Page 171 of Straight to Me

“Yes, you can. I’m the one they want to make Dean suffer, right? Who’s more likely worth more to the Sodom Saviours right now?”

His face scrunches up, contorting as he battles with himself.

“Do you know what they’ll do if I don’t follow through and deliver youboth?”

“Whatever happens to you and me… and Dean,” saying his name physically turns my stomach into knots, “we’re adults, she’s just a child. Achild, Alex.” I take a steadying breath and control my shaky voice. “She won’t say anything, will you?”

She’s terrified. She knows she’ll get in trouble for not going back. But I pray she understands what I’m trying to do, if she can get away now, she can call for help.

“No one else knows I’m here,” she says quietly.

I turn back to Alex.

“I’ll go with you now and she can go home. What will they want her for now that they’ll have me anyway?”

Alex doesn’t know where to look. From Lauren to me, to the ground, his eyes constantly move. “Alex, please. I know you care about the kids we look after. I’ve seen it. You’re better than this.” He locks eyes with me and I soften my face. “If they’re really like what you say, she knows better than to say anything, it’s too dangerous.”

He steps forward with renewed aggression, and I realise my error of reminding him why he needs her silence. Better to plead to the part of him that sees her as a child than a potential leak. “RUN!” I shout to Lauren.

She turns and her feet immediately pound the ground away from us. My knuckles turn to ice as I grab hold of Alex as he tries to follow her. I don’t know how far she’ll get, but I’m not letting go of him.

Alex struggles against my hold, trying desperately to push me off him, but my grip is vice-like; the more he fights me, the harder I hold on.

“You stupid bitch!” His heavy hand strikes me on the side of the head, sending me into a spin as pain manifests inside my brain. I fall to the ground, rolling to my back where he stands over me.

In my vision he lingers like a black mass.

Paralysed to the dirt, the dull lull of needing to move hums before my eyes.Get up Madison!I curl into the foetal position, conscious just long enough to see my surroundings drift away and my vision fade to nothing.

Chapter Forty-Two

"No, she ran off. I thought you’d want his woman more than the girl. Yes, she’s here, I have her. Yes! I’m driving to you now. I’ll be fifteen minutes!” Alex shouts anxiously.

The sound of his voice causes me to stir in the back seat of his car. Outside, the light’s fading. A thin strip of orange mixed with pink, paints across the late afternoon sky.

I don’t know where I am.

I don’t know where we’re going.

Too afraid to sit up and let him know I’m awake, I slowly open my heavy eyes, keeping still so he doesn’t notice me in the rear-view mirror.

The car jolts over a bump in the road and the dulled pain in my ribs from Australia lashes back to life with a vengeance. Squeezing my eyes shut, I bite my lip so as not to let out a cry, drawing blood. At the same time, the pain in my head thumps for equal attention.

Nausea comes over me thick and fast. Like a heavy weight laying on my chest, the urge to vomit suddenly shoots to my throat. “I’m going to be sick.” My dry throat retches as I sit up, clutching at my mouth.

Alex brakes sharply, pulling over to the side of the road and stopping the car. My hand scrambles for the door handle, only just managing to release myself before the sick projectiles over the pavement.

Alex jumps out and rushes round the car to me. I clutch my stomach, my body writhing in pain each time I throw up. My being sick’s enough for him to keep a slight distance, but he moves around me, presumably to stop me running away.

He’s also blocking me from the sight of oncoming cars.

The sound of them driving past ricochets in my ears. Help could be in one of them, if I can get to it. Then it would be easy to get away.

Bent over, my hands lay flat against my knees. I take a few breaths, readying myself to run. As if reading my mind, he takes my ill state over letting me escape. His hand holds the jumper I’m wearing from behind. I can’t let him get me back in his car, not if I want to save VP.

“You done?” he asks. Nodding my head, I turn sharply, grabbing his arms and I drive my knee up into his groin. He cripples over as the air escapes his mouth. His grip on me loosens as he buckles against his car.

I feebly run, though my bones feel heavy like lead, having to swing my arms to help me move. Each inhale I take causes my lungs to flare like lava’s filling them. Glancing behind me, Alex hasn’t moved. He’s still stuck to the side of his car by the full force of my knee. I power my limbs, willing myself to run as fast as I know I can.

---