Page 80 of Until I Break

“And you can all, maybe, mingle a bit. Have an orgy. Train fuck Oscar,” Eliza says.

“Why me?” Oscar laughs.

“You’re the one who blushed, or it would have been Julian,” Eliza laughs. “Either way, you all should get comfortable with each other.”

“Mhmm. You all go to the bookstore. Nowhere else, please,” Julian says.

“Be good,” Oscar says, kissing me.

“We will!” I say happily. We jump up from the couch and rush to go get our shoes before they possibly change their minds. When we get back to the living room, we say goodbye to everyone and go out to Eliza’s car. We have the windows down and the music turned up. I feel amazing and free being out of the house. The drive is only a few miles, but it’s glorious.

We get parked and go inside. We want the guys to have enough time to spend together, so we decide to roam around and pick out a few books after I pick out a new Kindle. We end up in opposite aisles, but I can tell where she is based on her footsteps. My steps are quiet, so she peeks through every now and again to see where I am. I am looking through a book by my favorite author when I no longer hear her movement.

“Liza?” I call out.

Silence.

“Liza?” I call out again.

Silence.

I walk to the end of the row and turn down the one she should have been in, but she isn’t there. Panic starts to wash over me, and I pull my phone out to call Oscar. “Hey,” he says.

“I can’t find her. She’s gone. Maybe I’m crazy. She isn’t here. She was just right here.”

“Woah. Slow down. Eliza? What do you mean you can’t find her?” he asks calmly.

“I could hear her on the other side of the bookshelf. We were browsing. I couldn’t hear her, and then she was just gone. I’m walking around and I don’t see her.”

“We are on our way. Keep me on the phone, and if you see anything or get scared, be loud and draw attention,” he says. “She might have just gone to look at something.”

“Fuck. It’s him,” I say when I turn a corner and see that Trey has Eliza cornered. “Hold on…”

“No!” Oscar yells at me. “Cass, don’t…”

I slip my phone into my back pocket and pick up the giant bible on the podium next to me. How appropriate that I’m about to knock the fuck out of a demon with a bible.

Eliza

I don’t realize I’ve lost Cassidy until I look up and realize she’s walked off. I turned back for just a few seconds, and she disappeared. “Shit,” I mutter.

I look around, and I don’t know where I am. These rows are like a maze. I was just putting a book back that was in my hand. Fuck, we should have stayed together. I hear footsteps behind me and turn, expecting to be greeted by Cassidy, only it’s not her.

A hand covers my mouth as I am shoved back against the wall. He has me in a corner, and I have nowhere to run. “You stupid fucking bitch,” Troy growls. “Did you not learn?”

Troy wraps his hands around my throat and squeezes as he pushes me up the wall. I can’t breathe, and I kick, thrash, and fight as hard as I can. “You took her from me,” he growls. “She’s mine, you greedy fucking whore.”

Stars flood my vision, and my arms are weakening. Just as the world starts to dim, I hear Cassidy. “Hey!” She screams at Troy. He drops me before turning to her. “The power of Christ compels you, bitch!”

All of a sudden, little Cassidy smashes this massive bible against his face. He screams out in pain and drops to the ground when she swings her foot up and kicks him in the nuts. She slams the Bible down on his head again for good measure. Well, she aims for his head, but the wimp starts crawling away. Her hit lands on his shoulder and makes him cry out in pain again. She throws the Bible at him this time before grabbing my arm and dragging me away. We don’t stop until we get to the front. They had us pay for the Kindle when she picked hers out, so we go straight for the door and run outside.

“What the fuck,” Oscar says, grabbing her up in a hug as the twins surround her. Seconds later, Julian spins me around and grabs my face. I immediately tear up, and he hugs me tightly.

“You’re okay. You’re safe,” he says softly.

“He was strangling me. He was going to kill me,” I sniffle. My entire body is shaking, and I feel like the world is closing in on me. We sit down and I realize we are in the Escalade.

“Check her throat. He was choking the fuck out of her,” Cassidy says. Julian sits me back and tips my chin up.

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