Page 43 of Betrayed

The situation confused me; I hated violence, but today I was grateful for AJ and his brute strength.

I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.

And I couldn’t forget how gentle he was, how safe I felt, when he wrapped me in the protective cloak of his body.

AJ held the steering wheel in a vise grip as he drove us away from campus, rolling through most of the stop signs along the way.

The tense silence in the car wasn’t helping me feel any better. Even when AJ said something, he wasn’t talking to me. I listened, but he used code and clipped sentences so I was no better off than if I couldn’t hear him at all.

“How are you holding up?” he asked, turning his head towards me.

“I, um, I guess I’m okay.” I wasn’t. How could I be? Someone tried to kill me. “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Blake. I know you’re scared, but please don’t shoot the messenger.” He reached over and grabbed my hand. “But this could get worse before it gets better.”

My breath caught in my throat. How could it get worse? “What do you mean?” My voice sounded small and weak.

“You’re safe,” he said. “But to keep you that way, I need you to turn off your phone.”

“What? Why?” I hadn’t turned off my phone since, well, ever.

“It’s harder to track a phone if it’s turned off,” he explained.

Track my phone? Was that how they found me? “Okay.” My fingers trembled as I reluctantly turned it off.

“Thank you. You won't like this, but I’m taking you to the SSI office. It’s not safe to take you home.”

My home isn’t safe?

“When can I go home?” I hated how scared I sounded.

AJ turned, empathy in his eyes. “I don’t know. SSI is close to finding answers, but we can’t give you a time frame.”

“Can I at least pack a bag and see my dad?”

He shook his head back and forth. “I’m sorry, we can’t risk it. We’ll get you everything you need.”

If it wasn’t safe for me, was it safe for my father?

“John is calling him. We warned him in the beginning we might need to take you to a safe house, so he won’t be surprised.”

Why didn’t he tell me?I was going to a safe house, with nothing but my schoolbag and the clothes I was wearing. Clothes that now reeked from nervous sweat.

Why is this happening to me?Someone wanted to kill me, and now I had to hide away.I’ll probably miss midterms.It’d be impossible to fix my grades, so I’d have to withdraw to save my GPA.

I won’t graduate.I’ll lose my internship. I was so freaked out I didn’t realize I was hyperventilating until I felt AJ’s hand gently squeezing my shoulder.

“Blake? Talk to me. Do I need to pull over?” AJ asked.

I put my hand over my heaving chest and leaned forward, trying to force air into my lungs.

Wanting to run away and be anywhere but here, I tried to get out as the car rolled to a stop. But I wasn’t thinking clearly and opened the door before releasing my seatbelt. Before I could reach the release button, AJ shoved the car in park and grabbed my hand.

“Blake, you can’t get out of the car,” he said, turning towards me.

“I have to, I can’t breathe,” I huffed out as I gasped for air, the walls of the car closing in around me.

“Blake, can you close the door?”

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