Chapter Ten

 Ava’s P.O.V

  We didn’t stop driving for some time, but I wasn’t going to say anything. Peter was sitting beside me, holding my elbow lightly, with his poker face on. I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking and what was going on. For the first time I actually looked at him; he was gorgeous, his hair was loose and brown, and he had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. Slyly, I inched my eyes down his torso; the shirt he was wearing didn’t portray much underneath, but a girl can tell when a guy’s got something along the lines of a six pack. Caught up in my daze, I jerked forward and hit my head pretty hard on the seat in front of me when we the driver pressed down on the breaks a little too hard.

“Ugh.” I muttered.

“Let’s go, kid.” Peter grasped my elbow tighter and threw me out of the van door. I thought I was going to hit the pavement face first, but the man driving caught me and steadied me farther into the alley we were in front of.

“What?” my hands struggled and wiggled inside the ruff handcuffs as I breathed harder. “What are you going to do to me?” I started backing up farther into the darkness, but my mind stopped me and I decided to move forward.

“Who are you and what do you do? Why are you here?!” the bigger man yelled behind another.

“Oh nothing sugar.” Peter whispered. A man moved out of the darkness and stuck my arm with a needle, injecting whatever was inside. Peter moved closer and closer and as soon as he was close enough, swung his fist towards my face. I ducked just in time and watched it slam into the wall next to me. On his face was the scariest expression I had seen, so I ran underneath his arm and swerved around his friends. The bigger, burlier man tried to stop me, but I slipped on the water, underneath his legs, and even managed to grab the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. I wobbled to my feet and started running through the darkness and out of the alley way. Peter and his men began yelling as I got farther and farther. I tried not to think about how fast they all could probably run and how slow I probably was. Inside my pocket was the key, but I wasn’t in any position to try to get these things off. How close is my apartment? Ugh, it’s probably miles away. The skin on my wrists was beginning to get raw; I stepped inside a store.

“Hello, how may I help?” the woman at the desk look absolutely friendly, I wasn’t sure I could bring her into this, but my wrists were really beginning to hurt.

“Um,” my breath was ragged and her face was getting worried. I looked around, cocked my head towards the window and decided to step around to the back for help. She crouched down with me uneasily.

“Do you think you could take these off?” I breathed again and her face lit up.

“Of course, are you alright?” she fiddled loudly with the keys and finally got the right one. There was a bit of tugging and after that they were off.

“Yeah.” I rubbed my wrists and dropped the cuffs in my back pocket. “Will you, uh, keep this quiet? You saw nothing.” I leaned back and closed my eyes, settling into a comfortable silence that soothed my throbbing head as I rubbed my wrists again.

“Are you sure? Do you need anything?” the woman prodded and I jolted awake.

“No, I just need you to keep quiet. Get down.” I heard quiet foot steps walk through the door.

“Uh, hello?” a man’s voice called, but it sounded too familiar. Oh, gosh, they have Gerard and their trying to get to me. I inched carefully along the side and took a peak at a mirror on the floor. In the reflection Gerard’s beautiful face looked around the room, but I couldn’t be sure if Peter was outside holding a gun to his back. I took my chance and got up slowly. Outside I couldn’t see a thing or anyone, so I ran into Gerard’s arms.

“Ava.” He pulled me closer and bunched my hair up under his arms. We were both breathing hard into each other. I pulled him closer, gripping his jacket in my hands and let a few tears escape. For once in my life there wasn’t any pain. Gerard wasn’t hurting me.