Page 48 of Ravage
Aiden nods and drinks more of his coffee. Seriously. Caffeine at four in the morning, and I doubt any of them have slept. And they say I have drinking problems.
Chapter fourteen
Raegan
Boats tap together on either side of the pier as the gentle pulse of the ocean beats against them. The sound should be soothing, but it’s too ingrained in my childhood memories to make me feel at ease as it should. Even the smell of salt in the air is a reminder. It makes me wonder how Aiden and the others can bear to live here with the ocean so close to them.
Unless I’m the only one of us still haunted by the past.
It’s those memories that brought me here tonight. After a poor attempt at going to bed early for a change, I was plagued by nightmares.
I woke up desperate to see the ocean and prove to myself that I’d escaped. I can come and go from anywhere as I please now.
I draw the whiskey I picked up on the way to my lips to take another drink. My legs dangle over the edge of the pier, and my feet move back and forth through the water.
The sea looks so peaceful tonight under the waning glow of the moon. The waves are big and soft, pitch black, so I can’t see anything but the moon’s reflection. I close my eyes and lean my head back as my mind drifts off to pick right back up in my memories where my nightmare left off.
The smell of smoke and burning bodies permeates the air. My chest heaves in a desperate grasp for air, even as the taste makes my stomach clench and protest.
Everything hurts.
Another piece of concrete crashes to the ground nearby. Where there was once ceiling above me, there’s blue sky.
What have I done?
I force myself to a sitting position. An involuntary sob slips out at the pain of doing so, and then again when I see the blood on and between my thighs beneath my skirt. W-where is he?
The room, no, the manor, has been destroyed. Piles of concrete and debris fill the room and area around me where a wing of the building no longer stands. There’s a thick coating of dust on my skin from the wreckage, but I’m somehow unscathed from the collapsing building.
There’s no sign of Gordon.
There’s no way he escaped. He’s been crushed.
Tears slip down my cheeks at the slow realization of what he’s done.
At what he’s taken from me.
I’d thought I had hit rock bottom when he forced me to pleasure him. But this…
A sharp scream grabs my attention, and I swing my head around to the rest of the manor.
The guys!
I shove off of the bed, falling to the ground when my legs don’t hold me as I’d hoped. They wobble and shake from both pain and fear, but I can’t just stay here. I have to find the others and make sure I didn’t hurt them too.
I don’t know how, but I’m sure that I did this.
My gift did.
As I push myself upright, part of Gordon’s lab coat that’s stuck in the rocks catches my attention.
Relief overwhelms me and threatens to take control, but I force it down. Not right now. I’ll break down later over everything.
I steady myself back on my feet, gritting my teeth to hold on to the strength to find my way to them before I pass out. I take a few tentative steps first and then push until I’m hurrying down another wing of the manor that’s still falling apart. I jog down a ravaged hallway where cracks are spread like vines through the walls. This side of the mansion isn’t in as rough shape. There’s nothing left of the building on the other end. It’s a mausoleum now.
Even so, the fire that started there is spreading to this side, filling it up with smoke and burning anything in its wake.
There’s a loud crack, and I bolt forward into a run just as the ceiling comes crashing down behind me. I keep going through other rooms and corridors until I find the stairs, taking them two at a time while my body screams from pain and exhaustion. The adrenaline helps mute the pain and keeps me going. I’ll be done for once I stop moving.
