around his thick neck. He reached up and
behind him trying to pull me off of him. I pulled tighter on the
belt. I felt nails cutting the flesh in my back but ignored it it
was nothing compared to the other pain I was suffering from the
damage he'd done earlier. I had to take down the beast. The beast
who let the whore burn Claire into flames.

After a long minute he fell to his
knees and then collapsed all the way. I held the grip a little
longer than necessary to make sure he wouldn't get up again and
then I got up and turned around. Merit was standing over Justice's
limp body, a large jutted bloodied rock in her hands. She dropped
it to the ground as she stared at Justice. I didn't have time to
watch, I needed to get to Claire.

I jumped into the water and then
swam quickly to the boat. I wasn't sure what I was going to find
but I hoped like hell that Claire wasn't dead. She couldn't be
dead. I wasn't ready to let her go.

I dove down into the dark, freezing
water and looked for her. I dove three times until I finally
spotted something silvery. I clung to the hope that it was her and
not just a fish. I reached out and it was her. My heart was aching
with relief. My hands traced over her arms until I found the knots
holding her to the god awful statue. I undid the knot and her hands
fell free. I tried to pull her off but her feet were still stuck. I
was running out of air. My lungs felt on fire. I pulled at the
other knots until she was free. I grabbed her under her arms and
brought her to the surface. I breathed in the sweet crisp air and
swam to shore. Merit met us halfway and helped pull Claire to
shore. She listened for her breath, felt for a pulse and then
started CPR.

My body was involuntarily
convulsing, trying to warm itself up. I stared at Claire's pale
face, her blue lips. I willed her to wake up. And then it struck me
that she had woken me up. She had helped me out of the void, maybe
I could do the same for her. I came close and held her head still
between my legs. I couldn't even feel her skin beneath mine because
I was so numb from the cold.

"Claire...Claire-bear, come back to
us...come back to me..." I stroked her hair as I stared down at her
lifeless face. Suddenly her eyes opened and she coughed and then
turned her face to the side and sputtered, water spilling onto the
ground. I'd never felt such relief. This feeling was miles above
what I felt after winning a football game, a tennis match, a bar
brawl.

I wanted so badly to grab her and
hold her body against mine. I wanted to feel every part of her
pressing against every part of me. But I couldn't. I moved back
from her and stood up slowly. "Merit, we need to get someplace
warm..." Hypothermia was a definite risk given how damn cold that
water had been.

Merit hugged Claire as she sat up
and then pulled her arm. She grabbed Claire's arm and wrapped it
over her shoulder so she could support her as we walked back to the
car. Once inside I popped the trunk to search for anything that
might help us until we got where we were going.

I snatched up two emergency
blankets and stripped down. Merit's cheeks colored and if I'd had
the energy I would've teased her but I didn't. "Strip down, Claire.
You need to get out of those wet clothes." I saw her shiver and she
turned her beautiful blue eyes to me.

I pulled one of the blankets
tightly around me. I got into the backseat and closed my eyes so I
wouldn't be caught staring as Claire stripped her clothes
off.

She sat in the back next to me, a
blanket around her too. I opened my eyes when I felt the car hum
under my body and glanced over to look at Claire. She was still
blue in her lips. I moved closer, closing the distance between us
and put my arm around her, pulling her into me. She tried to resist
but I whispered softly against her hair. "We need to keep each
other warm until we get to the hospital, Claire."

She was still tense in my arms and
I couldn't blame her. Her boyfriend and my chronic lover tried to
kill her. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be close to me,
the guy who she said should've protected her. And she was right. I
didn't protect her. I got to her too late. I failed her. I hated
failing, losing. It harrowed me like almost nothing
else.

When we were back to normal again I
would make sure I protected her from harm. Her father's wife was
obviously not going to play fair. She wanted Claire
dead.

Chapter 25

Neil

We both went to the infirmary and
were both discharged by the next afternoon. I insisted that she be
treated first and she was gone before I had a chance to see her
again.

I had English with her today and I
was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to her. I grabbed up my
books and opened the door. I almost stepped on an envelope that was
propped against the doorframe. I bent down to retrieve it and
turned it over in my hand before opening it. There was a thick
bronze chain with a dull Irish penny on it dated 1976, my mother's
birth year. I felt a sting at my eyes and blinked several times
while I clutched the necklace in one hand and pulled out the note
with the other.

Neil,

I will forever be indebted to you
for what you did. I know this doesn't even begin to compare to what
you did for me but it was the best thing I could think
of.

-Claire

I closed my eyes and thought about
the first time I'd met Claire. We'd been thirteen, hormones had
just been awakening. I thought she was pretty when she went walking
beside me and this guy Trevor. He had asked me about where I came
from and I pulled out the lucky Irish penny my mother had given me
on her death bed. It was the only thing I'd had of her. The penny
fell to the ground. Before I had a chance to chase after it she'd
grabbed it and held it out to me on her open palm. She'd smiled at
me, her hair was stringy but her smile was inviting and warm. My
mother used to smile at me like that, like she was always genuinely
happy to see me.

"I think you dropped this?" Her
eyes fell to the penny and then raised to mine. "The bird is very
pretty."

"Thanks," I'd said, "My mom gave it
to me." I snatched the coin from her fingers and shoved it deep
into my pants pocket. She tilted her head at me as she took in my
accent.

"You're Scottish?"

I scoffed at her, Americans had no
sense of geography. "Irish." I was drawn into her eyes and my body
was starting to respond to her. I nodded to some girl who was
staring at her back. "Its not nice to gawk, you should probably get
a move on." Trevor chuckled and Claire's cheeks went flush with
color. I'd felt like an ass for embarrassing her but I wasn't going
to let that show.

"Welcome to Aquanis," she'd said
softly before turning away. I watched her walk away wishing she
were wearing pants so I could see what shape her bottom actually
was. Trevor nudged me with his elbow and I looked at his
shit-eating grin.

"Someone has a crush on the elusive
Claire Hughes." I scoffed and did what all boys do when faced with
the realization that they aren't as smooth as they'd like to think.
I lied.

"Her boobs aren't big enough. I
like a full rack on my ladies." Trevor laughed again and wrapped
his arm around my neck, pulling me towards home room.

"We are going to be good friends, I
can tell already. Wait til you meet Kelly, she's totally stacked."
And she was. And I lost my virginity to her a few weeks after
that.