Chapter 12

'They will find us. They will find and kill me,' I whispered under my breath, walking forward and backward for an hour now.

Forward. Back.

Like a clock hand ticking every minute in anticipation of the future.

Forward. Back.

Like clapping hands, beating in one beat. 'You're crazy,' Brian shook his head, drinking from a bottle of whiskey.

'Stop it, you need to relax. How about unwinding like the old days of the past?' Austin asked as he sat down next to the guys.

'Are you out of your mind?' My voice broke into a scream, echoing throughout the house. 'He's looking for us!'

Josh got up from the couch and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He buried his nose in my neck, pulling me closer to him. He tried to calm me down, but all I could think about was what James Foster would do to us when he found us.

'You misunderstood me. Clubs and other things are not yet possible for us. But...' I interrupted Austin, saying our motto. 'The impossible is possible.'

Michael came out of the kitchen with a drink in his hands.

'We need to celebrate your rescue from slavery,' the guy laughed and put more bottles on the table.

'Did you bring it?' Austin asked, opening the cognac.

'Yes,' Michael nodded and sat down on the couch, pulling something out of his pocket.

'What are you about?' I looked at them wonderingly, trying to find out what they were talking about.

'Oh no! Are you serious? Right here? As then?' A past life flashed before my eyes as soon as the guy took out small bags of white powder.

'Are you with us?' Josh grabbed my waist and led me along.

We sat on the opposite sofa from the guys.

'I won't. I won't go back!' I slammed my fist on the table, raising my voice.

I already had an addiction and I don't want it to control my life again.

'C'mon. You need to relax.'

'Relax,' I stood up and walked out the door. 'But only without me.'

I breathed fresh air as soon as I left the house. We were surrounded by woods and roads. We were in a country house. The trees rustled all around, as if repeating about danger every hour. I ran down the path, spreading my arms in different directions. A bird that wants freedom. A bird released into the wild. A bird that will soon be caught.

'What are you doing?' Josh laughed as he watched my actions.

'I'm a bird! I'm free!' The guy laughed and as soon as he stepped on the green lawn, he also ran.

I stopped and laughed as soon as I saw this. Josh ran around until he stopped and turned his attention to me. The sun shone in my eyes, and I put my hand to my face, blocking it. I was horrified when I removed my hand to look at Josh and saw him flying towards me, arms outstretched.

'Stop! What are you doing?’ My laughter burst out as I started to run away from the guy who kept running after me. Closing my eyes, trying to protect myself from the bright sun, I continued to run. 'I'm a predator, Hale! Don't run away!' The guy shouted, trying to get his words across to me. Josh's hands grab me and we fly to the green lawn.

'Fool,' I lightly tapped him on the shoulder and laid my head on the grass, looking up at the sky.

The guy repeated the same steps after me, and now we are both lying on the grass, trying to calm our laughter. The sun blinded my eyes, and I closed them, trying to protect myself from the bright rays.

'You're not a predator, Josh.' I opened my eyelids, peering into the guy's face. 'Who then?' The guy rolled over on his side and, bending his arm at the elbow, propped his head up.

His gaze ran over my body, carefully examining me.

'I do not know. But you're definitely not a predator.' I closed my eyes, now trying to avoid Josh's gaze.

'Predator,' the guy drawled slowly, as if tasting the word. 'You're counting James the Predator, right?' Josh turned to me, confirming his suspicions.

Indeed. For some reason, at the word predator, a blond guy with dark blue eyes appears in my head. His walk. Slow and careful, so as not to frighten off her future victim in advance, and at the same time dangerous. A moment, and you are in his trap.

'I'm right,' the guy sighed, bringing me back to reality.

The silence had gone on too long and he was tired of it. The absence of his body near me alerted me, and I hastily opened my eyelids. Josh was already on the ground and a second later, he held out his hand to me. I grabbed the support and got to my feet.

'Let’s go to the guys,' he pulled me along, and I hurried after the guy. Looking back, it seemed to me that someone was standing in the depths of the forest, but after blinking a couple of times, there was no one there. As soon as I remembered about James Foster, fear returned with apprehension.

'What's with you?' The guy was taken aback, stopping.

My eyes were still fixed on the forest. Trying to prove to myself that this is an optical illusion, a fantasy, nothing more. 'It’s all right,' I lied, and going forward, I pulled the guy behind me, who remained standing still out of indignation.

Having crossed the threshold of the house, the silence and tranquility of nature immediately changed to the laughter of the guys who literally lay on the sofas with bottles of booze. On the table was scattered nonsense, which hour by hour the guys pulled into themselves. I do not blame them for such behavior, since I myself have been in their place, or rather until now. Each of us has a bad past associated with pain, judgment and other unpleasant feelings. We met each other. We met people who were the same. Broken teenagers who tried to run away, to break from bad to good. I sat down next to Austin and leaned my head back against the couch, closing my eyes.

'And then I hit him. He pointed the muzzle of a gun at me and was about to pull the trigger, but you should have seen the eyes of this Foster.'

A shiver ran through her entire body at the mention of the blond. I started and opened my eyelids, began to quickly look through the eyes of the person who was telling his story.

Brian sat on the couch in a reclining form and continued to mumble what happened next: 'He almost shot his man. Can you imagine?'

The guys laughed, but Josh sat motionless on the couch and took sips of strong drinks.

'What are you talking about?' I intruded into his story and now listened carefully to the half-sober guy.

'Oh!' Brian exclaimed, turning his empty, misty eyes on me. 'I'm talking about when we were surrounded by people of James Foster.'

The stories flashed past me and I had to remember everything. I grimaced at the unpleasant and dangerous game Jay had come up with.

'So what happened then?' Josh leaned over the table and made a small path from the white powder, inhaled dope into himself, and then leaned back on the sofa.

Brian took a sip of brandy and continued. 'He said the game is on. But he didn't want to miss out on Hale, so he let us go and sent his people after you.'

'That was his mistake,' Michael drawled, resting his head on the arm of the sofa. 'Yeah, he shouldn’t have let us go,' Austin agreed, and sucking in a little more dope, he closed his eyes.

'It's not a mistake. He knew everything in advance. This is his game and his rules,' I whispered in annoyance, but not as quietly as it seemed, because the guys heard me.

Hands trembled as the fantasy kicked into gear, wondering what James would do to us when he found us.

'Relax.' Austin took my hand and ran his thumb along the lifeline.

'Your life is long, everything will be fine.' 'What are you carrying?' I laughed as I looked at the boy who was thinking hard over my hand.

'Your life is long, but in the middle it ends, after which it continues again.' 'Enough.' I tore my hand away and sat down closer to the table.

'Have you forgotten how it's done yet? Do you need help?'

'No, everything is okay.'

After pouring some of the white powder from the sachet onto the table, I swept it into a single line. I closed one nostril and slowly inhaled the other. Dope scratched the mucous membrane, slid inside. After waiting a bit, I did the same with the other nostril. Leaning back on the couch, I closed my eyes and relaxed. My mouth went numb, and all thoughts began to slip out of my head one after another. The laughter of the guys reached me far away, but now it was of little importance to me.