Free - Jonah Marais

Chapter 12

Jordan

Convincing the others to let me stay out of the basement seemed easier than originally thought. I did everything I possibly could to earn their trust, Jonah and I only becoming closer as time passed. By now, every time I saw him, my knees seemed to go weak, crumbling beneath me. It didn't even cross my mind once about what my dad had said that day. I didn't want to leave. No matter how harsh the others were with their trust, I was finally starting to be ok with my life.

"Jordan? The boys and I have to go out for a bit. Don't do anything stupid." He smiled nonchalantly, proving that he was only messing about. I nodded and waved, remaining in my seat on the sofa. Shortly after he left, Becca came in with a bowl of chicken noodles and placed it down on the coffee table in front of me.

"Thank you, Becca." I gave a warm smile, having it returned as she scurried off to finish cleaning. Looking around, I glanced between the window and the entrance to the room. Getting up from my seat, I slowly walked over to the window. Scanning for any sign of someone watching the yard, I opened the window and listened for their car to leave.

I did feel bad for what I was about to do, I swear. I wasn't doing it because my dad told me to, he didn't intimidate me. I also wasn't doing it because I wanted to get away from the boys. Giving them the chance that they deserved, to write their own names in my book, I was seeing that they weren't as bad as I originally perceived. In all honesty, I didn't know why I was doing it. I guess I was just doing it because I never wanted to be a part of any of this to begin with, let alone getting 'caught in the crossfire' of an all-out war between the Black Pythons and Red Skulls, all because I didn't take my chance.

Checking behind me, making sure that Becca hadn't come past, I stuck my head out of the window, sweeping my eyes across the entirety of visible yard, making sure that no one was watching. Satisfied that the coast was clear, I kicked my right leg out, over the window ledge. Checking behind me again, I pulled my left leg up, pulling it over the ledge.

Once I was sitting, solidly, on the ledge of the window, I jumped down, pushing the window shut, before making a run for the front gate. Reaching the gate, I realised that I had been chased. I thought they trusted me. I guess I just proved why they would have made a mistake in that, had they have put one-hundred-percent of their trust in me.

Unable to open the gate, the guy caught up to me and started dragging me back to the house. Becca, watching in fear, gave the guy a pleading look, receiving a simple shake of his head in response.

Taking me to the kitchen, he tied me to a chair, using zip-ties to do so, and wrapped a cloth around my mouth to shut me up, so that I couldn't bug him into letting me go. Once satisfied, that I was securely in the chair, he picked up his phone, putting the phone call on speaker, so that I could hear.

"What do you want Bailey?!" The voice spitting through the phone clearly Jack's.

"Sir. It's the girl." Gee, thanks Bailey. I could hear rustling noises through the phone, before Jonah's voice came booming through the speaker.

"This better fucking be good Bailey! You know we're fucking busy!" Clearly irritated by the phone call, Jonah waited for a response. Bailey, repeating his words, was cut off immediately after.

"What about her?!" More agitation becoming evident in his voice as he spoke.

"I caught her trying to escape, Sir." Fuck! Welp, now I'm definitely dead. Bailey? Do the honours? I bit the cloth, taking a deep breath, my eyes clamping shut.

"Is she fucking listening?!" Bailey replied, nodding invisibly to Jonah, explaining what was happening.

"Listen here, Jordan. I told you not to try and escape. We gave you our trust, leaving you there without any of us. You just broke that trust. Don't fucking expect anything, from any of us, anymore." His voice was dark, bitter and... hurt. Hearing the pain in his voice hurt more than the thought of leaving him. I hadn't even recognised how much he meant to me and now, now I've ruined it.

"Bailey! Get her back down in the fucking basement and give your sister strict instructions!" Sister? Wait. Becca? Jonah continued with his instructions, clarifying my hypothesis, before Bailey cut the zip-ties, taking me back to the basement.

***

"Jordan? I'm not supposed to talk to you anymore, but please do the right thing. The boys are back. If you do the right thing, they might go easy on you. Jonah really does like you." Her words were quiet, as she laid down the bottle of water at the door.

"I'll be fine Becca. Don't get yourself in trouble because of me." Hearing my words, Becca scurried out of the room. Wrapping the blanket over my shoulders, I turned around and faced the wall, my back facing the door. Shuffling up to the wall, I rested my forehead on my knees as I permitted my tears to fall.

"Get the fuck up!" The door flew open with ease. Hearing the bitter snap in his voice, I realised how much I had truly hurt, and angered, Jonah. Getting up, I stood near the edge of the bed, the back of my knees pressing against the frame, waiting for what he was going to say. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for the force held behind his hand as it swung at my cheek. The tears that had previously fallen, welling up in my eyes again.

"How fucking dare you! We trusted you! I fucking trusted you! I knew I was making a mistake! You are a prisoner, nothing more!" He turned around, storming out of the room. The door remaining open, he came back in, even more pissed off. "You're just as bad as I thought you were. You're a snobby little bitch. Perfect match for the daughter of Tyson Whittle. No wonder your mother was killed. I'm sure there had to be a reason anyone would end up with your father." His voice was dark and hurt, the same as it was over the phone. Hearing him bring up my mother, the way he did, hurt more than anything I had dealt with since her death. I didn't care that he compared me to my father. No one fucking talks about my mother like that.

"How dare I? How fucking dare you! You have no fucking right to bring my mother up like that! I never wanted to go against you!" The tears and pain obvious in my voice as I stared at him. My chest was heaving and the fire in his eyes was burning. Without any warning, his hand swung back up across my face.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that again. If you didn't want to go against me, then why? Why did you?" The words leaving his mouth, leaving me almost speechless.

"Do you really think I don't want to be able to control myself around you?! I don't want to be weak at the knees whenever I see you! If I'm truly honest, right now, I never want to see you again! But I don't have that control. I don't have that option. I don't have that power." My tears threatening to fall as I spoke the lie within the truths. None of the words that left my mouth were the ones that I wanted to say.

Staring at him in silence, no more voice to back me up, he shook his head, disgust evident in his features, before walking out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Staring at the door in shock, the harsh reality of our words hit me. Sitting down on the bed, my tears began to fall. I didn't sob, or gasp for air. My tears just fell, as if they were literally leaking. Realising what had happened, I began to realise that I was drowning.

***

It had felt like a lifetime, even though it had only been a few hours, before Zach came down. His face showed the same disappointment and hurt that Jonah's had.

"I'm sorry..." My words weak, tears still evident in my eyes. I hadn't stopped crying since Jonah had walked out earlier.

"Save it Jordan. Jonah was the only one who trusted you. I knew it was a fucking mistake. I backed him up because, even though you caused the injury, you helped me. I should have never listened to him. I guess, I guess it was just false hope. Hope that someone in this godforsaken place could fucking change him." I tried to speak, but again the words, that were meant to back me up, failed to escape my lips.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Zach turned around, closing the door behind him. After a short while Becca came back in, placing a shirt and shorts on the end of the bed. Looking up at me, as if she was about to say something, she turned around and quickly hurried out. Not being given shoes, I kept on the ones that I was wearing, in attempt to keep my feet warm.

A while later, I wasstarting to freeze, so I kicked the shoes off and crawled under the blanket,falling asleep to my own tears. The next morning, the clothes and shoes weregone, a plate, with the usual ham and bread, sitting in their place.