32. Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty One

Skyla

A s soon as Liam falls asleep and Asher is immersed in the show, I pull my phone out of my pocket, sending a text to Maggie.

Me: Ready.

Her reply takes a moment before it comes through.

Maggie: Are you sure about this?

My eyes flick over to a sleeping Liam and a distracted Asher. Unfortunately, I just don't have a choice.

Me: Yes.

Maggie: Okay. On my way.

Nodding to myself, I pocket my phone before turning to Asher.

"I'm going to head over to Maggie's for a bit."

He frowns, his eyes coming to Liam.

"He'll want you here when he wakes up."

I nod, forcing a small smile.

"I just need a little bit of…air, you know?"

Asher watches me carefully, hesitancy all over his face.

"Okay. Wesley picking you up?"

"Already on his way," I lie, almost seamlessly.

He nods, leaning in and pressing his lips against mine. I can't help but draw the kiss out for a few more seconds. Goodbyes are always so hard, especially hard when you don't want to say it, but you know it's the only way.

When I pull back, Asher looks at me with a little confusion before he smiles.

"Love you."

Dagger meet heart. Swallowing back the building tears, I smile.

"I love you too."

And I do. I mean it. I love him. I love them all. That's why I have to go.

Climbing over Asher, I crawl out of bed before heading to the foyer. Casually looking over my shoulder I notice that Asher isn't watching me, his attention back on the TV. Good.

I crack the closet door open, grabbing the backpack that I stashed there this morning before I slip out of the front door. It's starting to rain but my jacket is inside the bag. So, I duck my head and make a run for it. Once I'm through the front gate, I see Maggie's red car on the other side of the road.

She pops the trunk and I throw my bag in before running to the passenger seat.

"Go, go, go," I say, twisting in my seat to see if Asher has followed me outside.

Thankfully, the coast is clear.

"Jesus, this isn't a bank robbery, Sky," Maggie says, with a shake of her head.

I shake my head but don't respond as she drives in the direction of the docks. My knee bounces anxiously, as I look from side to side, like someone will pop out at any moment.

"You know you can still change your mind, right? No one knows what you're planning. If you don't go through with it, no harm done?" Maggie offers with a weak smile.

"I can't, Maggie. That guy is still out there. We don't even have a clue who it could be. The only thing we do know is that he has enough information to have us all murdered by the Brethren, that is, if he doesn't do it himself. He almost killed Liam!"

"I know, I know," Maggie says, raising a hand in a pacifying way. "I'm just saying…there has to be a better option than this. If you can make it out of Massachusetts before the guys find you, and that's a big if, Christopher will no doubt assign every eliminator to you. You'll be dead by breakfast."

"Starting to feel like I'll be dead either way," I say numbly, as I stare out the window.

It's true. Especially from what Ronan told me, the Brethren doesn't do well with defectors. At this point, I can stick around, watch as everyone I love is killed at the hands of some psychopath, or I can run away as fast as I can and inevitably die at the hands of the Brethren. Neither outcomes are great, I'm dead in both, but the guys aren't in the second. My fate is clearly sealed; they still have a chance and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect them. Even if they don't want me to.

I've been thinking about running away for a little while. The idea would come to me, and I'd banish it as fast as it came. Then Liam had his accident…though it obviously wasn't an accident. Everything changed that day.

Ronan and I ended up coming up on the accident as Liam was being pried out of the car unconscious, his leg bent at an unnatural angle, blood pouring down his face from his ear. I thought he was dead. I collapsed in the middle of the road, sobbing my eyes out as I watched a piece of my heart be loaded up into an ambulance and driven away.

It took everything in me to stand up and get back in the car so that we could follow him. I stared at the mangled remnants of his car for several seconds, remembering vividly how it looked prior. How it felt to ride in it by his side.

When we got to the hospital, they gave Ronan an update on his condition immediately and though they said he was stable, I didn't believe them. No matter how much reassurance I was given, I thought for sure that he was about to be taken from me. That's when it really sank in for me, I had to give them up if I didn't want them taken away. They were never supposed to be mine to keep. My selfish need to have them all has now put a target on all of their backs, the only responsible thing I can think to do is to run like hell, and hope the psycho chases me.

Maggie pulls into a parking lot beside the docks. I pull up the ticket I bought last night for a seven-day cruise. It'll take me to Canada where I'll then fly out to a random destination. I haven't even chosen where I'm going to go. It's best that way. I don't know how far or powerful the Brethren's reach is. My guess, is far and strong. Is it a bulletproof plan? Absolutely not, but it was the best I could come up with this quickly.

Turning in her seat, Maggie reaches for my hand.

"Are you sure sure?"

I squeeze hers with a sad nod. Tears gather in her eyes as she pulls me in for a hug, holding me for several seconds as she speaks.

"I'll hold them off for as long as I can. When does the ship leave?" she asks.

"It says six o'clock, so that's in two hours," I say, as I glance at my ticket before my eyes move to my phone, the drafted text message in the group chat just waiting to be sent.

She nods. "I'll go back to campus. I'm sure they'll come there first."

Blowing out a heavy breath, I push open the car door as Maggie pops the trunk. She doesn't get out and I don't blame her. The less people who see her, the better. She could already be putting herself at risk just by helping me.

Walking back over to the front, she rolls down her window.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you too, Mags. I'd say I would check in but…"

"I know," she says, a tear dropping down her cheek.

"Stay safe," I say as I squeeze her arm through the window before standing upright and heading towards the ship.

My phone feels heavy in my hand as I look down at the waiting message, re-reading the words I've had saved for days. I know when I send it they will undoubtedly go crazy trying to find me. It's too late for any of that, though. So, I hit send and throw my phone into the ocean before handing the employee my ticket. They look at me strangely but scan it before nodding.

An ache settles inside my chest, one that I have no doubt will stay with me for the rest of my life, however long or short that may be.