Page 59 of Bloody Bones
Briella
The low throaty rumble of a bike filled my ears as I lay on the hard mattress staring sightlessly at the ceiling. I hadn't even taken off my shoes. What would be the actual point of getting comfy when inside I felt like I was dying.
Which was all sorts of silly, because I barely knew Tommy. It had only been a month, and we hadn't exactly met in the best of circumstances. I had clung to him like a lifeline because he had been the one to rescue me. Could I really blame him for seeking affection elsewhere when all I did was take from him and give nothing back in return?
Closing my eyes I squeezed out the tears that had been stinging my eyes for the last few hours, finally letting them fall. The sob that ripped its way out of my mouth was drowned out as the bike I had heard on the road drew closer.
My eyes snapped open, and covering my mouth with my fist, I bit down.
I knew it was him.
I didn't know how he had found me but he had.
I didn't know why I was surprised but I was.
Still biting down on my closed fist, I headed towards the window. Hardly daring to breathe, I bent to peer out of the crack. The parking lot was dark. There were no cars or bikes in front of my window. No looming shadow.
Nothing but silence.
I drew back an inch, ready to go back to bed and wallow in my self-pity some more when I heard it. A low masculine murmur and an answering whine. Like from a dog. Without thinking, I twitched the curtain, pressing my face against the glass.
It was almost impossible to see enough to make out faces but I knew someone was out there. My nose flattened against the glass. I let my eyes search. Squinting.
Two men stood at the far end. The faces were unidentifiable but I knew one of them was Tommy. Slowly, as if pulled by an invisible string, one of them turned his head, and even in the inky blackness I could feel his eyes on me.
Heart thudding in my chest, I let the curtain fall back into place and leaned against it. I tried to control my breathing which was coming in thick laboured gasps.
I wasn't ready to see him.
But I knew without looking back outside that he was heading my way. Just as I knew that I couldn't face him like I was, mascara streaking down my cheeks, my eyes red and puffy from holding back the tears. Hell, I couldn't even breathe properly. I was sobbing so hard.
I had fallen for a man who had broken my heart. I had put all my trust in him and he had shattered me, and now I was meant to face him? I was having a hard time breathing, there was no way I would be able to talk like a rational human being. Or at all.
The knock on the door made me jump even though I was expecting it.
I stood there frozen, the raspy sound of my breathing loud in my ears. Maybe if I’m quiet, I thought, he’ll go away.
Maybe…
Someone knocked again, louder this time. The door shook with the force of it. Before I could stop myself, I squeaked. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I tiptoed towards the door and pressed my forehead against it.
“Briella, I know you're in there.” Tommy's voice was soft but somehow it carried. I closed my eyes, concentrating all my energy in just breathing and didn't say a word.
If I opened the door, it would be all over for me. Either I would make a fool of myself and forgive him everything, or I would break down into a snotty pile of goo.
Either one wasn't going to be a good look for me.
I refused to be either of those women. Maybe in the past I had been a pushover, putting everyone's happiness above my own, but that was before I was taken. I was a different woman, or maybe I was back to being the woman I had been before my mother had died.
“I know you are there, Briella, I can hear you.” On the other side of the door Tommy sighed. “Open the door, sweetheart, so we can talk. I don't want to have this conversation with a closed door between us.”
Screwing my eyes shut, I banged my head softly against the wood.
“Briella open the damn-”
I didn't let him finish. “Go away, Tommy. We have nothing more to say to each other.” I whispered it, but I knew he could hear me. He wasn't human after all.
“Yes, we do, Briella. Now open the door before I rip it from the hinges.”
