Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
I tell her I love you
She says Ill make some calls.
Maybe we can share a room with nice, thick padded walls
Well stay there forever, Ill keep you so close
Do you think they can fit two people in one of those white coats?
But they wont get to lock me up
Theyre far too late
I met a pretty poisoned girl
and now Death has a date
I tell her goodbye
as he turns out the lights
Screaming, If you go, Ill carve my heart out
she finally cries
But dont worry, angel
Everything dies
Its better to be poisoned
than trapped living half-lives
“That was sad,” I tell him when he stops strumming his guitar. “I think we died.”
“Everything dies,” he says. “You said you wanted sad, remember?”
“I did.”
“Did you like it?”
“I loved it. And you know what I’d really like?” I ask.
“What’s that?”
“A straitjacket for two,” I tell him. “It sounds cozy.”
“I knew you’d like that.”
I sigh. “Maybe in the sequel, it doesn’t kill them. They get away with murder and take a nice, long vacation. Spend every day on the beach, swimming and sleeping and fucking and bleeding and screaming but never fighting except for when they’re fucking and they never get caughtnot even by Deathfor a very, very long time.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” he says.
There’s a small knock on the door before Declan steps inside. “You guys about ready?” he asks. “We’re six miles from our drop-off point.”
“Yeah, we’re ready,” Luca says.
“Good.” Declan doubles back and adds, “You can’t take the guitar.”
“I fucking know that,” Luca says.
Luca begins pulling the guitar strap over his head, sucking a breath through his teeth.
“Stop,” I tell him. “Let me help you.”
After pulling it over his head, I set it aside and pick up the sling. I help him into it, easing his arm back into the cradle and fastening the waist strap.
“You’re so good to me,” he says.
“Well, I love you. How does it feel?”
“It’s not too bad,” he says. “I’m just glad you’re staying.”
“Did you really think I’d leave you?”
“No,” he says, kissing me. “I didn’t doubt you for a second. Till death do us part, baby. Let’s take that vacation.”
Idon’t know how long we’ve been walking.
To be fair, none of us do. We were let off on a scenic byway at a lookout point and have been hiking down the side of a mountain through dense forest for what feels like hours. Declan has a flashlight in the front and Rhett in the back, and the rest of us are in the middletired, cold, and blindly following our leader.
And I have to trust Declan knows what he’s doing with just a flashlight and a satellite phone.
It’s been uneventful for the most part, weaving our way down a slope that, while not the steepest, is still treacherous in darkness.
And Luca’s tired. Or in pain. Or a combination of both.
“Declan?” I call softly from just behind him. “How much longer is it? I think Luca needs to sit down.”
“I’m fine, Teagan,” he says. “I don’t want to sit down.”
Declan halts, turning and looking his brother over with the flashlight. He’s unsteady on his feet, all the color drained from his face. “It isn’t much further,” he says. He throws Luca’s good arm over his shoulder and wraps his own around his waist. “Take the flashlight, Teagan. Walk next to me.”
I take it and move to his side.
“We’re less than a mile away now,” he says. “He’ll be okay.”
“What’s less than a mile away?” I ask. “A cabin?”
“A car,” he says. “A friend of yours is picking us up.”
“Of mine?”
“Teagan doesn’t have any other friends,” Luca says.
“Yeah. I don’t.”
“Just keep moving,” he says.
Twenty minutes later, we reach a valley and meet two black Jeeps on an old one-lane dirt service road. I follow Luca and Declan to the first vehicle while Rhett, Brady, Hazel, and River get into the second.
Declan helps Luca into the back, and I slide in next to him. He leans against the window and closes his eyes, and I run my fingers through his hair.
“Are you okay, baby?” I ask.
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.