Page 134 of You Had Me At Thirteen

‘Yeah?’

‘Whatever it is, I’m here for you. We’ll work it out.’

‘Thanks. I’ll see you soon.’

FIFTY-EIGHT

Wren

* * *

Iarrive at the warehouse at 8:30 pm and head straight for the change rooms. As I suck in breath after breath, my mind is swimming with thoughts of Matilda, and how I’ve let her down.

I should have warned her. Told her to stay away from Eli. Protected her. As soon as he started asking questions, and lying about how he knew my dad, I should have forced Sue to get rid of him.

Instead, I let my ego get in the way of protecting the most important thing to me.

The wall in front of me is the only thing I can punish right now, so I punch into it, not caring about what I could break. With what I’m about to put my body through tonight, a broken hand is nothing.

What Michael fucking Anderson doesn’t understand, is that I’m back with a vengeance. He threw a cheap shot last time, and landed me in hospital for a week, but not this time. I’m like a crazed maniac, and I don’t care who has to pay tonight to get me my girlfriend back.

My love.

My entire goddamn world.

And hell is going to rain down tonight. On anybody who tries to stop me from getting what I want.

My bare feet slap against the cold concrete as I pace the change room, throwing punches out in front of me as I warm up for the fight of my life. My blood rushes in my ears and my muscles tense up with the adrenaline coursing through every cell of my body.

This is the last time.

As long as I get Matilda back, I’ll give up fighting for the rest of my life. She’s all I need, and I see that now.

Jordan enters a few moments later, scratching his head. ‘It’s all set. Now tell me what the fuck is going on.’

My jaw tenses as I contemplate the next words to come out of my mouth. ‘Eli took Matilda.’

Jordan blinks at me. ‘What do you meantookher?’

I turn away from him, tearing at my hair. ‘He wants a hundred grand.’

Jordan falls onto the bench, and blows out a breath, pressing his fingers into his temples. ‘Fuck.’

‘My father…’ just thinking of him makes me want to throw up, ‘fucked up big time. Eli has him too.’

‘Jesus,’ Jordan says as he stands up. He nods his head over and over as though he’s thinking of a plan. ‘This is what we’ll do. We’ll—’

‘There’s no we, Jords. I’m doing this alone.’

‘No fucking way, man. I’m coming.’

‘You can’t. He’ll kill her.’ My eyes water as I think about what could happen to Matilda if I don’t obey Eli.

‘Well, I won’t stand around here doing nothing. Matilda is my friend, too.’

Sinking onto the bench, I push my palms into my eye sockets. ‘I know. Fuck… I know.’

Jordan takes a seat next to me and squeezes my shoulder. ‘We’ll get her back.’

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