Reckless

Chapter 20 ; Blow

Chapter 20 ;

Sam

“You are doing it again…” Lacy’s voice called out, snapping me out of my heavy thoughts. “What?” I asked, oblivious to what she had said. She gave me a sympathetic look as she sat down beside me on the couch. I could read the look on her face so plainly, it was obvious a that just made it all so much worse. “I am sure he is just busy.” She nodded, the look on her face said differently, she knew as well as I did that something was up. We had been at the safe house for over a week now. The only news from the outside world was when Alex called Lacy from the hospital letting her know he was okay. Someone had been here on our second day, we had woken up to a kitchen full of groceries but that was it. The rest of the time has been complete radio silence. At least once a day I had tried to contact Liam, by phone or text, and there had been no response. I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Both of us froze in our spots, we were both silent and still like we were waiting for our fate. The soft beeping of the keypad rang through the house and then the door slowly opened, revealing a very slow-moving Alex. Lacy burst out of her seat, rushing to meet him at the door. She flung her arms around him and he howled in pain.

I listened to Lacy apologize as I stood up and moved towards the door. As I welcomed Alex my eyes landed on another person entering the house. There in front of me stood Liam. His hair was tousled on top of his head, like he had been running his hands through it and he looked exhausted. I instantly felt a smile creep onto my lips as I felt a sigh of release rack through my body. However, that smile faded when I saw the way Liam looked at me. Liam always looked at me with tender fascination but now there was nothing but a cold glare.

Liam sat a bag down on the floor, before he moved past the couple reuniting in the doorway. “I need to talk to you…” He peeked over his shoulder before continuing. “In private.” My heart slowly sank in my chest, something just felt so wrong. I simply nodded and followed him down the short hallway to one of the bedrooms. He shut the door behind us and his cold eyes met mine again. “What’s wro-“I started but he quickly cut me off. “We need a break. I. I need a break.” With those four words my heart shattered into a million pieces. “What?” the word came out mixed with a soft puff of breath. For a split second I though I could see a flash of pain in his eyes but just like that it was gone. “I can’t deal with us right now.”

My mind was now racing, but my thoughts were scattered, and I was lost, drowning in my own thoughts. Was it because I hadn’t listened on New Year’s Eve? I had only left that laundry room because I loved him – because I feared the thought of him going out there alone. Before I could gather a single thought to respond, he turned around and left the room – left me standing there unable to grasp what had just happened. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, breaking free as I heard the front door slam and a car abandon the driveway.

Moments later Lacy entered the room, with my back still to the door “What was his deal?” She asked. My body didn’t move, my mind was in a daze and I knew if I tried to do anything I would crumble apart. “Sam?” Her voice called out, as she moved around to where she was facing me. Her face instantly dropped when she saw my tear stained cheeks, but I refused to move or acknowledge what had just happened. “Sammy-bear…?” She whispered again as she cupped my face in her warm hands. “What did he do?” She asked, the anger now seeping through her voice. I simply shook my head slowly, as I pulled my face from her warm embrace.

“I’ll kill him.” Her voice faded out as my eyes became unfocused. I could feel her help me over to the bed, but nothing else registered. I could hear her sweet voice, but my brain couldn’t decipher what she was saying. Everything was muted and blurry. Almost as if I was in some kind of fog. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the words she spoke it was no use.

Liam

I did my best to ignore the hurt exploding in my chest as I slammed the front door of the safe house closed. Suddenly, I felt hot and the air around me felt too thick to inhale. It was like I was drowning; my chest was tight with each breath it felt like my chest might collapse. I had to get out of there. My car flew out of the driveway like my life depended on it – and it felt like it did. I thought the more space I put between us the easier it would be to breathe, but I was wrong. The shattered look in her eyes kept replaying and replaying but I knew I did what was right. It had to happen.

I rolled the windows down and let the wind hit my face – taking a few slow deep breaths as I put more and more distance between us. The farther away I drove the better I felt. The tightness in my chest slowly muddled down to a dull ache. I had never meant to hurt her, but some things were impossible to avoid. Now I just needed to get back to business and focus on what I needed to be doing.

Sam

By the time I snapped out of my self-induced fog it was dark outside. My stomach flipped as I replayed the incident from earlier. This couldn’t really be happening, I thought as I curled up in a ball on the bed. We had been through so much why would he do this now. I thought back to before Christmas when he tracked me down in Portland. How he told me he would never let me go again. My mind tried its best to piece together his thought process, but nothing made sense.

After a rough night of sleep morning finally came. My body was exhausted and my whole body still felt numb. We still had a whole week before classes started and I don’t think I could sit here any longer. My fingers slid across the front of my phone before dialing the oh so familiar number. “Hello?” The sweet voice called out, “Hi Gran…” I whispered softly, as I did my best not to break down. “Well hello love, it has been awhile. Is everything okay?” Her voice warmed my chest and I fought off the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. I calmed my breath before I spoke, not wanting her to hear the sadness in my voice. “Yea, things are fine. I was just calling to see if you cared if I came home for a few days before the semester starts back.” Even though I couldn’t see her I could see hear the smile in her voice. “Well of course, sweetheart. You know you don’t have to ask to come home.” I nodded slowly and explained that my car wasn’t working and would need to get a uber. Gran told me not to worry and gave me her card information. Even though my heart was still aching I felt some sort of relief. At least I could get out of here and lick my wounds. We said our goodbyes and I called for my ride.

My ride would be here any minute and I knew I couldn’t leave without letting Lacy know where I was going. I made my way to the kitchen where she was seated at the counter. “Hi Sammy boo.” She smiled, her eyes meeting mine as I entered the room. “Hey Lacy…I um..I just wanted to let you know I am going to be leaving today. I think it would be good if I went home for the rest of break. Gran got me an uber and it will be here soon. I just wanted to say bye.” Lacy’s face dropped slightly as she slid off her stool and made her way over to me. “You sure? What if it isn’t safe?” She asked. “I’ll be out of town. I think I will be okay. You be safe okay?” I said as I gave her a big hug. “Always.” She whispered as she returned my embrace. My phone went off, letting me know my ride was here. We gave each other one more hug before I headed for the door.