Page 156 of Falling in Reverse

And I don’t do it once, but three hard and excruciating times.

Judah promptly curses out loud, the grip on my throat loosening as I gasp needily for air. His scent of cedar and mint immediately fills my nostrils as I gain my bearings, lifting myself up by my elbows when a strong crash of either his hand or fist slams into the side of my face. Pain hastily radiates through my skull, taking hold of getting away but also what I’m currently carrying in my jeaned shorts.

A small knife that Levi gave me for my birthday this year.

“Why’d you have to do that, Bay?” Judah cajoles, snatching up my left wrist and holding it over my head. It’s only going to be a matter of seconds before he’s looking for my right and trying to gain that, too. “Why does everyone not want me?”

I would’ve been your friend. I would’ve helped you with anything you needed.

Clinging to my weapon, I pull it from my jeans and that’s when all of Judah’s previous kindness—if you want to call it that—abandons his voice.

“You wanna kill me now?”

I flick the blade open and squeeze it tightly. “You wanted to hurt me first.” His features are distorted as if I’m the one that’s crazy here. “Just let me go, Judah. We’ll chalk this up as a bad?—”

“Chalk it up?” he carps out incredulously through a haughty tone. “No one pulls a knife or gun out and lives to tell about it. Why did you do that?”

My brows clutch together at his ignorance of the situation before Judah lunges for my sharp weapon. I pull it away and slide my body out from underneath his body when he attempts to sit back down on me. I swing it forward, catching a part of his arm before he hisses at the contact.

“Don’t do this, Bay,” he warns as if I started this.

You can’t be around anymore.

Adrenaline pumps vigorously through my veins at the repeat of his words as I kick at his gut to gain some well-needed distance. I make contact, but he captures my ankles and yanks. Half my spine hits the hard ground of sticks and rocks; however, he’s not going to get the upper hand on me again.

With my other foot, I nail him in the chest, my anger knocking him back and getting a hold of both.

“No one is going to use you!” he roars out as I scramble back, still clutching onto my knife, and speedily get to my feet. Judah does the same, pinning me with his dark and sinister glower that has me breathing erratically now. “No one can have you but me, Bay. We were meant for so much more than this. I can’t protect you if you chose him.”

“I need to go home,” I cry out through a broken sob, circling around to the trail that drove me here. I have to get back to my sisters and Dad. I’m not going to die tonight.

I’m not going to die tonight.

“You can’t,” Judah replies, taking a confident step in my direction. “You can’t leave.”

“I have—” He rushes me, scaring the absolute shit out of me, and I don’t think, I do.

I do what I have to just to survive.

To see my little sisters.

To see Dad.

To see Levi.

To graduate high school.

To not die at fifteen.

I feel the knife sink into his flesh, and I gasp from the contact. Judah’s hand falls to my hip, and I’m so terrified of what his next move is that I keep stabbing him. Warm blood coats my fingers, shaking me to my core as a broken sob cracks from my lips, and that’s when Judah sinks to his knees.

“Judah!” I scream, taking a step away from him and peering down at the look of pure shock and acceptance on his face. “Why did you—I wanted to go home!”

He shakes his head, staring blankly at my thighs. “You were meant…for so much more. You’re in…so much danger, Bay. I can…keep…you safe.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” I cry, another shattered whimper leaving my lips. Tears cloud my eyes, and I let them fall. I hurt him, and I didn’t wish to, but he left me no choice. “Judah, I’m going to go get help.”

“No,” he says flatly. “They won’t make it.” He pulls his eyes up to meet mine. “I guess I was wrong.”

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