Love, Lies, and Deception(57)
“Marissa, I didn’t do anything wrong. You have to calm down and let us figure this out together. You have to trust me. If I have to tie you down and make you stay I will. You’re not leaving here without me.”
I scoffed and pierced him with my burning gaze. “There is no us anymore, Alec. I don’t need you to keep me safe, and I sure as hell am not going to stay here any longer with you. I can’t believe I thought you loved me. Once a nice, hot piece of ass starts strutting her shit in front of you I should’ve known you’d stray. Well, the joke’s on me, isn’t it? Someone’s trying to kill me because of you and this is how you repay me? I hope you rot in hell.”
I jerked out of Alec’s grasp, and he scrambled around to find some clothes. While he was distracted, I bolted out of the room and ran to the elevator.
“Marissa, no!” Alec yelled from inside the room. “Stop!”
Once I reached the elevator, I continuously pressed the button over and over. “Hurry up!” I screamed, kicking at the door. Once it opened, I hastily retreated inside and breathed a sigh of relief even though I was anything but relieved.
Alec came into view, dripping wet and dressed, and ran straight for the elevator. “Marissa, you can’t go out there, it’s not safe,” he yelled, trying to catch me before the doors closed.
“It’s safer than with you,” I mumbled as the doors closed before he could get to me.
I didn’t know what to do or where to go, but I knew I had to call someone, and there was only one person who that would be. When the elevator stopped, I ran out of it as fast as I could—not caring about all of the wide-eyed stares—and out into the cool morning breeze.
I hailed the first cab I saw, and as soon as it came to a stop I quickly jumped in the backseat.
“Where to, miss?” the driver asked, glancing at me in the mirror. “Running late this morning?”
Out of breath, I answered, “Yes, to the airport, please.”
He nodded and started pulling away from the hotel. Turning my head, and with an aching heart, I gazed back at the hotel as we pulled out of the parking lot. At that moment, Alec burst out of the doors and frantically searched around for me.
His eyes caught mine for an instant, and before I got too far away I could see that he had tears streaming down his face. When he was out of view that was when I let my own tears fall. I risked everything for nothing, and now I was going to pay the price.
Where was I going to go?
When I got to the airport, I had no clue what I was going to do. I didn’t want to call Kristian while I was in the cab because I didn’t want the driver to hear me, so once inside the airport I found a quiet corner, and with shaky fingers I dialed his number.
My throat was so tight I didn’t know if I’d be able to talk, and as soon as Kristian’s voice came over the line, I lost it. I broke down and cried hysterically.
“Holy hell, Marissa, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“No,” I choked out, angrily. “I need help, Kristian. I don’t know where to go. Please help me.”
“Where’s Alec? Did he do something to you? So help me, Marissa, if he hurt you I’ll kill him myself.”
I burst out crying again and drew unwanted attention to myself, so I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm down; it didn’t work.
“I can’t talk about it right now, Kristian. I don’t know where to go. I’m at the airport and if I go back to Boone that’ll be the first place Alec will look. What should I do?”
Quickly, Kristian blew out a frustrated breath and suggested, “First, I want you to calm down, Marissa. I know that might be hard to do right now, but you have no choice. Book the first available flight to Wilmington and I’ll meet you out there. I’m not supposed to be at my interview for another couple of days, but I’ll leave now and meet you at the airport when you get there, okay?”
“All right,” I sputtered weakly.
“Everything will be fine, I promise. I’ll get you away from it all. When you book your flight either call me or text me with the times so I can make sure to look for you.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t believe everything would be okay. “I will. I’ll talk to you soon,” I whispered and hung up.
I didn’t want to talk anymore, and I knew I had to hurry if I planned on getting away before Alec could find me. He would know I’d try to get a flight out; I just hope I made it away in time.
Thankfully, Alec never found me. I turned off my phone as soon as I got off the line with Kristian, and as soon as I landed in Wilmington and turned on my phone I had about twenty messages.
Alec must’ve called everyone because there were missed calls from him, Emily, my sister, and Detective Michaels. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to them just yet so I texted Kristian to see where he was.
Me: I’m here, where r u?
Kristian: Look behind u baby girl.
Immediately, I turned around and there strolling toward me was Kristian wearing khaki shorts with a blue polo shirt and sandals. He frowned when he saw my face, and the moment he scooped me up into his arms, I burst out crying.
All the pain, all the anger, just washed over me in one huge rush. On the plane I held it together, but my heart was bruised and torn open, and I was surprised I didn’t fall to pieces in the air. My chest ached like someone was gouging out my heart with the dullest knife, and jabbing it all over my body.