Ends Here

  I don’t know how much time went by when I felt a sudden rush of warmth seep beneath my dress, in between my legs.

  I sucked in air until there was none left for the taking. My lungs feeling as though they were collapsing. There were no more tears for me to shed, no more prayers for me to plea, there was nothing left but darkness.

  I didn’t know how long I was out when my eyes flickered open. The pain returned with a vengeance as I was being carried away.

  “Creed?” I softly spoke, blinking away the haze and tears. Willing my eyes to stay open. “Please... save... her...” was the last thing I said.

  I swear I could hear Creed yelling, he was coming for me, closing the space that separated us. It’s only then that I realized the strong arms that were holding me weren’t familiar. They weren’t Creed’s.

  I couldn’t fight.

  I couldn’t move.

  I couldn’t speak.

  Everything just faded to black.

  I jerked awake, sitting straight up in the bed gasping for air. Immediately gripping my head between my hands, noticing the blindfold was no longer in place. I closed my eyes, desperately trying to catch my bearings. The dizziness had washed over me. Where was I? Who had taken me? Creed and Noah never talked to me about the MC, why was I dragged into something that had nothing to do with me?

  The questions were endless.

  I protectively placed my arms around my baby girl, when the realization hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn’t feel any pain like I had before. It was gone, replaced by my body’s own drowsiness holding me down. How much time had gone by since they took me? Was my baby okay now?

  Nothing made sense.

  As if sensing my panic, she kicked making her presence known, and I breathed out a huge sigh of relief as I stared around the bedroom. Taking in my surroundings, thinking I would find the answers written on the walls or something. There were two black nightstands, one on each side of the bed with a lamp placed on top. A long dresser in the corner of the room, and a chair strategically placed by my bed as if someone had been sitting there, waiting for me to wake up.

  An eerie feeling swept through my body, like a cold gush of water hitting my overly-frenzied skin. I swallowed hard, continuing to let my eyes wander. The black curtains were closed, keeping the light from shining through, making the room have a soft, dim glow. It was easier on my eyes to get accustomed to the brightness, and for some reason, I knew someone had done that on purpose.

  There wasn’t anything hanging on the white walls other than the flat screen TV in front of my bed. The room was small, but not entirely unpleasant. Under any other circumstances, I probably would have loved it in here. It reminded me of a bed and breakfast I’d seen in movies.

  I shook off the thoughts, peering down at the bed, feeling the plush fabric of the duvet comforter under my fingertips, and comfy sheets beneath me. Pushing through the lightheadedness, I guided my legs to hang off the side of the bed. Setting my feet on the cold wood floor, I slowly stood, holding onto the bed as I made my way toward the door. I knew it wouldn’t be open, but it didn’t hurt to at least try. I turned the knob back and forth, wiggling it and just as I presumed, it was locked. I made my way over to the window next. Pulling back the curtains, causing the vivid sunlight to shine in, assaulting my sensitive eyes.

  The windows were locked as well, with steel bars secured all around them. There was no way in hell I was getting out of this room unless they allowed it. That realization was the hardest pill to swallow.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed another door slightly ajar. Making my way over to it, I slowly pushed it open, revealing an en suite bathroom. Complete with all the toiletries I would need, laid out on the counter. I didn’t think twice about it, I rushed in, roughly tearing through the cabinets and under the sink, needing to find anything I could use to protect myself.

  It was fight or flight time, and I refused to be a victim in this situation. I had to try to save my life and most importantly the life of my unborn child. It wasn’t just me anymore. I had to protect her at any cost.

  “Yes!” I breathed out when I found a pair of scissors behind the toilet paper.

  They were a bit rusted and not as sharp as I would have wanted, but they would do. I securely placed them in the back pocket of my jeans, noticing for the first time that someone had changed my clothes. I was wearing a tan, wool sweater with a white tank top underneath it. My jeans fit perfectly, accommodating my swollen belly.

  I abruptly stood up on trembling legs, confused by the turn of events. Taking a good hard look at myself in the mirror in front of me. Turning my head side to side preparing myself for the worst. To my surprise, there were no bruises on my face, neck, or chest. I ran my hands through my hair and took a closer look at my face. I was paler than usual, but I didn’t look any different than before. The fact that no one had harmed me was mind-blowing and too much for me to take in at that moment, but I continued to stare at the girl in the mirror.

  Me.

  I splashed some cold water on my face, brushed my teeth and took one last look at myself before I went back to bed. I couldn’t mentally or physically do a damn thing about the situation, but at least I was prepared to fight back when the time came.

  So, I allowed my eyes to close and my body to sink into the mattress, aware of the cold metal on my back. Welcoming the darkness with open arms, allowing myself to slip back into dreams of the man I knew in my heart, would come and save me.

  He grabbed my ankle, tugging me back toward him. Making me squeal. “Babe, if I want in. I’m gettin’ in,” Creed rasped, flipping me over in one quick, sudden motion. Kneeling on his bed, he hovered above me, locking my arms above my head. Holding me in place, he peered deep into my eyes and spoke with conviction, “This is how it’s gonna go down. I’m gonna angry fuck you now, and then you’re gonna beg me to make you come with that saucy, little mouth that never seems to know when to shut the fuck up. Yeah?”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” I offered in a shaky voice, mostly because I wanted everything he just said.

