Eluded (26 page)

Just as I suspected, Derrick
blocked my windpipe again. I watched Abbot reach his hand into the
back of his pants, and I knew he was removing the knife from the
sheath around his waist.

"Please," I whispered, and Derrick
became more unrelenting with my cries. Abbot took another step
forward. "You fucking move one more time and I'll kill her. Neither
one of us want that, do we? Now drop your knives."

Abbot shook his head and so did
Liam.

"Drop your fucking knives,
now."

They continued to argue about
doing it, then as if some force made them follow Derrick's
commands, they dropped them onto the ground. I was confused until I
heard Derrick yell, "I told you to stay there, Sophia."

Abbot looked as if Derrick has
summoned someone from the dead. "Sophia," he whispered, not
believing what was before his eyes.

"What a perfect family fucking
reunion. Your sister is so lovely, Abbot. She fucks like a pro. It
took me years to track her down, but once I did, I knew I had to
have her," Derrick said.

I was even more confused than
before, and I couldn't keep up with what was happening, as the
disorientation from not having enough oxygen kicked in. I gasped
and struggled, but Derrick was too strong for me. I stared at
Sophie as realization set in. The sister that Abbot had lost
fifteen years ago stood beside Derrick with tears in her eyes, and
Derrick’s baby in her stomach.

I was given another chance for
air, and I took it willingly. Derrick released his hold from me and
allowed me to fall to the ground. My head crashed on the ground and
I lay there staring at Abbot and Liam.

“
Now, you’ll do exactly as I say,
boys,” Derrick said. “Get on your knees.”

Liam hesitated, but as Abbot
kneeled on the rocky ground, he followed. “Do as he says,” Abbot
said. Then Derrick grabbed Sophie by the wrist and jerked her to
him. Then he pushed his tongue into her mouth as he thrust his dick
on her. I watched Abbot’s face transform from disbelief as he
looked at the sister he thought was dead, to nothing more than pure
hatred. Derrick let go of Sophie, though he kept her close by, and
walked to Abbot with his knife in hand. I watched with semi-blurred
vision as Derrick took his time, taunting, threatening, and holding
the knife so firmly in his grasp that his hand shook.

He stood in front of Liam, spit on
him, then kicked him in the stomach repeatedly. Abbot didn’t move.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Liam stood and beat the
shit out of him, but after several blows, neither faltered with
their stance. Derrick turned and looked at me, laughing, enjoying
the fact that Liam took it without fighting back. "What a fucking
coward. Look at you Abbot, watching one of your men get beat to a
pulp. Not moving. The things you'll do for family. At least you're
an honorable man, Abbot. That's one trait that never
changed."

Sophie stood behind him, watching
her brother, the brother she hadn't seen since she was taken. Liam
fell onto his back, face up, and smiled as he spit blood onto
Derrick’s face.

"Stop it," I said, but my voice
was so small that no one heard me over the wind.

Derrick sat on Liam's chest and
gave him hard punches to the face . . . Abbot did nothing. Why was
he doing this? Why wasn't he saving Liam?

Once Derrick was fatigued, he
kicked Liam one last time and headed for Abbot. Derrick dropped to
his knees in front of him and held the point of the knife to
Abbot's chin.

"Do you know how many men you've
killed?" Derrick asked, eye to eye with Abbot. Neither one of them
backed down from their death stares.

As Derrick pushed harder into
Abbot's chin, I saw little drips of blood fall, but he acted as if
he had felt no pain. When Derrick moved the knife to Abbot's throat
and began to add pressure, I watched as Sophie moved behind him and
placed her hand on Derrick's shoulder. "That's it," she
whispered.

Abbot looked into her eyes as a
silent message passed between them. Traitor. But I knew
better.

Slowly, Sophie moved her arm
behind her back and lifted her shirt. "Make him feel pain," she
said.

Hurt spread across Abbot’s face.
She was the reason why he did what he did, why he led his men into
the darkness, and all he could see was betrayal.

