Page 80 of The Loathing

What the hell was I thinking agreeing to this? How did I end up being in the foetal position in a fucking suitcase. Yet here I am.

Curled up and in a suitcase as my bodyguard drags me along the driveway.

“So close…” he says softly, muttering under his breath. I try to ignore the panic that is clawing at my throat, the way my breathing has fastened so quickly I feel as if I may die from the lack of oxygen in this tiny and confined space. This is fine. Totally and completely fine.

Fuck.

This was not fine.

I was going to suffocate.

This was how I was going to die.

Cause of death: Suffocated by being smuggled out of family home in a suitcase by her bodyguard.

A SUITCASE.

I can’t do this.

I feel around for the zip, but it’s no use. I can’t do anything from the inside.

Suddenly, I am being picked up and then placed gently on a hard surface.

I’m in the boot.

Okay, this is fine. I will be out in a few moments, my lungs filling with the fresh oxygen that they so desperately crave. The boot door shuts, and I wait.

Nothing.

Has he played me?

Oh my god.

He has played me.

“Titus,” I whisper, tears burning, my throat lodged with a huge lump.

Nothing.

I hear another door slam and within seconds, the engine starts. A low, humming rumble vibrates through me and I hear the tyres crunch across the driveway.

Of course, Titus wouldn’t have set me up.

He cares too much about me.

Doesn’t he?

We keep moving forward and my nerves become more intensified, my stomach knots and tightens over and over.

“Not long Twilight, let me get out onto the back road and I’ll get you out,” I hear his voice and my nerves fade away, like the waves crashing against the sand. A once rogue wave was now an untroubled, tranquil wave breaking against the golden sand.

I nod as if he can see me, praying that it isn’t too much longer. He is driving slow and cautious when all I want him to do is be a little reckless so I can be out of this situation.

I count slowly in my head, hoping by the time I get to ten I’ll be able to breathe.

One.

Two.

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