Chapter 143: Runaway

Amy was as stiff as a board behind me and clutched my arm tightly with sweaty hands. She was shaking like a leaf with each step that got louder. She understood the danger she was in.

*I won’t let her end up like the neighbor!*

“C’mon!” I urgently whispered, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the window. Her fear had made her clumsy, and she stumbled after me.

“Wh–what are you doing? Wait, you’re not planning on making me–??” Amy didn’t have a chance to finish what she was about to say as I opened the window and interrupted her.

“Yeah. Your ass is going straight through this two-story window.”

“What?! Sukia! I can’t!”

“You wanna get stabbed in the back instead?!”

Amy cringed and looked away. Fear made her hesitant and I couldn’t blame her.

“Amy, look at me.” She listened to my command, at least. “There’s another window below this one. Try to drop onto that. There’s a bush at the bottom. It won’t be a comfy landing, but you won’t break anything. Hopefully.”

She worriedly looked at my bandaged thigh and hands. “But what about you? You’re hurt. Badly. They haven’t taken you to a doctor, have they?”

“Fucking hell, Amy–” We both jolted when he heard the knock at the door.

“Suki?” Comes the voice we dreaded to hear. “Are you in there?”

*Julian.*

“Shit. Times up.” I whispered before shoving Amy towards the window. She accidentally gave a startled gasp.

“Is everything ok?” The doorknob rattled.

“Fuck–go! Go!” I pushed her further. Her panic was rubbing off on me now.

“Wait!” Amy looked at me pleadingly. The water in the corner of her eyes finally flowed down her cheeks. “You’ll be alright, won’t you…?”

“Did you seriously just ask me that?” I scoffed. “Bitch, please.”

“I’m serious!” She quietly snapped. “Don’t you dare go dying on me.”

There wasn’t time for me to give a sassy retort when the doorknob stopped jiggling. I helped her out the window to the best of my abilities with my bandaged hands. It was getting hard to move my fingers now. The strain I had to put on my leg didn’t help either. With careful haste, she was able to step her toes on the rim outside the window below us before dropping into the bushes with a pained grunt. Without checking to see if she was ok, I quickly closed the window and locked it right as I heard the doorknob unlock.

Click.

The door slowly swung open. My hands balled into fists at my side as Julian stepped into my art room and looked around in confusion. “Were you talking to somebody in here?”

“Does it look like somebody else is in here?” My sass didn’t satisfy his suspicion. If anything, it made it grow.

*Shit.*

Julian walked over to me. The attentive look in his eyes softened when he rubbed my arms and stared down at my bandaged hands. “Beautiful, I told you to stay in bed.”

“I’m not a baby, Julian. Mind your own business.” I made my snap crueler this time. I didn’t want him to get snug with me.

No surprise. He smiled at my hostility. But the words that came out of his mouth were the last I expected to hear. “Grace admitted that she asked you to be her substitute girlfriend for the party and why. But she also told me that she wasn’t eavesdropping on us.” He leaned down closer to my ear, his breath giving me goosebumps down my neck. “So who was?”

“You’re seriously gonna believe everything she said? She’s lying!” I shouted, eager to stand my ground.

“Grace isn’t lying.” His sweet voice turned chilly with a warning. “Don’t lie to me, Beautiful… I hate being lied to.”

*Motherfucker. Am I screwed? Is Amy screwed??*

“Fine, whatever. Not like I care what she does, anyway.” Ripping my arms free from his loose grasp, I limped my way back to the door. “I wanna sleep in my room tonight. I’m tired of always being chained to your bed like a damn dog!” I tried to change the subject, but I was stopped in my tracks when Julian clutched my wrist, yanking me backward. Before I could curse him, his chilly voice grew colder.

“Why haven’t I heard Amy’s car leave?”

*Fuck!*

I spun around to face him. “The fuck are you implying now?! She left when you kicked her out!” I yelped when his hand grew tightened.

“I told you I don’t like being lied to.” The blue fire in his eyes turned to ice. The Julian from moments ago, when he was shattering my walls with sweet words, was gone once again.

Before I could say another word, he lifted my small body and hauled me over his shoulder again, knocking the wind out of my chest. “Dammit–PUT ME DOWN!” I screamed as I kicked and flailed again. I felt like a sack of useless potatoes.

*Of course, he’s been aware of this whole fucking time! If Amy’s car starts up now, he’ll try to stop her. What do I do??*

Julian carried me back to his room, handling my crippled body roughly as he kicked open his door and tossed me onto his bed. Despite the bouncy softness, it still left a bolt of pain up my wounded leg and I hissed in pain. “What the fuck are you doing?? That hurt!”

“You’ve been a bad girl again.” Julian went to his nightstand and pulled out the dog collar, chain, and locks. My heart pounded when I saw my doom approach. “You have to be punished again.”

“Don’t you fucking dare! JULIAN!” I screamed again as I kicked at him with my good leg, but he grabbed both of my ankles and yanked me across his bed. He put his knee on my back to pin me against the bed as he strapped the tight collar around my throat again. Even using all my strength to fight back wasn’t enough. I never stood a chance. “GET IT OFF!”

I was left breathless and didn’t get the chance to stop him from locking the chain around the thick pole to his bed’s canopy. I was trapped again. In a cage. Helpless and vulnerable.

“This is for your own good. You’ll understand soon enough. I just need to discipline you better and–”

We both fell silent as soon as we heard a car start up and we both knew that wasn’t Grace. The screeching sound of racing tires announced that the driver was leaving in a hurry.

Julian dashed to the door and the memory of Elena’s fatal car crash crossed my mind, but the image of her car was replaced with Amy’s.

“I HATE YOU!” My screamed words echoed without thinking. My voice trembled. “I wish I never met you!”

The cruelest words I had ever said to Julian made him freeze in his tracks. That wasn’t a part of the plan, but it stalled him long enough for Amy to get away. He didn’t turn around to look at me, but I could already tell that, if my words were a knife, he would be bleeding out his life right now.

I expected him to start crying and for my willpower to falter, but of all things, he began laughing. What the fuck? I felt a foreboding dread slowly consume me.

“No,” His laughter finally calmed. “No, no. You just need more discipline. And then you’ll see… that all you need is me.”

Grace’s story, how the past family dog died after leaving home so many times because she was in heat and seeing some male dog, crossed my mind.

Julian gave a tired sigh with a shake of his head. “I thought you’d learn after Jack, but I guess not.”

My body froze. “Wh…” I slowly looked up at him. “What did you just say…?”