Page 88 of The Pretty Savage

Yolanda might very well be one more person that was screwing me over, and I couldn't tell her anything.

"What the fuck did he do?" she asked, her anger like a living, breathing thing as she slowly took off my coat, dropping it to the floor next to the bed. Her hands cupped my cheeks, but I could barely see her. She was blurry in front of my eyes, my tears masking her from me. "I'm going to kill him." She said it so matter-of-factly, only making me cry harder. "Talk to me, Vega. Please."

"I-I can't," I whimpered, closing my eyes.

"Okay, okay," she murmured. "We don't have to talk about it. Tell me what you need. What can I do?"

I knew what I needed to do, but telling her would be a mistake. I needed a friend right now, and I had to get out of this place.

"I need to leave," I sobbed, keeping my eyes closed. "I need to leave this place."

"Oh, Vega?—"

"Please," I begged. "I just need to leave and never come back."

She moved away from me, the sound of shuffling and then water running reaching my ears, and as I opened my eyes I saw her holding a glass of water in front of me, nudging me to drink it. "Come on. You gotta calm down. You need some water."

With shaky hands, I took the glass from her, bringing it to my lips and taking a couple of small sips. I was thirsty and hungry, but the last thing I wanted right now was food. I couldn't even think about it without my stomach rolling around.

She moved the chair from the table and sat in front of me, taking the glass from my hand when I couldn't drink any more. "Okay, you need to leave?" I simply nodded, hating that someone else would see me like this. "God, I wish we could make it happen, babe, but we can't."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The road has been blocked for the last two days," she answered, looking at me with so much sadness. "Some stones from the mountain fell down on it, so no one is coming in and no one is going out." Fuck. "They think it'll clear up by tomorrow, but we're kind of trapped here for now."

That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all.

Think, Vega. Think. What can you do?

Unfortunately, there weren't many things I was able to do. Not right now. It wasn't like I could walk down to the town center in this cold and in my current state. I could hide in my room and disappear tomorrow once everyone was gone for their classes.

I could walk outside the grounds and tell the driver to pick me up there.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked softly. "You don't have to, you know, but it might be good for you to talk about it."

"I don't ever want to talk about that motherfucker," I bit out, feeling the tears brimming in my eyes. "He's dead to me as far as I'm concerned."

Her eyes widened, understanding dawning on her, and instead of pushing and asking for more information, she stood up and sat right next to me, hugging me as if that could solve everything.

And maybe it couldn't, not right now, but it felt good having someone here with me when my entire world was crumbling down.

"Do you want to take a shower?" she asked after a couple of minutes. "Maybe it'll feel good to just refresh and take a nap, huh?"

I didn't. I didn't want to move, but taking a shower could revive me, if only for just a bit, and I didn't want to sit here and wallow in self-pity when I needed to pack and figure out my next steps.

Tonight I would let myself cry and mourn the broken heart I carried in my chest, but tomorrow I would get up and jump into action.

I had no other option.

33

ADRIAN

I'd been staring at my phone for at least half an hour, trying to find the courage to call one of my best friends, because I knew I would need to tell him everything. Arseniy was a no-bullshit kind of guy, and if I even tried to bullshit him he would be able to sense it.

And I had no idea what to tell him.

"Are you going to call him or are you going to keep staring at your phone with that sad look on your face?" Dante asked, sitting on the chair opposite me.

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