It’s me.
Push-ups. Drop to the floor. Do them until your arms give out.
Carve someone open. To see how it feels.
I need to gain some sort of… I need to do my push-ups.
Without another word, I fling the door open and wave out into the hall.
“You’re free. I don’t know…” Chest heavy, I heave a sigh. “I need some time.”
The hallway swims. My body stumbles up the stairs without permission. Mind narrowing to one command:push-ups.
By the time I’m in my room, I’m already tearing off my clothes. Shorts. Bare floor. Knuckles planted.
Planks until my arms tremble.
Hanging leg raises until my grip numbs.
Krav Maga drills until sweat pools under me.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Don’t think.
Don’t.
Remember.
My breath puffsin white clouds. Toe taps against slick leather. Is that a branch snapping? I whip my head toward the sound, but there’s no one there…
I check my secure messages again. Press the number to her burner phone. There’s still no answer.
The longer I stand here, the more my stomach tightens. We had a plan. Ashlyn’s arriving by a rideshare, and I’m taking her straight to our house. The one she doesn’t know I bought for us right after my eighteenth.
I’ll keep her safe and hidden until we can get to thecourthouse. We’ll get married as soon as her birthday hits, then we’ll get her emancipation papers. I’ve already got one of the family lawyers on it. Dad doesn’t know.Her parents won’t be able to say shit after we’re officially husband and wife.
Where the fuck is she?
Our tree is soaked from the autumn rain, and I kick at the base mindlessly, shivering in my leather jacket, holding my motorcycle helmet in one hand. Glock tucked in my waistband in case anyone follows her here…
Bark flakes off, revealing a hollow. Light from my phone finds a bundle wedged inside—a soggy book. My heart hiccups. Her handwriting blooms across the page.
Ashlyn.
There’s a tiny lock on the front, and it makes me smile… The key I found in her room that I stole. It fits perfectly.
I sit on the damp ground and read until my eyes blur. Little notes—petty cruelties, soft apologies, hearts above theAICshe signs like it’s a sacred vow. Sometimes she hates me. Sometimes she loves me. Every entry smells like midnight lakes and bittersweet nostalgia.
By the time dawn fattens the sky, I’m frozen. Teeth clattering.
But she never comes…
It’s been days.Days of me trying to reach out in any way I could find. Sure, our communication has always been spotty. But the realization strangles me like a noose.
She’s ghosted me. I can’t bust through her family’s mansion gates; they’ll kill me. So I do the only thing I know…