From the sunlight, I saw the flash
of something in Sophie's hand. Then quickly, she drove the
scissors, handle deep, into Derrick's neck. Blood sprayed, and he
gurgled, choking on his own blood. She kicked him to the ground and
slammed her foot into his face. "That's for everything you did to
me. That's for raping me. For abusing me. That's for your unborn
child."

Tears streamed down her face as
she continued to beat him until he was no longer breathing. Abbot
stood and held her in his arms. At that moment, time stood still
and I tried to comprehend everything. Sophie and Abbot.

Tears of joy streamed down her
face as she hugged her brother. Liam stood up, bloodied and
bruised, and introduced himself to her. Then, after a few moments,
they all came to me and helped me up from the ground. Abbot didn't
want to leave Sophie and couldn't stop looking at her in disbelief.
Then, as Sophie began to throw up, Liam grabbed her by the arm and
led her down the trail. They were still in sight when Abbot came to
me.

"Are you alright?" he
asked.

All I could do was cry because it
was over. It was finally over.

LAUREN

Thirty-eight

A
bbot snaked his fingers
through my belt loops and pulled me close to his body. Warmth
radiated from him and mixed with the cool air that surrounded us.
Being there with him comforted me. I knew that as long as I was
with him, I was safe, and that no one could or would ever be able
to hurt me again. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his
strong chest as we danced to the natural sounds of wind humming
between the trees. Fingers brushed against my back and something
inside of me dissolved.

Funny, wasn't it? That I could be
forced into doing a number of things I didn't want to do, like
watch innocent people die, have sex with a murderer, inhale drugs .
. . but the one thing that completely broke me, that made me
crumble into a pile of emotions, was nothing more than a simple
gesture of adoration, care, and most of all . . . love.

Abbot was a killer. Some even
called him a monster, but I've seen real monsters, the ones who
have no souls, that kill for fun and without reason. They were the
kidnappers, the rapists, the evil men who would do anything for
money, for drugs, and for power. Abbot, on the other hand, was
different. He was a good man, one who cared, who had purpose, and
reasons for the way he acted. It didn't always make it right, but I
felt that after Sophie was back in his life, he would change. He
didn't kill because he enjoyed it, but because it was
necessary.

Everything seemed to hit me all at
once and almost knocked the breath out of me. As I stood there, not
knowing what the future held, all I could think about was what I
wanted . . . no needed, as much as I needed air and water.
Abbot.
And if I were lucky, he'd be with me.

My legs went slack, and he wrapped
his arms more tightly around me. After a few more moments of
swaying with the wind, he pushed me away from his body and stared
into my eyes. As I opened my mouth to speak, he leaned in slowly
and placed his soft lips on mine. Our hearts unlocked and shared a
secret message that neither one of us could decode, but there was
something there, something powerful enough that I could feel the
electricity of it coursing through my veins as he nibbled on my
bottom lip.

We released our embrace and he
stared into my eyes for a long moment before he said, "I'm not good
for you, Lauren. You deserve better than me."

"If beauty can tame the beast . .
. "

His lips traced up my neck as he
whispered, "Do you have any idea how much I wish this were a
fucking fairy tale?"

"Everyone deserves a happy ending,
Abbot. I’ve seen you at your darkest, and you don’t scare
me."

He pulled away from me and placed
his hands on my shoulder. "You should be scared to
death."

I swallowed and looked up into his
hazel eyes. He grinded his teeth together and his jaw tightened at
my not backing down from him. Surrendering wasn't in my blood;
Derrick had drained that piece of me out.

With Abbot, I didn't have to or
want to pretend, but I didn't want him to either. Somewhere deep
down inside, I had to find that part of him that he didn’t want
found. Abbot’s nostrils flared as he turned his head away from me.
The first time I had visited, he told me how feeling insignificant
made him feel alive in a sense. I let out a ragged breath and
followed.

Maybe I should be scared for my
life when with him? But I didn’t think he would hurt me. I’d take
the risk. Sometimes things were worth dying for, while other times
there was no reason to live at all. The combination of those two
thoughts helped me make up my mind. I wasn’t going anywhere, and
even if Abbot did decide to let me go . . . I wouldn’t leave. He
chose me, and damn it, I chose him. We were in this fucked-up mess
called life together. Eventually I would drown . . . so why not
swim toward the shark that craves blood?

