Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
I clutch Luca’s shirt in my hands, breathe in his scent, and cry.
“It’s okay, angel,” he says. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.” He kisses the top of my head and the side of my face. “How bad was it, Riv?” he asks.
“Really fucking bad,” she tells him. “She shouldn’t be here; she should be in bed. She’s shivering, and she threw up in the car.”
He turns into a room and lays me across on an old brown leather sofa. Everything about the room is old and much too bright. Fluorescent lights lining the ceiling burn my retinas. I squeeze my eyes closed, and Luca covers me with a black hoodie which smells like Declan.
I think I’m going to vomit again.
“You want something to drink, baby?” Luca asks.
“No!” River says. “Don’t give her anything to drink or eat. She’s vomiting.”
“Can you guys turn the lights off in here?” I ask. “Please.”
Someone must hit the switch because the room goes dark, save for the light coming through the open door.
“Sit up for a second, Teag. I’ll warm you up.”
I pull myself up and then lie back down against Luca’s chest, closing my eyes again.
“I’m so sorry,” he says. “I love you so much, Teagan.”
“What the fuck is this?”
Just like after the night we dug the grave, the sound of Declan’s voice elicits a knee-jerk, fear-based reaction and has me clinging to Luca for protection.
He stands in the doorway, wearing a white v-neck shirt with black block lettering that says, ‘Everybody lies.’
And his jeans are covered in deep red-brown stains from the knees down to his ankles.
My blood.
He didn’t wash them; he didn’t even change them. He made me part of his aestheticpart of the show.
“What do you mean, ‘What the fuck is this?!'” River asks him. “You said to get her here; she’s here.”
“Well, get her up,” Declan says. “The show is about to start.”
“She cannot get up, Declan, or she is going to end up in the hospital.”
“Well, she’s not going to the hospital,” he tells her.
My heart sinks into my chest. It’s bad enough lying here listening to him talk about me like I’m an object, completely unfazed by the state I’m in, aside from what an inconvenience it is for him.
‘She can just die,’ he says.
And to think I actually thought he cared about methat I found comfort in his touch and his words. I trusted him. I read to him. I believed in him.
I feel like that stupid sixteen-year-old girl again, and everyone is laughing at me.
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Luca asks.
Declan scoffs. “Nothing you haven’t done to her.”
“No, Declan. I never did this to Teagan.”
He scoffs. “Whatever.”
“She is not just yours!” River snaps. “You can’t keep doing this! This is supposed to be a family, and we love her. You let her bleed for too long, and she’s small and had been drinking all morningyou’re lucky I still had some of her blood because she has a rare blood type and can’t accept other donors. You hurt her!”
“River ” Hazel cautions, squeezing River’s arm. “Don’t ”
“You really hurt her,” River continues through tears. “I’m mad at you.”
His eyes dart to mine for the first time since he entered the room, and I quickly look away.
“Fine. Leave her back here,” Declan says casually. He takes a swig of whatever’s in his flask and heads for the door. “The rest of you need to get out there.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” Luca says. “As soon as we’re done, I’ll take you back, okay? We’ll get out of here, and he’ll leave you alone. And when the tour is done, we’ll go away for a whilejust us.”
“Where?” I ask.
“Wherever you want,” he says. “Hawaii, Mexico. We could go to Paris or London. You pick.”
“I don’t have a passport.”
“That doesn’t matter,” he says.
“What about Italy or Greece?”
“I can take you thereI’d love to take you there. You’d look good on the Mediterranean.”
“Okay,” I tell him.
“I’ll see you soon, okay? I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He kisses me on the lips before leaving the room.
“I’ll come check on you every twenty minutes,” River says. “I set a timer.”
I smile. “You know, it’d be pretty easy to turn that ‘D’ into an ‘R’.”
“Don’t tempt me,” she laughs. “I am so fucking mad at him.”
“Let’s go, Riv,” Hazel says. “Get some rest, Teagan.”
“Thanks, guys.”
They walk out the door, leaving me alone in the dark room. I sigh, lying back and closing my eyes, and then I hear footsteps in the room again.
Eli sits on the coffee table, facing me.
“What what do you want?” I ask.
I’ve barely interacted with the man who was apparently Declan’s best friend in high school, and I don’t really want to like this nowweak and alone in a dark room.
“You should have ran, kid,” he says. “I am. I didn’t sign up for this shit. I just want to play fucking bass. I never wanted to be part of some dark underworld cult of rich assholes or bury girls in the fucking woods. I have a wife and kidsdaughtersand I’m trusting you not to repeat this. Can I trust you?”
I nod.
“After Dallas, I’m done. I’m going north, and I’m staying there. I’ve got a plane ticket home, and then I’m going to Canada; my family is already on their way. I bought a house and a bar in a small town with a new name and we’re just going to disappear. You meet me downstairs at eight on Sunday morning, and I’ll take you to the airport, too. Don’t try to pack, don’t worry about your things, just come downstairs and get in the car.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.