Chapter9

Evelyn s POV "Why didn t you help me? You just stood there and watched," I yelled at Orion. "Stop getting you knickers in a twist, Love. You needed to learn," Ryland tells me, making me glare in his direction. "Learn what? That doesn t even make any sense," I scream at him before walking back in the bathroom and grabbing my clothes off the bench. I go to pull off the towel to get dressed when Orion walks in handing me some clothes. They still have the tags on them, making me question when he had the time to buy them. "Get dressed we will be leaving soon; Thaddeus wants to get on the road." "I am not going anywhere with any of you," I tell him, taking the clothes from him. "You keep thinking I am giving you a choice, it s not a choice," Ryland said, walking into the bathroom. "We need to leave so we are leaving." "Whatever, just get out so I can get dressed," I tell him, shutting the door in his face only for it to remain slightly open with not having a handle and lock. Sorting through the clothes, I find a pair of lace underwear and a bra. Picking up the thin strip of fabric, I groan. Argh, these are going to itch. I hear Orion from the other side of the door. "What s wrong?" "Really lace? You couldn t have got normal underwear?" "They looked nice. Don t girls like pretty things?" he asks, his tone sounded amused. I huff, annoyed before putting them on. Trying to pull the lace down that was now riding up my ass. Pulling the bra on, I look in the mirror. They look pretty but so uncomfortable. Now being able to see the damage, I brush my fingers over the bites mark. His nails were sharp like needles points and really made a mess of my hip. Grabbing a cloth, I try to clean the blood off. The cloth made my skin sting. I was covered in marks even my lips were bruised. Grabbing the shirt, I tug it over my head before pulling the jeans on. Even dressed, you could still see the bite marks on my breast and collarbone from the V neck top. When I walk out Ryland is still in the bedroom, his eyes roaming over my body make me nervous. Suddenly I hear the familiar ringtone of my phone ringing loudly, and I walk out of the room in search of it. I look everywhere but can t find it, just hear faintly ringing before it stops. "What are you looking for?" Ryland asks as I pull couch cushions off the lounge. "My phone," I tell him, ignoring him. I continue pulling cushions off when I hear it ring again, only louder making me look at the glass sliding doors. I see Orion pull it from his pocket before pressing a button and dropping it back in his pocket. Annoyed, I slide the door open. Both Thaddeus and Orion lean on the railing overlooking the city, or what s left of it. They both look over when they hear the door. Walking out, I move next to Orion before pulling on his pants. My phone ringing again from his pocket as I reach my hand into his pocket, pulling my phone out. Thaddeus shakes his head turning back to look at the city and I glare at him as I answer it. Lisa calling. "Geez girl, I have rung you about twenty-times this morning, where are you?" she asks. Thaddeus and Orion listening in and I am not sure how to answer that. Do I tell her the truth or lie? Both of them watching me to see what I say. "I m running late, I will be there soon," I tell her before reaching in Orion s other pocket and pulling his smokes out and stealing one. "Anything else you want?" he asks, making me raise an eyebrow at him. Lisa was chatting away about Meranda coming back to work. Thaddeus was glaring at me for some unknown reason. Lisa s voice pulling my attention away from him. "Evelyn, are you there?" "Yes, I am still here," I quickly answer her. "Are you sure you re okay. You are being really quiet." "I m fine, I will see you soon," I tell her before hanging up. Orion turns to face me, crossing his arms over his chest. "We are leaving, you are not going to work, Evelyn." "No, you are leaving. I am going to work, then home," I tell him. Thaddeus growls, making my attention go to him. Thaddeus leans forward, snatching my phone from me. "What are you doing, give it back," I tell him when he suddenly crushes it in his hand, effectively destroying it. Thaddeus moves forward, stepping in front of me, and I step back. "We are leaving, and I won t be leaving without you. You are mine. Now stop being a brat and do as you re told." "I am not going anywhere with any of you," I tell him. Thaddeus grabs my arm, pulling me to him. Thaddeus eyes burning brightly before turning obsidian. His fangs protrude and a devilish