Page 42 of Rescued By My Best Friend's Brother

Where is Jasper? I am sure he heard what happened on the phone. I don’t know how far away he is. I thought maybe if I stalled, the cops would be able to make it to us, but everything is happening so fast. I don’t even hear sirens in the distance.

Bradley opens the driver’s side door, pushing his seat forward. He throws Lily in the back seat and then gets into the driver’s seat to turn on the vehicle. He removed the gun from his jeans and places it in his lap. I imagine myself grabbing it from him, but then I wouldn’t be able to use it. I know nothing about guns. They always scared me. Once, one of my mother’s boyfriends had a gun. He made me hold it, but the heaviness scared me. I hadn’t expected it to be so heavy. I thought it would be light like one of those water guns or nerf guns. I gave it back to her boyfriend and took off running.

I think about grabbing it and throwing it out the window, but I wouldn’t have enough time to do that. Instead, I do nothing, I just sit there frozen. All the options seem too dire and likely to result in more violence and harm. Anything I try to do would only return to me and Lily with much greater force, most likely through Bradley’s fists.

“Bradley, please don’t do this,” I say through gritted teeth, trying to minimize any movement with my jaw. “At least let Lily go. She has nothing to do with this. She’s innocent. Let her go and you can have me. I will go back and stay with you, because I love you Bradley” I am grasping at anything at this point for him to let Lily go. Even if it means I have to go back to him. I will do anything to protect this little girl.

He hits the steering wheel. “No. No. You did this. This all happened because of you.”

I shake my head. “No, Bradley. Just please. Let Lily go.” Tears burn my cheeks. “Just let her go. I won’t tell anyone about this. We can disappear. Lily’s just a child!”

He turns to me, swerving on the road. “I don’t believe you. You will disappear in the middle of the night and go back to that smug motherfucker? Fuck no. I’ll show him. You’re mine. His family is mine.” He peers into the review mirror at Lily, as if taking in a prize he’s been vying for. It unnerves me how he smirks at her.

I gulp back the tears. None of my words seem to be getting to him. He just wants to continue with whatever it is he’s trying to do. Maybe I can’t escape this. Maybe I am meant to stay with Bradley. Maybe I didn’t deserve the happiness I got to experience these last few weeks, this reprieve. Maybe I should have just stayed in my hell hole. Apparently, it is where I belong. But why Lily? Why involve her? She has nothing to do with us.

I hate myself for coming back, for putting Lily’s life in danger, for putting Josie’s life in danger. I know if somehow Jasper gets Lily back, he will not want anything to do with me. And rightfully so. I don’t deserve him or Lily.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Elena

Thehousehasn’tchangedsince I left, at least for the most part. Trash litters the table tops and empty bottles and cans are piled in the corners. Pizza boxes sit on top of the countertops, and I notice some women’s clothing strewn over the couch. Someone has been staying here with him. Of course, he can’t ever just be alone. He has to have someone with him. Someone to fuck when he feels like it, since I was no longer here at his beck and call.

He pushes me onto the couch while I hold Lily and begins to pace back and forth, the gun in his hand again. He stops and comes to stand in front of us. Lily lets out a tiny squeal. His erratic behavior makes him even more dangerous. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and try to turn my body, so it is between him and her. I need to protect her in any way possible.

He bends down to meet my gaze. “You’re mine. You will always be mine. We’re in this together. Remember, Elena?” He glances over at Lily. She cowers more into my body, as if getting closer to me will help her disappear.

My lips quiver, making it difficult to respond. “You’re a monster, Bradley. I will never love you again,” I cover my mouth after the words spill out, shocked of what I just said. I know this will set him off. I just can’t control my hatred for him. I don’t want to lie. I don’t want to fake it anymore. I am tired of being afraid of him.

He lets out a loud scream and then grabs the back of my neck. Lily squeals, the duct tape still stifling any sound from her mouth. He presses his lips against mine. I can taste the whiskey on his breath.

