Runaways by Nicole Dykes
Detention sucked ass, but it’s over now. It was mostly just boring, and I spent the entire time sketching and worrying about Rae. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do, but one thing is certain . . . Da Silva feels bulletproof.
Students were everywhere this morning when he threatened Rae. And yeah, he kept his voice low, but still, he isn’t afraid.
Which isn’t good.
When men like him feel untouchable, that’s when the shit hits the fan. That’s when bad things happen. And I can’t let anything bad happen to Rae.
I see Tammy sitting on a bench outside the school, and I walk to her. “Hey, where’s Rae?”
There’s no way she didn’t wait for me too. Tammy looks up at me, sighing as she stands up and swings her backpack over her shoulder. “She’s waiting in her car to follow you to your house.”
“Why do you look so upset?”
Tammy looks out toward the empty parking lot. Her eyes meet mine, and I see her worry. “I’m afraid she’s going to do something drastic to get away from that prick.”
My hackles raise instantly. “Like what?”
She looks guilty, torn between her loyalty to Rae and her worry. “Law . . .” Her voice is quiet, way too quiet for Tammy. “I’m scared she’s going to run.”
My brows furrow, and I feel my palms begin to sweat at the mention of Rae leaving. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“She doesn’t want to.” Tammy looks toward the school, over her shoulder, and then back at me. “She’s afraid of him.”
“I know.”
“I’m scared, Lawson.”
I give a clipped nod and place a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not letting Rae leave, and I’m not letting anything happen to her.”
Even saying the words, though, I don’t believe them. Though, Tammy nods, straightening her shoulders. “I’m not sure we can fight him, but you just say the word if we have to.”
I smile and wave as I walk toward my car after giving her a quick goodbye. It’s funny how protective Tammy is over Rae now, but it’s also easy to understand. Because I’d die for Rae. I just don’t know if my death would accomplish anything.
Rae follows me to my house, and when I move to her car door, she jumps out immediately and wraps her arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t do that.” I hug her small body to mine. “It’s not your fault.”
“What if he doesn’t stop?”
I don’t have an answer for her. I’m pissed that I’m so helpless, so I just hug her to me until we decide to go inside my house. Naturally, no one is on our side, and Nash is right there, waiting for us with his arms folded and his gaze lethally serious. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I toss my backpack on the floor. “What?”
“What?” He walks toward us, and I feel Rae tense next to me. “You got detention today?”
“I thought that asshole was going to call my parents? Not my older brother who seriously needs to get a hobby.”
“You’re a little shit.” He’s not wrong. “What? You just don’t give a fuck about your future now?”
Now Rae is even more tense, and I hate what this is doing to her. “I care. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It was my fault,” Rae speaks up, but I won’t let her do that.
“No. It was Da Silva’s fault. We did nothing wrong.”
Nash looks heated, but also frustrated. “You have a shot, a real shot to get out of this town. To do something with your life that won’t make you homicidal. Something you actually love.”
“I love Rae.”
His gaze softens, but only slightly as he turns to look at her. “I don’t have a problem with you, Rae. But he can’t piss away his future for teenage love.”
“Fuck you.” I’m angry now. I’ve never really gotten mad at Nash before, but I’m feeling that more and more lately. “Don’t you dare diminish what we have because we’re young. You were young once too, Nash.”
“Yeah. And I was a dumbass.” He swallows, and I watch the cords in his neck grow tighter as he tries and fails to calm himself. “He has it out for you. He can wreck your life. I’m not saying you should end it forever. I’m just saying for now, you should.”
“No.”
“Maybe I should go.” Rae’s voice is quiet and full of defeat.
I turn to her. “No.”
“Lawson.” Her bottom lip quivers, and I know she wants to cry but not in front of Nash. “It’s all too much. Nash is right.”
“No, he’s not.” I ignore my brother’s presence and cradle her face in my hands. “It’s you and me. I’m not giving him the satisfaction of splitting us up. No way.”
“I don’t think we have a choice.”
I want to plead with her not to do this, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Not here at my house under my brother’s watchful eye. “We do. Let’s go in my room and talk.”
“No.”
I turn to Nash. “No? You aren’t my father.”
“No, I’m not, but I’m the closest thing you have to one, and I said no. She can’t come over here anymore, and you need to cool it at school. I mean it.”
I’m about to argue with him, but Rae grabs my hand and squeezes. “He’s right.”
I turn to face her. “No, he isn’t.”
“He is.” She leans in and kisses my cheek. “I love you.”
“Don’t go.”
She merely offers me a weak smile and walks out the door to her car and drives away. I turn to Nash with fire in my eyes. “Are you kidding me?
“Don’t. You know I’m right.”
“Right? You just chased the girl I love away. That’s not right. That’s a dick move.”
“You’re blind right now.” He walks closer, placing both hands on my shoulders. “I get it. I do. But as your big brother, it’s my job to help you see more clearly. To look at the bigger picture. The only way out is your scholarship. That’s it.”
“I could work with you.”
“And how are you going to help her if you’re stuck here, working shit jobs for shitty pay and long hours.”
“You’re still around plenty to hassle me.”
He just shakes his head at me because that’s Nash. He’ll get in my business but use only a few words to do it. “I care about you. I want you to get out. I don’t want you to turn into Dad.”
“Low blow.”
He looks at me, his eyes sad. “No. It’s the truth. You think he didn’t want out? That he didn’t want better than this? He pissed it all away. So did I. Get out of this, Law. Only you can.”
