Trust the Killer

Chapter Fifteen

     I stared at the scene ahead, Wyck pushed past Julia to grab Mason by the shirt and back him into the van but Julia wedged herself between them to prevent further conflict. Johnny seemed to roll his eyes and watch everything play out.
     I began to feel tears well up in my eyes and pour down my cheeks as my mind spun. Maybe right now I should be running for my life, but I was frozen.
     Wyck stumbled back from Mason and turned his head in my direction. We made eye contact for a moment but I looked away as I felt dirty to look at him. I saw him from the corner of my eye begin to walk clumsily toward me at a fast and desperate pace. His arms reached out as Mason and Julia stood without words next to the van. Once his hands came close to my skin I winced and backed away, my arms raised to sit in front of my chest blocking him from being to close.
     Wycks eyes furrowed, stung by my rejection, "Ava..." his voice was soft, it made my head spin as I knew he was trying to lure me back in. I shook my head at him and pushed at his outreached hands. His face twisted quickly as he retorted by grabbing my wrists and forcing me against him.
     "Ava, stop." He tried to sound kind as I fought him, shocked by the way he grabbed me.
      I sobbed, my throat swoll and I was chocking on words begging him to let me go. That's when Mason stepped forward again. Laughing.
     "Yeah, now she sees it! Wyck wants to act like he's saving your life but he would have left you deserted on that street in ropes if he didn't just want to fuck you! Make you his little play thing!" His words hurt, but rang true. "You want to know what we're doing in Louisiana? The details he wont go over in front of you? There's a laundry list of three people who happen to be in your hometown... But Wyck doesn't want you to know that, 'things to take care of' haha." He mocked loudly. "You mean 'people to cut down'?" Mason snarled his words and I could feel Wycks anger in the grip he held on my wrists.
"Shut the fuck up Mason, I'll smash your fucking head in the cement!" Wyck let go of me as he moved to charge back Mason, his threat sent fear through my body. I wrapped my arms around myself and watched as Julia shoved him away.
"This is bullshit." She was calm. "Mason get in the fucking van." She pushed Mason once who shook his head with a slick smile and climbed into the back of the van.
Johnny sighed with an annoyed expression and walked past Wyck and Julia to the driver side of the van, disappearing while muttering, "Bunch of fucking neanderthals."
Wyck seemed unbothered by Johnny and shook his head as he stepped back once, "He's full of fucking bullshit." He growled and Julia put a hand on his chest.
"I know, let's just go. The drive is long." She was much more mature than usual, but she agreed that what Mason was saying was wrong? Or was she trying to calm Wyck down?
She pushed at his chest gently and looked at me once with sympathy before climbing into the van with Mason and slamming the van doors closed. Then I was alone in the parking lot with Wyck, shivering in the cold wind against my bare legs and coughing on snot as tears poured.
I was terrified, everything caught up to me in the last five minutes. I allowed Wyck to paint himself as the good guy, someone I can trust and possible even have feelings for. But he wasn't, he was an ugly monster in sheep's clothing and a killer with no mercy.
Wyck walked quickly to me and I almost screamed as I stepped back and tried to fight off his grip, but he was taller than me by a foot and much stronger. His arms wrapped around me, suffocating my hands against his chest. Wyck dragged me over the the passenger side of the van as I refused to stop fighting him, pleading to be released.
Beside the door Wyck pushed me into the side of the van, pinning me by my shoulders and I used my free hands to shove at him.
"Ava, please stop fighting me." His voice was calm but held a threatening edge.
I chocked on my fear and shook my head with my eyes tied shut.
"Will you listen to me?" His thick voice was close to my ear, I shivered.
"No!" I tried to yell but failed, my hands began shoving him away harder. "Get off of me! Let go! You're going to kill me I don't want you near me!" I was able to raise my voice but I sounded weak.
Wyck grabbed my hands and forced them to my sides, his body pushed forward now pinning me to the van with his chest. He released one of my hands to cover my mouth, muffling my rejections. My free hand moved to push on his shoulder but he was to strong, my fingers held a tight grip on his shirt, I felt horrified in having no control.
The side of Wycks face was against mine, his mouth at my ear. He spoke low and hushed, trying to sound calm and kind. "Baby no, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Baby?" I shouted through his hand, denying the name with a harsh tone.
Wyck sighed, his head pressed into the side of the van and shook. "I'm sorry Ava, what Mason said was very misleading." He tried to explain. I was unable to make an audible response, Wycks hand slid off my mouth to grip my chin and allow me to speak.
"I think you're the one who's misleading." I spoke with venom.