He pushes me back roughly and smiles. “Just us, baby. Just you and me, and now, our little daughter. I got rid of all them other bitches. You are my one and only”

The tears quietly fall down my face as I squeeze Lily a little tighter. How had I never seen how terrible Bradley is? How had he hidden this from me for so long? Yea, he would knock me around from time to time and cheat repeatedly but this, this is psychotic. This anger, this chaos, this uncontrollable need to have me. Where were the signs? I overlooked every last red flag and told myself these were the hard times we had to work through to get our happily ever after.

My location must have failed to share. If it had, Jasper or the cops would have burst through that door by now. Run in and saved us from this man I’d once loved so much that I missed every single warning. But nothing like that happens. Not in the real world. There is no knight in shining armor. No one is bursting through that door to save us, to take us away while Bradley is taken into custody. I am never that lucky.

I bury my face into Lily’s hair and try to hold back the sobs. “Bradley. Please let us go,” I repeat, knowing he won’t listen. I must try. I must get Lily to safety, away from all of this.

He points the gun at me. “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

I peer up at him, not looking away this time. “You can’t have me, Bradley.”

Tremors run through his hand, making the gun shake. Would he really hurt me? I have to believe that he would. He already has. He is hurting me now. Of course, he can kill me. But isn’t hitting someone and killing someone different? I am not sure, but the way his hand trembles makes me believe that he may not have the capacity to kill me, and I hope this is true. I hope it is so for myself, but mostly for Lily.

I nod, accepting that he can do it. I close my eyes and imagine myself at the park. I don’t imagine my mother or the blurry image I know as my father. No. I think of Josie, pushing Lily on the swing. Jasper and I sit on a bench, watching them. He’s holding my hand. He kisses it and tells me how much he enjoys being with me. I laugh and rest my head on his shoulder. He feels warm, safe, and comfortable like nothing can bother me while I am with him, not even my past.

Suddenly, I hear the door burst open. My eyes fly open just in time to see Jasper tackle Bradley. The gun drops out of his hand and slides across the cheap linoleum floor into the kitchen. Bradley and Jasper are in a scuffle, exchanging punches, but Jasper is getting the better of Bradley. As they continue to wrestle, I rip the duct tape off Lily’s face and away from her wrists. She lets out a small shriek of pain and starts to sob.

I hold her face and look into her eyes. “Go down the hall and find a hiding place in one of the rooms. Find a closet or something. Either me or your dad will come find you.”

She nods and takes off down the hall, just like I ordered. I stand and slowly make my way to the gun. I pick it up and turn to find Jasper holding Bradley on the ground. I point the gun at Bradley’s head. It felt the same as I remembered, heavy and cold. I feel the adrenaline flow through my body. I thought this would be hard, pointing a weapon at someone, but it isn’t. Not when it’s Bradley.

I think about all the times he made me feel small, made me believe that everything was my fault. Bradley looks up at me, giving me a bloody smirk, one that reminds me of the Joker smiling at his Harley Quinn. I gulp all those bad moments, those memories that seer into my flesh. My memories relive the feeling of his fist hitting my nose and the words he spoke to tear down any self-esteem I had left. All these feelings rush through me, pushing me to pull the trigger.

Bradley kicks Jasper off of him and stands back up. He peers at me, but he isn’t afraid. All the hesitation and doubt suddenly quiet at the realization that he doesn’t believe I’ll ever truly stand up to him, even while holding a gun. He doesn’t regret what he did to me. He regrets me running away and losing his power over me. He regrets that I am happy without him. He regrets that he has been caught.

He starts to lunge at me and without another word, I pull the trigger. The loud bang rings through the house and causes a resounding silence in my ears. I wince and watch Bradley’s manic expression fall, melting into a calm, relaxed expression. He peers down at his chest, the blood beginning to soak his green shirt. I didn’t even notice he wore green until now. Will I remember that he wore green later on in life or will this be a detail that I forget as the memory ages.

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