Beautiful Misery |1

40. DEATH BY MISERY

Doubling over, I threw up. My throat burned with the acidic flavour. Kyle's battered body blurred my vision, flashes of paramedics securing his body forced my knees to buckle. Guilt strangled me and the relief I felt only sickened me further– it wasn't Rayne's car. I was fucked up, there was no other way to describe me. I was beyond redemption at this point, everywhere I went pain and death followed. My phone vibrated again, stalling my heart rate. Shakily opening the message I fisted my shirt. Kyle's brutalised body was being attended to by the first responders as police did their best to keep the crowd at bay. Fans hurled themselves against the uniformed men in order to reach Kyle as he was loaded into the ambulance. Wincing as I glimpsed what remained of his face I felt the urge to throw up again. The savagery had been unnecessary; crazed, as though the victim's mortality had no baring on his assailant.

Following the image was a simple threat, Rayne is next. I thought that I had been shattered that many times in my lifetime that there was nothing left to break; in this moment I realised I was wrong. Rayne had cured something in me, built a place of warmth in the depths of misery. It was that same part I could feel in agony right now, the threat of loosing it had my body surging off the wall. There was no fight or flight mode for me; I had only one thought, Rayne.

Running towards my ride, I frantically tried his number. "Fuck!" I cursed, there was no answer. Hauling the driver's side door open, I climbed in behind the steering. Throwing the useless device onto the cracked surface of the passenger seat, I let my tears fall freely. If I could just reach Rayne before Mr Hale, if I could just find him sooner. I had been too late when it came to Milo but I could not allow the same to happen again. Shifting the gear into reverse, I slammed my foot into the accelerator.

It was only a split second, only it felt like time ha slowed to preserve a single frame. My eyes left the rearview and caught the entrance to Elixir flying open. Rayne's large figure filled the doorway. My lungs expelled in a rush, relief flooding my senses. He was so close, almost as though if I reached far enough I could hold him. Watching the beautiful man I wept, his dark features became strained, aggrieved even. Shooting off the threshold he hurdled towards me.

My body whipped back into the harsh leather padding behind me before crashing forward to smack against the hard steering wheel, feeling my chest concave I coughed liquid. A warm metallic flavour filled my mouth, dulling my senses from the pain momentarily; long enough for my eyes to glance at the rearview mirror. Crashing into the tail of my ride a truck swerved into a light post. Returning to Rayne's collapsing body I began to gasp in pain, my head spun as the vehicle flipped. The powerful impact sent my battered vehicle coasting, the meal frame scraping the road before coming to an abrupt halt.

My unrestrained body was no match for the collision, my neck snapped forward and my temple slammed into the rough steering once more. Heavy with pain my brain struggled to command my body, I couldn't feel most of it. Scent, that was the main function I still retained, all I could smell was blood. Fading away, my vision blurred. "Skids! Fuck Skids!" Rayne's rough voice jolted my senses, urging them to fight long enough to warn him. The familiar buzz of sensation from his touch was dim, only enough to feel his arms scooping me out of the flipped car.

Cautiously sprawling me over his thigh, he kept my neck supported, snug in his large palm. "Car...don't-Ray...don't drive...Rayne..." Struggling to breathe I began to shiver. Shaking his head he began to mutter incomprehensible sentences, part English and part foreign. I had never seen fear so pure before and for the first time I could see it behind Rayne Rossetti's fierce gaze. The pain that had agonised him for some time now surfaced, revealing his vulnerabilities and the fear of loss he'd harboured all along.