Breathe (22 page)

Lord, I know I have been lying, but please don’t let him hurt anyone else.

I looked into his eyes and made it count. “Okay. I promise.” Sincerity was everything in making someone believe.

He hesitated a moment. Then he reached over me to wedge the knife between my wrist and the zip tie. He popped it off with a flick of his wrist, and I was free. He pulled me up and led me across the room by my arm. I was a little nervous that I had left the knife under the pillow, but it wasn’t all I had, and there was nothing I could do now.

As we started down the stairs, there was a crash outside.

He stopped and turned to me. “What have you done?”

I made my eyes go blank with innocence. I shook my head. “Nothing. I swear.”

He had a hold of my upper arm and shook it hard. “Jasmine, I told you. I will take Lily. I will kill Caedan, your mother, and anyone else you care about if you have betrayed me. Who’s out there?” he said through his teeth. The veins in his neck were protruding, and I was afraid this was it. He was going to snap.

“I don’t know. I swear. I did exactly what you said. I left school. I did what you wanted.”

He stared at me a moment. Then he nodded and started to drag me down the stairs. “I hope you are telling the truth or you just killed your family.”

Once we got to the bottom floor I realized this wasn’t a cabin. It was a boathouse. We were on a lake or a river. There was a roll-up door on one wall and a winch on the other end of the room. It was old and looked like there hadn’t been a boat in here for a very long time.

There were chairs by a table, and he shoved me into one of them. “Stay there and don’t move. I am going to see what’s going on. If you try to get away, I will find you. Don’t test me.” He gave me a hard look and moved toward the door.

He went outside and I tried to decide what to do. What was happening? Could the police be here already? Could they have tracked me and figured it out yet?

I jumped out of my seat, ran up the stairs, and grabbed the knife from under the pillow. I was back in my seat with my knife back in my ankle brace in less than thirty seconds. Whew.

There was something going on outside. I heard what sounded like a scuffle, and something hit the outside wall of the boathouse hard. Then, some shouting. No. I was imagining things. Then the door opened, and Easton was shoved into the room and then jerked back against the Monster with the knife against his throat. I jumped out of the chair.

No! The bottom dropped out of my stomach. I wanted to scream. This was not the plan. He was not supposed to be anywhere near here. How did he find me? Did he follow me? Did Caedan call him?

Easton’s mouth was dripping blood, and he looked roughed up a little. The Monster was not unscathed though. One eye was partially closed, and his shirt was covered in dirt like they had been rolling around on the ground.

“Well, look what we have here, Jasmine. Your boyfriend was trying to rescue you. Did you plan this together?”

I knew my reaction in this moment would either save or kill Easton. I had to make this the best acting job of my life. I looked the Monster right in the eye and gave it all I had.

“No. I don’t know why he’s here. I broke up with him. I told him to stay away from me. I told him I didn’t like how he tried to run my life, and I wanted to be single. He’s probably just jealous and followed me.”

I refused to even look at Easton. I could not allow emotion to throw me off. “I don’t like him anymore.”

The Monster didn’t look convinced. He was moving the knife at Easton’s throat back and forth, not quite touching his skin.

“So if I kill him, you won’t care?”

“I didn’t say that. I said I don’t like him anymore. I don’t want him dead, but I don’t want to be with him either. I don’t want to be responsible for him dying. Can you just let him go? Or leave him here, and I’ll go wherever you want.” I wasn’t begging, but it was getting close.

Easton looked shocked and then angry.

“No!” he shouted. “You are not going anywhere with him. Let her go, you psycho!” He started to struggle. I saw that the Monster wanted to slit his throat, but he kept looking at me as if wondering what I would think if he did it right in front of me. I had to do something. I couldn’t let him die because of me. Because he loved me. I couldn’t live with that.

“I will go wherever you want! Please, let’s get out of here. Just you and me. You can leave him zip-tied to the chair. I already promised I wouldn’t try to get away. Please, just leave him.” I was begging now. I wanted his attention on me.

