Playing With Fire

Chapter Fifty

  ∞                                                                      Recap

"Of course..." I whisper frantically, bracing a spread hand on my forehead.

            Unless he knew, all along, that those guys were going to attack me.

            And the only way he could know is if he planned it.

            Just as that thought occurs, it's as if reality has finally come crashing down on me with full force.

            I make up my mind in the split second of understanding that follows my realization. I can't waste a single second here, and I've been gone long enough.

            I slide along the wall until I reach the edge and peer over the corner. I spot Chase just as he turns his head to look out the window with his chin braced on his interlaced hands. 

            This is it.

            I take his distracted mind as an opportunity to make a break for it. I push off the wall with such force that I catch up with my feet inches away from the door handle. I don't even dare to look back as I grab onto it and push through while breaking into a full on sprint.

            With my heart racing, my ears and eyes sharp and alert, and my hands pumping, I grit my teeth and force myself to run faster.

            If he's following me, he has another fight coming.

            And this time, I'll be the one to walk away. 

   ∞Chapter Fifty∞

 ∞ ∞ Travis ∞ ∞

            My palms still throb from the punch I threw at Wes just a few minutes ago. Mr. Williams and I found him trying to probe through the backdoor with a metal slate in his hand.

            That coward, he tried to run, but we got to him before he could even take two steps forward. If it weren't for Mr. William's reasonable temperament, I would not have stopped punching him when I did. It took every ounce of strength I had to walk away from him, and even then, Mr. Williams had to take him out of my sight. I insisted, beyond eager, to take Wes to the station myself, but he took one glance at my shaking fists and rejected.

            Now, as I pace around the entrance of their home, waiting for someone, something, I anxiously await Faye's arrival. I hope, that by now, she is out of the café, away from Chase—but there's no way James could make her escape that easy.

            He could just come straight to me if he really wanted to. But you see, that's not where he gets his twisted version of fun. The thrill, as I remember, of being a part of his gang was not the victory itself, but rather the chase. James loves a good chase—he'll do anything, everything, to confuse his target. He waits, like an undefeatable predator, until his prey can no longer tell right from wrong, good from bad.

            When my phone vibrates in my pocket, as I somewhat expected, I do not flinch. I've been expecting it. Without looking down at the screen, I hold the phone to my ear, gritting my teeth when the brash voice blares across the speakers.