“It’s not too late for you, Nash.”
He reaches for the door handle and sighs heavily as he pushes it open. “I’m on my way to a twelve-hour shift. Be good.”
He leaves without giving me another opportunity to say anything. He doesn’t really need to. He’s made it clear how he feels, and so has Da Silva, but I don’t care. I’m not letting Rae leave me.
Not even if she thinks it’s for the best because I know it’s not.
I grab my car keys and drive to her house, parking several blocks away and walking to her bedroom window, knocking softly on it. She walks over and shakes her head at me, but she’s wearing a faint smile as she opens it. “Really?”
I climb inside. “Your door locked?”
She nods and sits on the edge of her bed. “Always. I come home and hope I can avoid him long enough to come in here and lock myself in.”
“That’s sad, Rae.”
“It’s reality, Law.”
I sit next to her and wrap my arm around her shoulder. With winter approaching, it’s already starting to get dark. “You can’t leave me.”
She lays her head on my shoulder. “We can’t be seen together at school. We can’t hang out at your house.”
“What about Richard’s?”
I feel her smile against my shoulder. “Maybe.”
“We’ll find a way to make it work. However we have to.”
“I don’t think anyone wants us together at this point, Law.”
I cup her face in my hands and force her to look at me. “I don’t care what anyone else wants.”
“I know you don’t. But you have so much to lose.”
“You’re the only thing I care about losing, Rae. Why don’t you get that?” Why is she giving up?
A tear slides down her cheek. And I hate it, wiping it away with my thumb. “I do. I just don’t want to be the reason you lose everything.”
“Then don’t be. You’re my everything.” I lean in and kiss her which, thankfully, she instantly accepts, not pushing me away. Instead, she grabs my hoodie with her fingers and pulls me into her.
After that, it’s not long before we shed our clothes and move under her comforter with her head resting on the pillows. I’m painfully hard and want nothing more than to be inside her. But as I look down at her pretty face, my stomach aches, and my heart physically hurts. “Don’t leave me, Rae.”
Her hands smooth over my bare back as I rest between her legs. “I won’t.”
Is she lying to me though?I can see the war being waged behind her eyes. I know she wants to save me as badly as I want to save her.
“Rae . . .” I’m holding my weight off her, but our bodies are still touching, and it’s goddamn distracting. Still, I know I need to talk to her about what Tammy said. “Are you planning to run away?”
She looks at me in shock, but then she turns her head to look away. “I’m going to kill Tammy.”
“No. You aren’t. You’re going to tell me the truth.” She turns back to me, her legs parting a little further, grinding against me and making me groan. “Rae.”
“You’re crazy, you know that right? You’re seventeen. We’re both naked, and you want to talk?”
“Believe me.” My eyes slide over her bare chest, and I nearly lose my resolve before I force myself to look up. “It’s not easy, but I’d rather fight before we fuck than after.”
“Sweetest thing ever, I tell ya.”
I laugh at that, and she does too. But then, she pulls me down and rolls us so we’re both on our sides, facing each other.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you’ve thought about it.”
She takes a deep breath and then nods slowly. “Yes. Of course, I have. Who wouldn’t?”
“Without me?” I can’t explain how much that hurts.
“Not because I want to, Law. You have to know that. I’d never leave you by choice.”
“It would be your choice, Raelynn.” I keep my voice down. We heard that fucker come home a few moments ago, but luckily, he didn’t knock on her door. Still, he’s home, and we need to be quiet.
“Using my full name?”
“Rae . . .” She’s deflecting, which irritates me. We’re going to talk about this.
“Fine. It would be the hardest choice I’d ever have to make. But if it comes down to being raped or leaving . . . Lawson, I’m leaving.”
I can’t believe those are her only two choices, but at this point, it’s starting to feel that way. I smooth my hand over her cheek, and she doesn’t pull away. She never pulls away from me. “We should try to go report it in another town.”
“Report what? That my stepfather gives me the creeps?”
“You know that’s not all he’s done.”
“I don’t have any evidence.” She glances at her arm where the bruise is now gone. “Even if I did, we both know my mother and Colin would pin it on you. And you know how cops and authority figures work. They stick together, no matter what town they’re in.”
“Someone could help.” I sound like a kid, not like the man I desperately want to be.
“They can’t.”
I hold my hand to her cheek, loving the feel of her skin. “If you go, I go. Promise me right now that you will not leave without me.”
She shakes her head, taking my hand from her face and holding it in hers. “No.”
“Goddammit, Rae.”
“Damn it right back, Law. I’m not ruining your life.”
“You think if you leave me, my life won’t be ruined?” I’m furious, but I keep my voice low.
Hers is a whisper. “You’d still have a future.”
“Promise me, Rae. If you run, you’ll take me with you. We’ll get through it together. Promise.”
Her lips part, and she starts to argue, but I slam my mouth to hers, kissing her and not letting her say no. Because there is no choice. She’s stuck with me, damn it. She kisses me back, letting me swallow her sobs and her stubbornness for a moment before we part. “I promise.”
“Good. You leave without me, there isn’t any place in the world I won’t look for you. Do you hear me?”
She nods, and a small smile slides over her swollen lips. “You sound like a stalker.”
I smile into another kiss, and then we roll so my body is on hers. “Only for you, Rae.”
She laughs at that and kisses me softly, not letting me go.
I hope she realizes that she never can.
