Declan

Chapter Thirty Six

 Lexi~

Tears rolled down her cheeks and onto the floor mats of the truck as it bounced and rolled down the road. Asher had thrown her into the floorboard instead of the seat and seemed to be using her as a foot rest, but that didn't bother her as much as the zip ties digging into her wrists and the painful ache in her heart.

She had lost all feeling in her hands and her shoulder ached as the truck jerked and bounced, but she found it hard to care. 

Focusing on the disgusting dirty smell of the carpet against her face kept her mind from imagining Declan bleeding out on the floor, dying alone with no one to comfort him in his final moments on this earth.

The tears that streamed from her eyes and down the end of her nose were sorrowful, but laced with anger. Asher had used her to kill Declan. He played on the most genuine part of Declan's character and knowing that Declan would comply with any of his demands as long as he held that gun to her temple. 

Declan's deep need to protect her had ultimately cost him his life and the pain gutted Lexi, shredding her from the inside, settling deep into her bones. The emotional pain was so raw and so real it caused her muscles to contract as if her whole body was weeping  along with her wet eyes. Her soul had been violently ripped in half and she felt like her body was shutting down and dying from the emotional wound in her heart. She was certain it was going to stop beating at any moment. That it was going to refuse to beat in a place where Declan no longer existed.

*****

The longer she spent on the floor of that truck the more her sadness and despair transitioned into pure unfiltered rage that seemed to dissolve all of the goodness within her. Everything good within her had died with Declan, leaving behind angry, broken pieces of herself.

Hours had passed and Lexi's tears had stopped flowing. The fury that burned in her heart seemed to dry her ducts leaving nothing but anger behind and a wave of resignation washed over her as every cell in her body slowly accepted one simple fact.

I'm going to die. And it's going to be painful.

Suddenly the notion of dying wasn't terrifying, it was almost appealing the more she thought about it because Death would reunite her with Declan - Death would bring her peace.

Something within Lexi had shifted. Her motivation to live was gone and something new had taken its place, something dark that she didn't recognize.

If Asher is going to kill me, I'm sure as hell not going to make it easy for him. I am going to fight. He wants pain and despair. He wants to break my soul and take everything from me as punishment, but he doesn't realize that he already has. I died in that house with Declan and this empty shell is all Asher will get. I have nothing left to give him other than absolute hatred. I am done letting Asher take things from me.

Lexi's expression and entire body hardened as she slowly accepted her fate, draining herself of all emotion and allowing an unexpected calm to overtake her.

They had been traveling for hours and wherever Asher was taking her, it wasn't close and when the truck finally jolted to a stop she could feel cold air seeping through the cracks in the door. 

Her chin scraped across the floor of the car as Asher relentlessly yanked her out and dropped her in a heap onto the cold ground.

It was now dark outside which meant they had to have been on the road for close to six or seven hours. Where the hell did he take me?

The darkness around her was all consuming with no hint of city lights, even in the distance. She knew they had to have driven north from the cold temperature and piney outdoor smells that surrounded her as she was lifted forcefully to her feet.