The Monster looked like he was trying to decide if I was lying.

“Okay. I am going to choose to believe you. You’re going to have to show me you can be trusted. We have to leave anyway, since lover boy here probably called the cops.” He shoved Easton into the chair I had been sitting in and handed the zip ties to me.

“Tie him to the chair tight. I will check them, so don’t go easy.”

I nodded. He grabbed Easton’s hair and yanked his head back. He held the knife right under Easton’s chin. “If you touch her, I will kill you, and then I’ll come back for your brother and your cousin. Don’t get cute.”

“Let me up and we’ll see who kills who.” Easton growled and then spit in his face. I gasped as the Monster punched him hard in the stomach and Easton doubled over. I was trying not to cry. This had to stop. I had to get the Monster away from him. I was so scared he would kill him.

“Stop, please, stop. I hate fighting. It makes me sick.” I was trembling all over.

The Monster looked over at me. He let go of Easton’s hair and stepped back, wiping his face. “Get it done. Don’t make me regret not killing him.”

I stepped forward and bent down to secure his wrists to the arms of the chair. My hands were shaking, and I was having trouble getting the zip tie fastened. Easton was still doubled over in pain.

“Jasmine,” Easton breathed into my ear as I leaned forward. “Don’t go anywhere with him. He’s going to kill you. I won’t be able to protect you if you leave here.”

I ignored him and moved to the other side. I could not afford a mistake at this point. His life was at risk. I finished with the second zip tie. I wished I could slip him the knife, but the Monster would see. As I stood up, I squeezed his hand. I hoped he would know I loved him. I wasn’t sure now how this would end, so I hoped he knew I just couldn’t live with being responsible for his death.

I walked over to the Monster and waited. He grabbed Easton’s wrists and pulled. They were tight, I knew. The Monster shoved an old rag in his mouth and tied it with a bandana around his head.

Hopefully, with my plan, the police would find him and get him undone soon. I had been at this location long enough for them to check it out, once Caedan had logged onto the website. The battery in the GPS in my ankle brace still had a lot of hours left, and they should have tracked me here. Thankfully, the Monster had let me keep my brace on.

He grabbed my arm and started to pull me out the front door. My throat clenched shut. Sirens! As soon as the door opened, I heard them. Pretty far in the distance still, but they were there. Sirens. Really? A girl is kidnapped and they use sirens? Holy Cats, this was bad.

The Monster stiffened, and then looked enraged.

“Looks like your boyfriend did call the cops. Good thing I was prepared for a quick exit. He’s not as smart as everyone thinks he is. We’ll be long gone before they get here,” he said as he yanked me by my arm.

He seemed to not need a response, so I kept quiet. He dragged me around the back of the boathouse. I was just thankful we were moving away from Easton. As he pulled me over to the dock, I realized there was a boat moored there. I looked around and saw that we were on one of Louisiana’s swampy rivers. Lots of foliage on each side, and I couldn’t see very far downstream. Lots of twists and turns. Not so great for rescue. My heart gave a leap in my chest. Would they still be able to find me?

He dragged me into the boat and zip-tied my left ankle to a metal support underneath the seat. Not comfortable. He started the motor and we took off. I could hear the sirens getting closer pretty fast, but I knew we would be lost down the river in no time. I hoped the GPS worked in a swamp.

We moved down the twists and turns of the river quickly. I was starting to look for a way out. We were away from Easton, and the police were already nearby. I needed to be sure they would still catch him. There were so many small inlets and channels veering off the river, I couldn’t figure how anyone ever found their way out. The water looked murky and green. It looked like there could be all kinds of really disgusting stuff in that water. No way should I be thinking what I was thinking.

I couldn’t hear the sirens anymore, just the boat. There didn’t seem to be anyone else on this part of the river, and the sun was going down. All of this did not add up in my favor. We weren’t very far downriver now, but the farther into the swamp we got, the harder it would be for them to find us. I could not let him escape this time. Drastic action needed to be taken.