look transforms his face. I watch as he pinches the bridge of his nose, frustrated, the hand gripping my arm tightening in his vice like grip and my heart pounds in my chest when he suddenly let s go and walks away. Orion stares after him gobsmacked for a second. Pulling himself together, he escorts me inside. Once back in the confines of the apartment, I watch as Thaddeus leaves, slamming the door behind him. "Where is Mr. Cranky Pants going?" I ask, instantly regretting it when I hear Ryland answer. "To find someone to eat," he says, a smirk on his face. A shiver runs up my spine and I feel the blood drain from my face. "He won t be long, wait here, while I take some things down to the car," Orion says. I nod, not knowing where they re going but I definitely won t be going with them. Ryland wanders into the room and I follow him. "What s wrong?" he asks, turning to look at me. "Have you got a smoke?" I ask, knowing that I saw a fire escape running alongside the balcony. Ryland eyes me before going over to a jacket draped over the back of a chair. He puts his hand in the pocket before pulling out a packet and handing them to me. "You really shouldn t smoke, you know that?" I nod and take them from him. When I am leaving the room, he speaks again. "Don t be too long out there. Thaddeus won t be long." I nod, not bothering to say anything. Quickly opening the sliding door, I step onto the balcony, closing the curtain that hangs on the doorway. Walking over to the barrier in the balcony's corner, I climb onto the railing before reaching over to the ladder. My shaky hands gripping it tightly. I gulp when I look down and see how high up I am. My hands feel clammy as I grip onto the ladder. Just need to get down the ladder and drop to the fire escape. Only it wasn t easy. My heart pounded so hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack and fall to my death. I pray silently that if I fall, the heart attack kills me, so I don t feel myself hitting the concrete. Once to the bottom run of the ladder, there is a two-metre drop. I gulp while hanging a foot off and nearly pull myself up, fearing the drop when my fingers slip from the run and I drop. My stomach plummets somewhere deep from the rush of falling. Hitting the stairs with a metallic sounding thud, I land on my side. Looking up, I shake my head. I can t believe I actually did it. Well, to be fair, I chickened out and fell the rest of the way, but still, I did it. Racing down the stairs I hear Ryland curse making me look up and I run down the stairs skipping some in my haste as adrenaline kicks in making me move quicker. Getting to the bottom, I jump onto a skip bin before jumping onto the ground in the alleyway, still shocked I actually escaped. Running onto the street, I look in both directions and do not know where I am. Shit, now what? I keep running, not wanting to risk stopping when I see a taxi pull up down the road, waving it down just before it takes off. Jumping in the car and quickly ducking down. The taxi driver must think I am a lunatic. "Drive, go please," I yell at him. Startled, he takes off. Once he turns around the corner, I sit up. The Indian man stares at me in the mirror with wide eyes. "Where to?" he asks, looking in all his mirrors like he is paranoid someone is following. Which I suppose is a good assumption with the way I jumped in his taxi and hid. "The Pit Stop Cafe," I tell him, and he drives toward my work. Reaching in pocket I realise I don t have my wallet. Damn it. The trip takes about fifteen minutes with the traffic. When I pull up, I tell the driver to wait, and I dart into the cafe. Walking over to the tips jar, I grab twenty dollars out before running back out to the driver. When I go back in, Lisa is waiting at a table. She nods to me and I dart out the back to grab my apron. I wait tables for about an hour and put my tips back in the jar to cover the twenty dollars I borrowed. When things settled down, Lisa pulled me out the back with Meranda. "So what happened the other day, and what happened to your neck?" she asks, pushing my hair aside to look at the bite mark. I went to tell her when I heard the bell above the door bing. Looking out, I see Thaddeus, Orion, and Ryland enter. I drop to the floor so they don t see me. Lisa looks down at me and mouths to me. "What are you doing?" I place a finger to my lips. Meranda walks out, seeing my alarm. "Hi, what can I get you?" she asks in her best customer service voice. I can almost see her fake smile plastered on her face. Lisa suddenly screams.