Page 81 of Twisted Trust
I’m supposed to go back to Scott.
We’re supposed to go… home.
Noise rushes back to my ears the instant Levi’s worried face appears over mine. He cups my cheek and while his lips are moving, I can barely make out what he’s saying over the sound of my blood rushing through my ears. His other hand comes to the other side of my face and distantly, I hear my name.
“Levi?” Even his name tastes strange in my mouth. Another explosion rocks the tarmac and suddenly, Levi’s over me with his lips next to my ear.
“Run, Maeve. You’ve got to run!” He hauls me up onto my feet, and I’m so unsteady that I wobble right into Elio’s arms. “Take care of her!” he barks at Elio, brandishing his gun.
Take care of me?
I’m leaving?
The moment Elio tries to drag me away, awareness snaps back with the force of a rubber band.
“Levi! No! I’m not leaving you!” I lunge for his arm and make contact with his wrist, drawing him back to me. Around us, gunshots pop like firecrackers and another explosion destroys the last car in the lineup. It’s carnage and the thought of leaving Levi alone here makes me ill.
“Maeve! It’s not safe for you here!”
“It’s not safe for you! Come with me!”
“Maeve!” He yells my name so deeply that my heart stops briefly. His hand grabs the side of my neck and he pulls me close for a sudden, abrupt kiss. “I need to make sure youcanget to safety, now go!” The kiss breaks and he shoves me away, breaking my heart in the process. “Go, Maeve!” he bellows at me. “Now!”
I have no choice. Elio’s dragging me away before I can react, and dodging the hail of gunfire that comes my way becomes my priority. Beneath the sounds of gunshots are the screech of tires and the slam of cars. Through unwelcome tears I glimpse cars that don’t look like the ones Levi knows. Fire rains down around us as car debris caught in the wind slowly comes to rest.
“Come!” Elio barks. “This way!” He drags me along and my legs have a will of their own, following him while my mind struggles to catch up with what’s happening.
The back of my head throbs tightly in time to my pounding heart and my stomach twists as if I’ve been punched. Elio drags me behind him suddenly then fires a few shots into the dark clouds of smoke, then he pushes me through a glass door where my foot catches on the mat and I trip to the ground.
“Elio?”
“It’s alright,” Elio pants, slamming the door closed behind us. He helps me up with one hand and back on unsteady legs, I freeze as we come face to face with three men armed with assault rifles.
“Elio,” I gasp as he’s still facing me with his back to them. My blood runs cold as Elio lifts his head and looks at me instead.
“Don’t worry, Maeve. Trust Levi. He knows what he’s?—”
“No, look!” I screech, pointing past him. “Look!”
Elio turns and the three men raise their rifles.
The world stops spinning.
I have so much I still have left to do. So much of Scott’s life I haven’t seen yet. I want to take him to his first concert and explore his first convention with him. I want to see him stumble onto the dating scene and fight through exams while changing his major three times in a row.
I haven’t done anything yet.
“Please,” I gasp, raising one trembling hand to my mouth. “Please, you can’t!”
Before either of the men move, before I even have time to blink, three rapid gunshots fire off next to me. I slam my hands over my ears with a scream and watch, horrified, as all three of those men drop dead like rocks. Their eerie, motionless faces fixate on me as if we’re all frozen in the same time bubble and if I stare hard enough, I’ll be able to decipher their last thoughts.
“Maeve?”
Elio’s words barely breach the pressure I’ve placed over my ears as I continue to stare into the empty, blank eyes of the closest gunman.
“Maeve!” Elio’s warm hand closes around my forearm and he pulls me around to face him. His weapon is gripped firmly in his other hand. “Maeve, it’s okay. I need you to sit down, okay? Sit, that’s my dear.”
I sink down onto one of the blue plastic chairs that are identical to all the others in a row within this waiting room while Elio stands next to me. He digs his phone out of his pocket and almost immediately starts barking orders down it in code. I make out the basics. He’s calling reinforcements, but that barely reassures me knowing Levi is out there with what remains of the small security team Elio brought with him.