I stood up.

His was livid. “Jasmine, sit down. You will turn us over,” he said between clenched teeth.

Duh.

“Don’t make me hurt you.”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other quickly. He couldn’t reach me without letting go of the rudder. The boat had an outboard engine, so I needed to watch that, but otherwise, it was more dangerous for me in the boat.

“Jasmine, I mean it. Sit down!”

Time to go.

I threw myself to the side. He did exactly what I hoped, which was let go of the rudder to reach out to try to grab me. The boat did what physics said it should. It flipped over, and the Monster went flying. I hoped he would get ground up by the motor, but that was probably too much to ask for.

I held my breath as I went over. The water was warm and murky. I curled up and grabbed the seat for leverage. I popped my head inside the air pocket underneath the boat to catch my breath. I was really starting to panic that he would have the same idea, so I needed to be quick.

My heart pounded. I reached into my ankle brace and pulled out my knife. I cut the zip tie and pushed off to the side opposite where he went over. I stayed under as long as I could, swimming to what I hoped was the bank. I couldn’t see anything in the slimy and sluggish water. I had to keep myself from thinking about what else was in there with me. I knew alligators were really common here. I was terrified of alligators. They give me nightmares. It was the one downside when I was doing my research to move here. I just needed to get myself out of the water. Now.

I came up and tried not to gasp for breath and make a ton of noise. I looked and the boat was upside down, floating down the river. There was no sign of him. I pulled myself up onto the slimy shore. It was humid and hot out. I felt like steam was coming off my body. I moved quickly for the trees. I thought they were mangroves by the way they sat low in the water and the big leaves, but I couldn’t be sure. There were tons of flying bugs too. Good thing bugs didn’t like me like they did my siblings. I kept moving.

I wanted him to follow, but not catch me. The trick was to keep moving along. It was getting harder to see, but I attempted to move toward what I thought was the direction of the boathouse. I stopped behind a tree every few minutes to see if I could see or hear him. He had to take the bait and follow, or all this would be for nothing.

I decided to stay in one place for a bit and check on what had survived my plunge into the swamp. My knife was in my ankle brace, safe and sound, and the GPS was still there too, taped around my ankle with duct tape. I hoped it had stayed dry. Waterproofing wasn’t my first concern when I decided to tape it to my ankle, but I was pretty sure if it survived, the duct tape was why.

I pulled back the top of my shirt and reached into my bra. I could feel the packet in there. I pulled gently and it came out. Well, it looked mostly dry. I had packed some of Caedan’s sneezing powder into a very small plastic baggie and taped it to the inside of my bra. I had been walking around like that for days. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to use it.

I put two fingers of my left hand in the sneezing powder, closed it back up, and slipped it into my front pocket. When I’d gotten everything situated, I heard it. The sound was coming from my left. Someone was moving through the swamp toward me. Time to get moving.

I was going slowly now. There were shadows everywhere. Out of nowhere an arm shot out and grabbed me. I shrieked and a hand covered my mouth. It was him.

He pulled me to him and growled in my ear.

“You little liar. I thought I could trust you. You are just like her.” He turned me to face him. He grabbed both my upper arms and squeezed. “Now I will have to take Lily. You have given me no choice.” I kicked out at him, and he quickly moved his legs.

“Don’t you dare touch Lily, you filthy creep. You have a choice. You choose to be evil. ” I snarled at him. I had had enough. I was wet, slimy, dirty, and pissed off. I knew the police were out there. If I shouted to the high heavens now, they would find us. I was going to tell him what I thought. Enough with the games.

“You make me sick. You know why Daisy didn’t love you? Why no one would ever love you? You are sick and disgusting. I hate you, and I hope when they catch you they kill you!” I was practically shrieking now. I was so angry. This demon had destroyed my family and all I wanted to do at that moment was strangle the life out of him.