I move in, catching her waist, then her neck, holding her steady, even as she tries to claw her way free.
“I’m sorry, pet,” I grunt against her ear. “But we can’t risk you getting hurt. Or worse.”
She doesn’t care. She fights like she means to kill one of us, screaming, thrashing, sobbing.
“You said I could help!” She yells, fury cracking into something shattered. “You said,”
She collapses into full-blown sobs as I throw her into the bed.
She scrambles up immediately, eyes wild, chest heaving, but the door slams shut between us before she reaches it, and I twist the lock.
Could’ve tied her up. God knows she’d never get out of my knots.
But if we don’t come back,
She needs to be able to run.
I lean my head against the door, closing my eyes, trying not to break when I hear her fists pounding the other side.
“If we don’t come back by sunrise…” I pause, swallowing the knot in my throat. “Run, Aspen.”
She screams my name, still sobbing, still hitting the wood.
I speak louder now. Clearer. So she hears every fucking word.
“We’re leaving a bag. Food, water, a gun, and a knife. You’ll be okay.”
“No!” she sobs. “Please! Please don’t do this!”
I turn from the door before I change my mind.
My fist hits the wall and goes through it, splinters flying as the pain shoots through my knuckles.
I can’t do this. I fucking can’t but I have to. This is our fight, not hers.
She’s screaming all our names now. One after the other. Trying to stop us from going.
Begging.
Breaking.
We don’t speak. Don’t look back.
We pick up our bags.
And walk out. The door shuts behind us.
And for some reason it feels like goodbye.
We keep walking. The hours stretch long and quiet. No one’s said a word since we left the farm, not since Aspen’s voice cracked from screaming our names.
It’s a silence that eats at me.
I stop. Turn.
The guys halt behind me.
“I know we all feel like shit,” I say. “But we need our heads right. Roman isn’t going to stop. He’ll come for us. For the farm. For…” I swallow hard. “For Aspen.”
