𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 |𝟏𝟖+

42 || Insane Nico

Song: Paloma Faith - only love can hurt like this (slowed + reverb)

𝔚𝔚𝔚
Josie

I hadn't thought this through.

I'm half naked in an elevator, duffle bag in hand, filled with my stuff and money I'd borrowed, as car keys that weren't mine dangled from my hand.

I didn't know how to drive.

But I felt trapped, stuck, like I had no where else to go.

It's the worst feeling in the world.

The chiming of the elevator reaching the garage floor brings me back while I step out into the space and navigate towards Nico's beat up car. I glance around at the numerous other cars, cars I recognized seeing Nico drive occasionally.

This wasn't the public parking garage for the building, like I'd assumed. It was Nico's personal garage and these cars were all his.

It made me feel less guilty about taking this one, it was the worst looking, parked in the far corner, out of sight. I open the passenger side door and make a move to place the duffle bag in there, only the second I do, I'm shoved inside from behind.

The keys fall onto the drivers seat, I fall into the passengers seat and the door behind me is shut abruptly.

I finally gather myself enough to straighten out in the seat, my eyes wide and alert and by the time I'm sitting upright, the masked figure is already in the drivers seat, turning on the ignition and driving out of the garage.

I'm so taken aback and shocked that I can do nothing but sit there frozen as we swerve into the street and begin driving away from the penthouse.

I scream.

The masked figure cringes, holding a hand up to his ear. "Goddamit." I don't stop screaming, not even as I register the faintly familiar sound of their voice. "Shut up, Josie." And it isn't until they pull off their mask and I spot the familiar side profile that I stop.

My heart rate doesn't calm, though. It's like the more I look at him, the faster my heart pounds.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're the easiest target to kidnap?"

I don't respond. I simply stare at him and take in everything from his green eyes, lighter skin all the way to the only resemblance we shared - the light chocolate colored hair we both got from Marie.

"Daniel?" I breathe.

He turns his head and cracks a smile I hadn't seen in a while. It's that boyish, easy going one. "Hey, Josie."

I stare at the boy who'd been the root of my whole world flipping upside down. The boy I'd been searching for. The one I believed was hurt, in danger, or even worse-dead.

But no, he was here- alive and well.

Relief like I've never felt before washes over me and before I can think, I reach over and begin to hit his arm. "Don't, 'hey Josie' me." I snap, resorting to pinching him really hard as he takes a hand off the wheel and begins to try and slap me away. "What the heck is wrong with you?!"

The more he slaps me away, the harder I pinch his arm.

"The place is bugged and that's the only way I could go undetected and get you out without putting your ass on the line- ow- shit! Stop it." He hisses, slapping my hand so hard that I can do nothing but pull away and let him drive.