Page 130 of You Were Always Mine
Keeps proving I’ll never outrun him.
The scream tears out again, raw and broken—and the second it leaves me I know it’s too loud. The house isn’t silent anymore. Footsteps. Heavy. Fast. A door slams open.
“Scar.”
Kai’s voice—rough, panicked, shaking like it never does.
I snatch the phone from the floor, shove it under the bath just as the door bursts open. He’s there, filling the frame like a storm, eyes wild, chest heaving as if he sprinted the whole way.
“What the fuck was that?” His voice cracks the air as his gaze cuts over me—my damp cheeks, my shaking hands, the mess I can’t hide.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I’m curled on the floor like a child, and he’s already crossing the room, crouching, gripping my shoulders hard enough to hurt.
“Tell me.” His forehead crashes against mine, breath hot and desperate. “Tell me what’s happening, Scar. Tell me who did this.”
My lips part, but no sound comes. My throat’s shredded from screaming; all I can do is sob and shake and pray he doesn’t see the glow under the bed when the phone buzzes again.
The tears won’t stop. They pour out of me like a flood, soaking his shirt where his chest presses to mine. My body won’t listen. I’m thrashing, clawing at his arms, choking on air that won’t fill my lungs.
“Scar—Scar, stop—fuck, breathe.” His voice is hoarse,almost begging, but I can’t. I can only shake and scream. My nails dig into my skin; my throat burns; I curl tighter, smaller, hoping to disappear.
His hands frame my face, rough palms trembling as his thumbs wipe at tears that keep coming. “Look at me. Look at me.” But my eyes won’t stay on him. They dart everywhere—the corners, the shadows, the silent buzz under the bed, the echo of every filthy word that won’t leave me alone.
“Don’t do this,” he whispers, softer now, chest heaving against mine, heart thundering so hard I feel it in my ribs. “Don’t you fucking do this to me, Scar. I can’t—” His voice breaks, raw and cracked.
I bury my face against him and sob harder. My lips try to form words—pleaseorstoporhelp—but everything chokes on the scream still stuck in my throat.
He holds me tighter, crushing me to him like he could keep my pieces together by force alone. His jaw presses to the top of my head, voice breaking against my hair. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you. You’re mine—you hear me? No one’s taking you from me.”
And still, I can’t stop screaming.
The sound slices through the air?—
Bzzzt. Bzzzt.
The phone.
Even buried under the bath, I feel it, the vibrations rattling through the floorboards—louder than my sobs, louder than Kai whispering against my hair. My body stiffens, convulses, and another scream tears out of me.
Kai freezes. His arms tighten, crushing, desperate. “Scar… Scar, hey—look at me. Fuck, just breathe—” His voice breaks, but it can’t drown out the phantom buzz vibrating in my bones.
I claw at him, shaking my head, nails raking his arms. “Make it stop,” I sob, words slurred, ugly. “Please—make it stop?—”
“Make what stop?” His grip trembles, his lips brush my temple like an anchor. Panic rides in his breath, his heart hammering against mine. “Tell me what it is. Tell me what the fuck it is, Scar.”
But I can’t. I bury my face deeper into him, screams strangled into sobs.
Bzzzt.
The sound grows louder. Mocking. Another message. Another knife. Another threat shoved through the dark.
Kai’s body goes rigid. He’s heard it too. His hand slides down my spine—not soothing now, but searching. His voice drops low, dangerous under the fear. “What the fuck was that?”
And I scream again, louder, because I know he’s seconds away from finding out.
“Kai—” My voice breaks, but it’s too late. He’s already on his feet, dragging me up by the wrist as if I’ll bolt, his other hand ripping back the covers, the pillows, the sheets. The vibration hums again, muffled but insistent, and his eyes lock on the glow bleeding from beneath the bath.
“No—please—” I lunge, but his arm bars me back. He crouches, grabs the phone, and when he straightens, the light on his face turns him monstrous—all sharp bone and fury.