Wyck's mouth twitched, his hand forced my head back smacking into the metal van as his face fell into the crook my my neck.
"You just have to let me explain." His voice was near pleading as he calmed down. His lips placed a gentle kiss on my neck, I bit my lip in frustration and boiling anger.
"Explain to me why you took me then? Why didn't you just leave me on the road, was it like Mason said?"
His face pulled up to look at me, "No, look... if it was a random woman, or man I would have left them. Not in ropes but I would have left. But you, you just looked so fragile... I was worried and I planned to drop you off in a town instead. But, when you said you weren't from here I knew you'd be lost and-" he paused, "I just... I don't know I felt protective over you. I wanted to make sure you'd be safe so I held onto you, but I quickly didn't want you to leave me. I didn't want to drop you off and never see you again, I wanted you to be mine. So I decided to keep you."
"I'm not a thing for you to decide that, I'm not yours and I want to be let go of!" I shoved my body off the van harshly but Wyck only nailed me against it harder than before. His hand slipped from my jaw to my neck.
"I'm sorry Ava. I need you to be mine." His voice held real sympathy. "I know I shouldn't force you to be here, but there's no other way for me to have you." His voice cracked slightly but stayed strong. The tears in my eyes began to fade as they were replaced with anger.
"What?" I squinted hard.
He breathed out loudly, "You'd never want me if you had the choice. I'm not like you, you're sweet... and gentle, I hurt people. It's my job. Your world doesn't fit with mine, but I want you so badly." I felt his body press closer to mine, my skin began to crawl. "It drives me insane to see Mason touch you for a second, or to think that you might want him too, I can't imagine you out of my grip... if I let you go you'd never chose to be with me and I'd have to live knowing someone else is touching you. I don't think I can handle that. You belong to me, only." Wycks smooth but somehow rough voice made my stomach flutter in a sick way, I wanted to punch myself.
I forced myself to revel in disgust at Wycks actions, the type of person he is to take someone's life. The way he decided for me who I am and am not to be with.
"So what? You're going to put me in a cage for the rest of my life?" I spat.
He groaned in my ear, frustrated with my tone. "That's not what I want. I'm bringing you to Louisiana to show you that, that you can be with me and be free. In a way." He corrected himself, showing his plans to keep me under his thumb.
"You're bringing me home because you have people to murder!" I refused his facade of kindness.
Wyck let go of my arm and wrapped his around my waist, pulling me from the van and against his body fully. "Partly, yes. That's what I had to do to get Johnny to agree to driving there and I wanted to hide that from you too. I don't want you to see me as someone to fear. I want you to feel safe with me, I need you to want me back. And you did less than twenty minutes ago."
"I don't feel safe. I'm terrified of you and I dont want you." My own words made a tear slip down my face.
Wycks hands squeezed me tightly that it almost hurt after I spoke, I could hear his teeth grit as his jaw clenched. "Then maybe I will put you in a cage. Either way, you're mine." He spoke through his teeth, growling into my ear before pulling me from the van and forcing me under his arm with one of my hands behind my back. He opened the van passenger door where I saw Johnny not paying attention with headphones over his ears.
Wyck twisted me around pressed me into the open van until my back was against the seat, his hand slid up my bare thigh pushing my flowing skirt up. He pressed his face into my neck, "I wanted to feel you in this skirt that night. You looked so small and weak." He pressed a kiss against my jaw and I squeezed my eyes closed as his hand gripped my leg under the skirt. He lifted my thigh to rest on his hip as he leaned into me fully. I pushed at him and felt embarrassed that Johnny might be watching. He allowed a small amount of distance between us as I shoved him but placed another kiss into my neck.
"Can't you be good like you were this morning?" He gritted. Dropping my leg and twisting me to pull my back against his chest, he squeezed the sides on my thighs once before shoving me up into the seat, I crawled away from him and sat up at the furthest edge of the vans chair, quickly buckling my seatbelt before he could lean over me as he usually did. Wyck slammed the van door as he sat beside me and propped his elbow against the door, staring out the window. His change from groping me to the distance of how he sat was relieving but strange. Johnny finally looked over and put the van into reverse, pulling out of the parking space.
I pushed my skirt down, which somehow Wyck noticed, he turned his head to watch me fix myself before I laid my hands between my legs and looked ahead, avoiding him while sniffling my running nose. He stared for a while, I heard him breath out before looking away through the window as well.
As I felt extremely vulnerable from how he was previously touching me, I appreciate the space he seemed to consciously give me now.
But how I worried for the night in the hotel with him once we arrive in Colorado. Beyond that, what am I supposed to do from here?