"When you die, what will you miss
the most?" he asked with emptiness in his voice as he led me down
the road away from the house where Derrick took me and Sophie. For
a moment, the question caught me off guard.

"I’ll miss the ferry that goes
from the island to the peninsula at all hours of the day. The
inconspicuous fort that’s on the right-hand side of the road as
soon as you exit the ferry. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll
completely miss that it’s there." I laughed back tears, but he
continued to stare at me. I didn't realize how much I had missed
home until I started talking about it as if I would never see it
again. I stared into his eyes, the ones that seemed gray or brown
at times, and green at others. "The way the sand feels between my
toes, the smell of salty water, and the sound of the waves
crashing. Walking on the seawall on the weekends and visiting the
little used bookstore by the Strand that has an orange Tabby cat
named Gus. Yaga’s nachos, the giant chessboard, and all the
tourists walking the streets, getting tattoos, and sipping colorful
drinks. I’ll miss sitting at Starbucks with my best friend,
watching the cruise ships take off or the passengers walk back to
their cars. And Summer. Oh, God. Most of all, I’ll miss sunshine
and warmth, bathing suits and big sunglasses, the water park, and
my family. It’s the little things that I’ve done with my cousin a
thousand times that I’ll miss the most, and once I’m gone, they
won’t even matter."

I was talking too much.

Water filled my eyes as I sucked
in a breath. Finally, I was able to let it all out. Through tears,
I released the pain of what Derrick had done to me, to Sophie, and
all the other women he had abducted and killed. Abbot stared at me
with a sad expression. I thought he would crack, but he didn't. He
had so much control as I talked about home. For a moment, I was
lost inside my head, and I replayed all of the happy memories from
over the last few years, realizing that I didn't really appreciate
them when they happened. I could barely remember my parents’ faces
or my cousin's laugh, and it frustrated me because I hadn't been
gone for that long. But the drugs and the shock of it all
temporarily erased those memories. After what I had experienced, I
was lucky to be alive. I pressed my eyes tight then opened them to
blink away the tears that formed on the rims. Abbot white-knuckled
the knife in his hand and took a few steps closer to me. I stared
into the darkness and wondered how far he would go. For a moment, I
thought that dying here would be okay.

"Just do it," I said to him, then
looked into his eyes. His nostrils flared, and I wondered what he
was thinking when he came close to me and pushed me against a tree.
The knife was so sharp and close to my face, but I didn't budge. I
knew that if he slipped, my cheek would be sliced, but I had more
faith in him than he thought. The weight of him added pressure to
my body and my legs pounded from the force of him, but I didn’t
move. I didn’t make a sound. Instead, I stared at him as he stared
back.

"You’re not afraid of me," he
whispered into my ear. The softness of his voice caught me off
guard, leaving me speechless. He said it with conviction, not as a
question. Though I was shivering on the inside, I wouldn't let him
see how afraid I was. I had seen him kill with the same knife that
he held at my face. I had seen him break necks, and stab and slice
his way through men twice his size. Overpowering me would be easy
for him. He could do it with no struggle at all.

As I swallowed down my fear, I
realized there were two choices for me. Live or die, fight or
flight . . . I chose to live. I had always chosen to live, but
there was something deeper there, something that I hadn't felt in a
long time. Too long. I chose to love.

"I'm not afraid of you," I said.
But a little piece of me was scared to death . . . or maybe
exhilarated. I couldn't tell what I was feeling because it was too
powerful, almost enough to bring me to my knees, but I continued to
stand strong. There were so many unknowns. When the panic built, I
remembered that when I was dead, nothing in this world would
matter. If Abbot killed me, I would become a memory like all the
other people who lived before me. Another random name on a grave,
if I was to even be given a grave, then there would be no more
pain, sorrow, emotions . . . with death, all of that dies
too.