Page 22 of Claiming Sarah

Sitting back in my seat, I admit to myself I never had a chance of getting away if I tried. And that’s if I got the key to both deadbolts from him, the one to my cell and the front door.

I was completely at his mercy until whatever spurred him to sneak into my room and place his face between my thighs. A flush tints my face as I look out the window, refusing to look at him and give my thoughts away. I’d never admit defeat, but Dayton had truly gotten the best of me, keeping me contained.

The biggest question is, what happens now?

18

NOT ALONE

ZAIDEN

She doesn’t speak on the drive, but I can feel her thoughts rampaging through that intelligent mind of hers. A glance in the rearview mirror reveals cars trailing behind us, and Red and Blue resting in the back seat. Tension tightens my shoulders. Sometimes, I wish I could leave my delusions behind, but they’d never let me be.

“She likes us,”Red whispers to Blue, who grins wide, flashing even white teeth.“She’ll be ours. Just wait and see,”the mellow doppelgänger whispers back.

My attention returns to the road, and I ignore all the signs.

Turn Back Now. There’s No Escape. Hell is hot.

I shake my head, wishing the voices would quiet and quit pointing out billboards to me.

“Dayton, are you okay?” Sarah asks in a soft voice, a balm to the churning madness. My hand blindly reaches for her, and she doesn’t hesitate to entwine our fingers, bringing my hand to rest against her chest. I dart a glance ather, and there’s a softness to her expression, a muted understanding, as if she knows what I’m thinking.

“It’s hard, isn’t it? Being in your head?” Swallowing hard, I nod, looking back at the road. We’re close to her house, and I’m not far from a fucking breakdown. How can I keep her? Already my skin itches to peel itself off and crawl back to my mother’s home.

“Talk to me then. Tell me about your mom.” My heart doubles over in my chest, the organ wanting to defy biology and fall right out of me.She wants to hear about my mom?

“Zaiden,” she whispers my name so quietly, barely above a whisper, but it unlocks something. Not bravery or courage but a desire to please her. It’s all I ever wanted: to please my mom. Sarah reminds me of her so much now. Her gentle understanding, sweet voice, and touch don’t make my skin rebel.

“She was sick.” Tears cloud my eyes and clog my throat, but I push on for Sarah. “When she set the house on fire.” I swallow down the memory wanting to drag me into the past, billows of smoke and screams taunting me. “The firefighters made it before the house burned down completely. They found me in her bed and took her away.”

“I was asleep, but the smoke would’ve made sure I never woke up.”

“Please! Zaiden! Please don’t take my baby,” my mother screams, soot and tears painting her face while men in uniforms drag her away. I try to run and follow, but an adult easily snatches me up, and I’m helpless to watch them take her from me.

“No one understood me. Soon, they said I was sick, too.”

“Zaiden, when you think of your mother, how does it make you feel?” A man in a white coat asks, sitting across from me with a pad balanced on his knee. His eyes keep flicking to the scars on my hands. When the pain in my chest became too much, I splitmy skin open. It quiets the voices, too. But I don’t tell Mr. Important that, glaring him down in silence.

“They had me committed. When they released my mother, she visited every day, even hunting down my father to get them to expedite my release.”

A stranger sits across from me, eyes a similar shade to my own. My lips twitch, cataloging the faint line of the wedding ring he removed, the bruised knuckles showing he got into a fight recently, and the faint whiff of alcohol coming off him.

Pathetic. That’s what the voices say about him. We sit in silence until our visit is up, neither of us willing to break. I’ll only speak to my mother, not the man who abandoned us for his other family. If I could burn my name from the history books and create a new identity, I would, just so Zaiden can stay buried.

“When I finally got out…” My teeth grind, fresh pain slicing through me.

“Cancer took her from me a second time.” My fingers tighten around the steering wheel, destructive rage rising within me. “I miss her with everything I am.” I can’t say more, my throat closing up.

A hand brushes my lap, and I look down from the road at the placement. Sarah’s hand rests just above my flaccid cock, and I snap my eyes to hers. Tears swim in green pools, and I know for certain they’re for me.

“I’m sorry, and I know you’ve probably heard it a million times, and it changes nothing?—”

“You’ve never said it,” I interrupt. “When you say it, it changes something. It changes the fact that I’m not alone anymore.” A horn blares, and I force my eyes back on the road. We’re nearly at her house, and I can’t wait to have her alone, minus the twins in the backseat.

Sarah makes me not feel alone anymore, and she’s touching me. Surely, that means something?

SARAH

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