Page 57 of On The Run

It was always unnerving every time I was face-to-face with this man. Most days, I was able to forget just how much I looked like the bastard, but when I was staring at him, too afraid to blink, I couldn’t get away from the fact that I was practically a younger-looking clone of him. But unlike him, I’d always been told I had warm, expressive eyes. Giovani’s were like staring into a soulless abyss. There was nothing behind them.

“Aiden, please. Just leave me!” Pops sobbed from the bed.

For a split second, that blank expression morphed into pure rage, and I didn’t have a chance to do anything before he turned on Pops and slammed the butt of the gun into the side of his head with enough force that Pops’s neck snapped back.

“Shut the fuck up! You were always way too fucking mouthy. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”

Pops crumbled onto the bed, and I only knew he was still awake by the small whimpers escaping him as he clutched his head.

“Leave him alone! It’s me you want. Not him.”

Giovani’s focus turned to me, and that blank look and sadistic smile were back.

“Aiden, please, don’t worry about me.”

Giovani turned back to Pops, but before he could hit him again, I reached for the only object near me: a paperback book lying on top of Pops’s dresser. I wasn’t even thinking. I just threw it as hard as I fucking could right at the asshole’s head.

It didn’t do shit to hurt him, but it got his attention off Pops. Pops couldn’t handle another hit right now. He was too weak. I could take it. I needed to make sure Gio’s focus was on me and only me. And I needed to get him the fuck out of this room.

Giovani was on me so fucking fast, all of my plans just fell out of my brain. His hand was around my neck as he slammed me against the wall. The force of it took my breath away, and all I could do was claw at his hands as he squeezed tighter and tighter.

“You think you’re so brave, boy. You’re trying to, what? Protect your precious Pops?” The name was said with such disgust, it made me cringe despite my circumstances. “Escape me again? Well, guess what, boy? I learn from my mistakes, and you’re not getting away from me this time.”

Giovani squeezed my throat harder, and my vision was blurring along the edges. I was fighting with all I had, kicking at his shins, clawing at his hands, but the longer he squeezed, the harder it became to fight. I had to focus all my strength on breathing, desperate to get any air in my lungs.

“Get off of him, you fucker!” My eyes flew wide open, and suddenly the pressure around my throat released and I was sliding to the floor. I was gasping for air, coughing and trying to fill my lungs again. When I could finally breathe enough to look up, I saw Pops on the floor with Giovani standing above him, the gun pointed directly at his head. I started to crawl across the floor. I needed to get to them. I needed to protect Pops . . .

Giovani didn’t shoot though. Just as I got close enough that I could just about stretch out and grab his pant leg, Giovani lifted his other foot and his heavy black combat boot met Pops’s head with a sickening crunch.

I gripped his pant leg and pulled before he could do it again. I couldn’t think about what that crunch meant or the fact that Pops was silent. I couldn’t think about anything but getting Giovani away from him. Giovani looked down at me like a bug he needed to squash. The expression threw me off and caused me to hesitate for just a microsecond. It was enough though. The last thing I saw was the sole of the big black boot coming toward my face, and then darkness.

Ijolted awake, an icy chill permeating through my bones and forcing my eyes open as my breath escaped me. My chest was on fire, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get my breathing under control. Every breath felt like a thousand icicles were being stabbed through my lungs and diaphragm.

And then it hit me just how fucking freezing I was. The shaking started almost immediately after the pain in my chest began to ease, and then my whole body was racked with shivers.

I was too overcome with sensation to even get my bearings. I wasn’t sure how much time passed when my sole focus was on the unbearable cold, but eventually, I got used to the sensation enough that I could concentrate on other senses.

The place I was in was pitch black. The darkness was all-consuming, almost suffocating, and I could barely tell if my eyes were even open. I blinked a few times, hoping my vision would adjust. It didn’t do shit.Ok, keep calm, A. Freaking out won’t get me anywhere.

First thing, I needed to figure out where I was and what was happening. Everything hit me at once: sleeping over at Max’s, Giovani somehow in Pops’s room when I walked in, the gun, his hand around my throat, me desperate to breathe, those big black boots, and then nothingness.

So that fucker took me—no surprise there. That also explained the freezing cold and the darkness. That was Giovani’s MO. He called itreconditioning. Memories from two years ago were threatening to resurface but I shoved them down. I needed to focus on the here and now. And I needed to see if Pops was here as well.

“Pops?” I called out tentatively, my voice raw. But still, I was happy I wasn’t gagged. Silence. I tried a couple more times, spacing it out just in case the asshole was within hearing distance, but there was nothing. Fuck, I couldn’t even comprehend what that may mean. I was praying Pops was ok, that maybe he just left him at our house and he’d be able to get help.

I tried to do an inventory of myself. I couldn’t see a damn thing, but one thing I was sure of was everything hurt. My head was pulsing behind my eyes, every breath and movement painful. I was still shaking uncontrollably, and now that I was thinking a little more clearly, I noticed there was a clanking sound every time I moved. I tested it, stretching my limbs this way and that. I was sitting on the floor with my back against a rough and cold surface. The ground below me was hard, but it felt strange, almost jagged. As I shifted around, I could feel it shifting under me. Was I sitting in dirt? And were those rocks?Where the fuck did you put me, Giovani?I kept moving around. My arms were definitely chained. It was hard to tell, but I thought they were either bolted to the floor or the wall. I couldn’t straighten my arms completely, and I could only raise them to chest height.

I tried to move my legs. They were heavy, but I didn’t think they were chained. I couldn’t reach much of my body, but I touched my chest and my upper thighs. I didn’t even know why I was doing it, but I was hoping I could get a better idea of my circumstances.

I cataloged as much as I could. First thing I noticed was that I was naked. Well, I thought I had underwear on, but that was it. My chest, stomach, and what I could touch of my legs were bare. And was I wet? My skin felt slick but it was hard to tell if it was water or sweat. Though, how could I possibly be sweating when I was so damn cold? I touched my hips to feel the spandex fabric of my underwear. Yup, definitely soaked. What the fuck?

It was like my thoughts triggered the next step into motion. There was a clicking sound from above me, like a chain moving on a pulley. I lifted my head up even though I couldn’t see shit and squinted up into the nothingness.

The clicking sound stopped, and one second, I was tilting my head back awkwardly, trying to see what the hell that noise was, and the next I was coughing and choking as a shock of icy cold water fell directly on my face and into my partly open mouth.

The water never stopped. I managed to lower my head so I was no longer being waterboarded, and I was trying to clear my lungs and protect myself as much as possible even as the ice water continued to beat down on my neck and back.

I was helpless to stop it, and all I could do was just endure until finally, fucking finally it ended. I thought I was cold before, but it was nothing compared to how I was feeling now. My teeth were chattering so hard, I could hear them as they snapped together. The chains were rattling so fucking loud as my body shook against the ground. I could barely move, but I curled into myself as much as possible, pointlessly trying to get some kind of warmth.

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