  “Try me.”

  I smiled, cocking my head to the side, provoking him even more. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over. I’m afraid you will have to come back later when you can be a gentleman.”

  He grinned, arching an eyebrow. Getting closer to my face, he started to kiss his way from the corner of my lips, down to my chin and neck. Working his way toward my breasts that were just as eager for his touch.

  “Oh, I will be comin’, question is... will I let you.”

  I smiled, feeling the stubble on his face all over the cleavage of my breasts.

  “Creed,” I giggled, loving the feel of him against me.

  “I need to check her heart rate,” someone said, bringing my attention to the man holding a small monitor in his hands.

  “What?” I replied but no one responded. When I looked back in front of me Creed was gone, no longer above me, loving on me. He was standing in the corner of the room with the same worry in his eyes when I last saw him. Sinking further and further away until he was gone. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

  I was talking but no one could hear me. My lips weren’t moving, there were no sounds coming from my mouth, yet I could hear myself. Were those my thoughts?

  “Mia, babe, you’re gonna be alright, so is our baby. I promise,” Noah said, standing above me.

  “Noah?” I shook my head, looking up at his face. Peering from him to Creed. Squinting my eyes, everything was so bright. Where was that light coming from?

  There were so many people in the room. Why was everyone shouting?

  “I don’t feel anything abnormal anymore,” the same man from my left said, pressing on my stomach. “Don’t touch me! Get your hands off me!” I screamed, repeatedly thrashing around, but still, no one heard me. Still, no one sees me fighting.

  No one does anything.

  Not Creed.

  Not Noah.

  Not anyon
e.

  And then they were gone. No one was with me. I was alone. Scared and cold. So damn tired. My eyes inadvertently shut, taking me under. Spiraling into the dark corners of my mind.

  “You nervous, Mia?” Creed murmured in my ear, making me smile again.

  I opened my eyes and he was hovering above me, exactly the way he was before. “Yes...” I whispered as if nothing had happened.

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s you,” I simply stated.

  “I make you nervous?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Why do ya think that is?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yes, you fuckin’ do,” he growled, his lips were on mine before he got the last word out, attacking every last fiber in my being. Feeling his love. His protection. His warmth all over me.

  The hard, jagged footsteps descending down the hall startled me awake. Boots pounding onto the wood floors, vibrated through the space between us, getting louder and louder with each passing minute. I looked over my shoulder slightly, peering around the room that was now pitch black. I couldn’t even see an inch in front of me. Nightfall had taken over. It took me a moment to remember where I was and what had happened.

  My mind was still groggy and filled with unanswered questions which never seemed to stop. I grabbed the scissors from the back of my jeans, clutching them tightly in my grasp, almost to the point of pain. Bringing them close to my chest. My hand was shaking uncontrollably as I thought about the consequences of what this would bring. What did I have to lose at this point? Nothing.

  I waited, steadying my quivering breath. Praying he didn’t hear my heart that was beating out of my chest. I felt it ringing through my ears, hammering against my skin. I tightly shut my eyes when I heard the lock on the door click over, opening mere seconds later.

  I just laid there on my side facing the window in a state of shock, trying not to think about what I was about to do. In the forefront of my mind, I kept contemplating that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, but each time the thought circled back around, I pushed it away. Knowing this would be my only chance to get free, I wouldn’t be able to catch him by surprise again.

  It was now...

  Or never.

  The soft translucent lighting from the hallway entered the room, but it wasn’t enough to see more than a few inches in front of you. I silently prayed he wouldn’t turn on the light. He would just leave it somewhat dark not wanting to wake me. He obviously cared enough to close the curtains earlier in the day. I figured this was the same concept.

  I pretended as best as I could to be asleep, having years of practice with my parents coming in my room. Making sure I wasn’t up when I was supposed to be sleeping. The thought of my parents made my heart ache, thinking of what they must be going through made my eyes well up with tears. I knew they’d be searching for me. I knew they would never give up till they found me.

  Dead.

  Or alive.

  I pushed away those thoughts as well, knowing it wouldn’t do me any good to think about things I couldn’t change. I needed to stay in the here and now. In the present so I could have a future.

  His footsteps got closer and closer to my bed until there were no more steps for him to take. Until he was standing right next to me, hovering above my side. Waiting, like I was waiting for him.

  I knew he was staring at me, contemplating what to do next. He pulled back the comforter and sheets from my body, taking away my false security. I felt the edge of the bed dip. His knee touching my back.

  Was he getting into bed with me?

  He leaned forward, brushing the hair away from my face. Letting his fingers linger for what felt like forever. I resisted the urge to throw up, bile rose in the back of my throat. My rapid, erratic heartbeat ready to betray me. The flats of his fingers glided from my cheek down to my neck, gripping onto my shoulder. He started to turn me onto my back as I used his same momentum against him. Whipping around, I slightly opened my eyes, stabbing the scissors as hard and as deep as I could into his thigh.

