Nothing Without You | Eric Coulter [2]

nine

    We raced down the hallway, with Eric clutching my hand tightly in his as if he was afraid that he would lose me if he lets go.

The halls are silent save for Eric and I's heavy breaths from all the running. We haven't even made it to the end of the hall before more guards were on our tails once again.

We turned down yet another hallway, momentarily losing sight of the guards, but I was sure that they would catch up with us soon enough.

"Fuck!" Eric curses savagely when we meet a dead end.

"Eric, maybe I could distract them." I say, "It's me they want-"

"No," Eric cuts me off without hesitation, "No, I'm not losing you."

"But, Eric-" I start to argue again, but he interrupts once again.

"No, Nessa," He shook his head vehemently, "It's not happening."

He runs his finger through his hair, tugging at the ends as his eyes dart around the hallway as if he could somehow magically conjure up an exit if he'd just looked hard enough.

Guilt fills my chest at the predicament I'd gotten us into.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

Eric pauses in his anxious pacing to look at me, before coming to stop in front of me and reaching up to cup my cheek in his hands with such tenderness it makes my heart pinch.

"I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" He tells me softly, "I promise."

Those amazing blue eyes of his bore into mine, filled with promise that eradicates what little doubt that I may have had.

"I know."

He leans down, pressing a slow kiss to my lips that takes my breath away.

"Do you trust me?" He leans his foreheads against mine and whispers against my lips.

"Always," I reply, not missing a beat.

"Good, then trust me on this," Eric says, pressing one more quick kiss to my lips. "Fight back."

Before I could press him for more details, footsteps approach us and Eric pulls my hands behind my back as they approach.

With his words in mind, I begin to struggle against his grip, kicking and screaming.

"Eric, don't do this!" I yell, hoping it sounds as convincing as I thought it did.

"The less you struggle the less painful it'll be for you," He drawls as if this entire scene was boring him to bits.

"Please, don't do this," I pleaded as he tugged at my hands roughly.

I wince at the pain that shoots up them and I hear Eric hiss under his breath as if hurting me was causing him pain in turn.

The group of guards parts and Max saunters towards us with his hands tucked behind his back, watching Eric with appraising eyes.

"You expect us to believe this?" He scoffed, "After what you'd just pulled?"

"I have her here for you, don't I?" Eric retorted.

"Care to explain why you shot Spencer, then?" Max questions.

I feel Eric stiffen slightly behind me before he forces himself to relax and offers Max a shrug.

"He was getting on my nerves."

Max stays silent for a beat his eyes still filled with suspicion as he looks at Eric before he nods.

"Okay," He says, approaching us.

My stomach churns as he pulls a gun out from the holster around his waist and holds it out to Eric.

"Prove it," He tells him, "Shoot her."

Eric reaches out and curls his fingers around the handle of the gun.

As much as I didn't want to be shot, it was obvious we were going to have to go along with this. There was no way we were going to be able to fight our way through the dozens of armed guards standing before us.

"Eric..." I met his eyes, hoping that he understood what I was trying to relate to him.

I trusted Eric with my life and I knew he wouldn't do anything that would get me killed.

Eric raises the gun in his hands, aiming it at my shoulder.

Relief stirred with fear as I waited for him to pull the trigger on me, but he never does.

Instead, he turns to Max and says, "Doesn't Jeanine want her unharmed?"

Max scoffs but snatches the gun out of Eric's hand.

"You might have dodged a bullet this time, but I'm watching you." He sneers.

His arm then shoots out to grab my arm in a bruising grip and a whimper escapes me before I could stop it.

Eric clenches his hands into fists at his sides as if he trying his best to resist driving them into Max's face, his nails digging into his palm so harshly that I worry that he was going to draw blood.

Max yanks on my hair, until I'm forced to face him. Then, he smiles at me in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

"You're going to wish you were dead, you little bitch."

"You can go fuck yourself," I gritted out.

Max's smile falters at my words and before I could react, he backhands me across the face so hard that I stumble back onto the ground.

My cheek burns and panic claws at my throat hurt at the familiarity of the situation and I remind myself that I was no longer in Abnegation. Although, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure which one of these situations was worse.

Suddenly, like a rubber band that was pulled too taut, it was as if Eric just snapped.

Before I could even react, he launches at Max, pinning the man to the ground as he rains his fist down on him until he's bloody and bruised, all in the short period of time it takes for the armed guards to tackle Eric off of him.

"Eric!" I screamed, rushing to his aid, but a guard grabs me before I get the chance, shoving me to the ground and cuffing my arms behind my back much like they're doing with Eric.

Eric's gaze meets mine amidst all the chaos, his eyes holding a promise, and I found that I had no doubt that he was going to find me somehow. No matter what stood in his way.