Page 98 of These Rough Waters

I frantically search my surroundings as the boat slows and several of his men are waiting on the dock.

No. No.

I rush to the opposite side of the boat, feet slipping on the deck, hands unable to grasp completely as I try to scale it and jump.

Arms grab me as a scream tears from my throat. I kick and thrash, earning grunts of pain from Trevor but he remains stronger than me and manages to tug me off the boat and onto the dock, dropping me hard to the wet planks beneath me.

The rain continues to lash against us, the area deserted since the storm was bad, flooding the ground and the wind whips at the trees as if to tear them from the earth. I fight as he drags me, pleading with anyone and everyone who will listen, but no one helps.

No one was coming.

I hear the beep of a car unlocking and then I’m shoved into the passenger seat, “I’m going to have fun with you, Maya darling. So much fucking fun.” Trevor growls in my face, his hand coming around my throat to pin me back against the leather chair. “No one is going to miss you, Maya. Not the bastard you let into your cunt, not the daughter you left behind. Not me. You are nothing and I’m going to make it fucking permanent.”

I claw at his hand, trying to get him to release me so I can draw air into my lungs, but he doesn’t let go and my vision begins to blur and darken.

He lets me go abruptly, my consciousness barely clinging on but before he slams my door, I hear a voice.

“Maya!” Torin roars, “MAYA!”

“He’s too late, Maya darling. Much too late.”

I can’t fight the fog, can’t fight the need to close my eyes but try to. I claw at the edges of my own mind, trying to get back to the light. I hear the engine, the tires on the road and the rain on the windshield. I feel the car moving swiftly, turning corners that throw my body left to right, but I couldn’t open my damn eyes.

I hear his voice in my head, I hear his desperation as it coats my name ripping from his lips.

Rett, I think. He needs to get to Rett.

I fight the fog, claw at it. I had to do something. I couldn’t let him have me.

He wasn’t fucking having me!

My eyes feel like they’re fighting heavy lead as I open them but open, they do, even if my vision is blurred, the streets around me a mix of grey and white and black.

I roll my head to the side seeing Trevor white knuckling the steering wheel, his face a deathly shade of grey and he was leaning forward slightly. The beige leather was stained red.

I could end this.

I could end him.

My breathing comes out in rapid succession, heaving from my lungs and I make peace with what I’m about to do.

It wasn’t the end I hoped for, wasn’t how I wanted my story to go but it was okay.

This was okay.

I lunge for the steering wheel.

The car turns harshly to the side, the tires skidding on the wet tarmac as Trevor roars and the car careens towards a large tree.

My eyes shutter closed right before impact. There were only two regrets I felt.

That I didn’t get to say goodbye to Harper.

And I didn’t tell Torin that I loved him too.

The car slams into the tree at full speed.

I don’t feel any pain. There is no light.

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