  “Fuck!” he groaned out in pain and I sprang into action.

  I hauled ass off the bed, ignoring the unsteadiness of my body and mind, and rushed out of the room. Slamming the door behind me, peering down to see if there was a lock on the outside to lock him in with.

  “Shit!” I panicked. I needed a key.

  He still had the damn key.

  So I ran. I ran as fast as I could down the narrow hallway, my bare feet pounding into the floor. Hoping it would lead to the front door or anywhere else I could escape from.

  “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!” I screamed through the sting of my already burning throat. “HELP!” I ran as fast as I could through the vaguely lit hallway, only stopping to check the few doors that lined the walls. Trying the handles, banging my fists, hoping with some sort of miracle, one would open. Freeing me. “HELP! PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME!”

  I heard the door to the room I was being held in open down the hall, and the sound of boots dragging on the wood. He was coming for me. Panic set in again, and I took off running, looking back, making sure he wasn’t behind me, not paying attention to where I was going. Before I knew it, I slammed into what felt like a brick wall, abruptly falling to the ground with a hard thud. My body collided with the hardwood, knocking the wind completely out of me.

  I wheezed for air, urgently trying to get to my knees, crawling away from the tall muscular frame that was looming over me.

  “Mia!” he called out, catching me by surprise.

  I immediately looked up, recognizing the tone of voice.

  Never in a million years expecting to see the person who was standing above me.

  “Mia!” I called out again, desperately waiting to hear her voice, assuring me she was okay. Terrified when I realized the basement was silent.

  No screaming.

  No crying.

  Blood.

  “The fuck...”

  I thought I had experienced every loss I could in my life. Felt every form of pain, every form of agony and hurt known to fucking man. I was wrong. Nothing could compare to the moment I walked back to where I left my girl safely.

  Where I left Mia...

  And she wasn’t fucking there.

  “MIA!” I growled, searching for her all over the basement. Not giving a fuck that I was knocking over boxes, which I knew held Luke’s belongings.

  I needed to find her. Silently praying for the first time, in I don’t know how long, that she was just hiding. Cowering in a crevice of the murky concrete cellar. Scared, and in shock from everything that just went down. I never wanted her to see this part of my life. I never meant for any of this to happen.

  The last thing I ever wanted to do was fuck up her life by bringing her into mine.

  “MIA! BABY, PLEASE!” I pleaded, tearing apart the basement like a rabid fucking dog, leaving no box unturned no door unopened.

  I wouldn’t stop till I knew she was safe. Till she was in my arms where she always belonged. It tore my fucking heart out hearing her pleas to not leave her down there earlier.

  “Creed... please... Don’t leave me... please... please, I need you!” Her words would forever be etched into my conscience.

  I would have given my soul to the devil to find her, to see her smiling face, to hear her laughing. To feel her brush up against me in the way only Mia ever could. It was as if she was there in spirit. Exactly where she had been since the moment she handed me her first patch.

  “Baby, please give me a sign. Please...” I crouched down, ignoring the pain in my leg where I had been shot in the crossfire. Letting the blood drip onto the ground, mixing with Mia’s. Running my hands roughly through my hair.

  On the verge of rage.

  Hanging on by a fucking thread.

  Memories of our time together attacked my mind, one right after the other. Twisting and turning, not letting up, not giving a fuck she wasn’t there. That she had been taken, right from under me.
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  I couldn’t find her.

  I didn’t save her.

  This was my entire fucking fault.

  “MIA!” I yelled out for the last time, destroying every corner of the dark, cold open space until there was nothing but destruction left in its wake.

  I rushed back up the stairs, taking three of them at a time. Ignoring the blood gushing from the bullet hole in my thigh.

  “Honey, you’ve been hit—”

  I assaulted my baby brother before Ma could get another word out. Roughly gripping onto the front of his cut, slamming his back against the nearest wall, causing our childhood pictures to rattle and fall on the ground. Adding to the rest of the debris.

  “Where the fuck is she?!” I seethed, barely holding onto the last bit of my temper.

  All I could see was red.

  Bright. Blinding. Fucking red.

  “The fuck?” Noah jerked forward, trying to break loose from my tight hold.

  I didn’t give him any leeway, I held him tighter. “Where. Is. She? Not gonna ask again, you little shit!” I shoved him into the wall with more force, jolting his body forward again. Not giving a flying fuck he was my blood.

  “Creed! What’s gotten into you? Let go of him! He’s your brother!” Ma demanded with a shriek, grabbing ahold of my arm.

  I pushed her away. I was a crazed man. No one would be able to stop me.

  Not even my family.

  “I’ve been with you, motherfucker! Fightin’ by your side. If Mia ain’t down there, it ain’t cuz of me. You took her to the basement! You left her down there! If she’s fuckin’ missin’, it’s on you,” he gritted out through a clenched jaw, trying to gain his bearings. Eyeing me up and down.

  I let him go with a hard shove. Pacing the living room, kicking bullet shells around with my boots.