Page 10 of Bound by Adoration

“No time to explain,” Nyx said. She grabbed the bag Screech held and opened it up, digging through the contents. “Thank you. I’ll get the rest.” Nyx took off like a shot down the hallway.

If she thought she was leaving, she had another thing coming. Ravage didn’t run. We found the threat and eliminated it. No fucking running.

“Where does she think she’s going?” Liam asked the room as we watched her practically run to her bedroom. Not that she had far to go, but she didn’t waste a second.

“She has to get away for a while,” Screech answered, the urgency still in his tone.

“Care to elaborate? Who made hotel arrangements, and how do you know?” Liam’s neck craned all the way back to look Screech in the eye. “Fuck, you’re tall.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Screech clipped back, and a smile tugged at my lip. “Look, if she wants to tell ya, she can. If she doesn’t, then she doesn’t. Just know the bad guys are on their way here, and she has to go dark.”

“What ifImake you tell me everything?” Liam started, and I shook my head, tisking.

“Nope, he’s on the no-go list if you want anything to do with Nyx, because she’ll hack ya in small pieces of if you touch Screech here.”

“What do you know about her?” Liam asked a question I wanted an answer too as well.

“More than either of you two, but I don’t have time for this,” Screech said, marching toward the bedroom. His long legs had him making it there within seconds.

4

NYX

My heart raced so fast it was damn sure going to pop out of my chest and run away. With Raid cooking in my home and laying out his feelings, then Liam shocking the hell out of me by showing up, the order I’d given to Screech slipped my mind. Stupid. I know, but hell. When one’s world was tilted on its axis and thrown in a washer on the spin cycle—one, i.e., me, tended to forget a lot.

Going ghost, disappearing into nothingness right now sounded better and better with each tick of the clock. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with the two hotheads in the living room, but hell, starting all over again … fuck, it was going to suck rebuilding everything I’d accomplished. Even knowing this day would eventually come, what I didn’t know was there would be all these tangled webs around me that wanted to tether me to Sumner.

Pulling up my mattress, three rainbowed pouches lay there zipped and stuffed with money I’d saved working at the bar. I swiped them up and tossed them into the bag Screech brought. Damn, he was sweet for thinking ahead for me. I was going to miss him too.

Getting down on my knees and reaching under the bed, I yanked out the lone duffle bag that I’d hoped would never be used again, then tossed it on the bed.

Moving around the room, I grabbed underwear, socks, and a couple of bras from my drawers and tossed them in. Once I got to wherever I was going, I’d organize everything. But now, I needed to get the hell out of here, and stuffing was the fastest.

They were coming. Those fuckers were on their way to grab me and force me back into their lives. I’d die before that happened. No fucking way their hands would ever be on my skin again.

Everything else needed to wait. It was how I’d survived all these years. Compartmentalize everything, put it into its designated spot in my head, and lock it up tight. Push through to the next step. Keep pushing.

This time, though, the Hamilton family coming for me had me on the edge of the cliff, waiting for me to fall. Trying to lock that side of me up was becoming more and more impossible as my brain would not shut the fuck up. The tremble in my hands told me how difficult this was.

“What can I do?” Screech asked from the doorway, and I felt myself jump as all the old feelings of being trapped in a life I didn’t want swirled in my head. Jumping at everything wasn’t going to help me here.

My entire body was a rubber band being stretched and ready to snap at any moment. Survival mode. I’d officially been put in deep survival mode. One step at a time. Move. Move. Move.

Blowing out a deep breath and trying to push the thoughts down, I responded as calm as I could, hoping my voice wouldn’t show any signs of my fear. “Tell me what I need to know while I pack.”

His voice came closer, so I knew he’d entered the room. “Nyx,” he called as I grabbed some shirts and turned to him.

“Yeah?”

The look of concern on his face made me pause in my tracks, and paranoia hit stronger than only moments ago. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Which was saying something considering I was in a fuck ton of shit as it was. How much more could I take?

“Nyx, I messaged the contact and told them it was a go. Then not a minute later, every single piece of evidence I was able to save about the Hamiltons on my computer’s hard drive vanished. Poof. Someone broke through all my security measures and wiped everything out pertaining to them and you.”

My throat went dry, and a big knot formed in my stomach. So much so, my voice came out a bit shakier than I’d anticipated as I clutched the shirts in my hands like the action would solve all of this. “What do you mean; they were able to delete your stuff?”

Screech nodded, and I felt the world open under me once again. Everything we’d gathered, gone? While not much, it was all we had over the past year. “Yeah, Nyx. This person is serious business. If they could hack me, I have no doubt they could follow through, but…”

Fuck, there was a but. A but that had Screech’s eyes shifting back and forth like he didn’t want to tell me. That he wanted to do anything but inform me, maybe even cut off his own arm instead of releasing the words. “But what?” I bit out.

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