You'll Always Be Mine (8 page)

              “Upset!” she yelled, looking up at me with bewildering eyes. “You think I’m upset?”

              I leaned down and brushed my lips against her forehead. “It’s okay, Ellen.” I reassured her, “It’ll be over before you know it,”

              “Please!” she pleaded, “I’m not ready for this, and you have to understand--”

              “Sshh,” I hushed her, pressing my finger to my lips. “Don’t need to worry, love. I’ll make it fast and painless.”

              Tears were falling down her cheeks now. I’ve never seen her in such a hurt state. The worst part of it is that I didn’t know why she was upset. Didn’t she love me?

              “Please don’t-” she continued to beg in between her soft whimpers.

              A growl erupted from the back of my throat. “Stop,” I said sternly, “Don’t resist me. You’ll only make it harder on yourself.”

              When she heard this, she burst into tears. Her bottom lip quivered as her mascara began to run down her rosy cheeks.

              “I said stop!” I yelled, slapping her across her face with so much force that my hand stung. She stared back up at me, wide eyed in complete shock. “Behave,” I told her as I reached down to my pants and unbuckled my belt.

              “Don’t do this--”

              I brought my eyes back to her, shooting her a hard stare. “If you speak again, I will make sure you are punished. You know I don’t like hurting you so don’t put me in that position.”

              She pressed her lips together in a thin line.

              “Good,” I said with a grim smirk. “You are very beautiful, you know that right?” I stroked her cheek, which was already starting to form a bruise. “I love you Ellen.”

              Ellen continued to stare at me, unmoving.

              “I’m sorry for slapping you but you must know that I don’t like it when you disobey me.” With that, I ripped off her shirt, exposing her bare chest. “This will be fast, I promise.”

              “No!” she protested, yanking her arms away from me and kneeing me in between my legs. I instantly grabbed the area as an instinct while she scurried off the bed and out of the door. I cursed to myself and slammed my fist against the mattress.

              Recovering quickly, I stalked after her. She has really made me angry and she will be punished for her bad behavior. I found her in the kitchen, knife in hand as she covered her exposed chest with her other arm. “Stay back!” she warned, aiming the knife at me.

              I nearly laughed until I realized how pissed I was. “Ellen, put the knife down. You could hurt me.”

              She didn’t listen. Instead, she took a few steps closer to me. Her arm shook as he continued to point the blade towards me. “I’m going to hurt you.”

              “Why would you want to do that? You love me.”

              “No,” she shook her head, “You’re a sick psycho! I don’t love you! I never did!”

              I frowned in confusion. “You’re just mad.” I told her, “Put the knife down and come over here. We can talk it out, okay?”

              “You call stalking someone for weeks, kidnapping them from their home and abusing them, love? Who knows how many girls you’ve done this to!”

              “Ellen..”

              “No!” she yelled, “I am not going to listen to you anymore. I’m not going to let you take advantage of me again. I’m not going to let you continue to do this to other girls. I’m not going to make you win! You deserve to die.”

              I sighed as my eyes drifted to the hard wood floor. “You’re not the one,” I mumbled to myself, flicking my eyes back to hers.

              “What?”

              I advanced towards her, knocking the knife out of her hand and pinned her against the pantry door. My hand wrapped around her pretty little neck and squeezed. Her breathing labored as she tried to get out full breaths but the harder I squeezed, the harder it became for her to breathe.

              “Jacob-” she grabbed onto my hand, attempting to undo my strong grasp on her neck. “Please--”

              I squeezed harder, watching the life drain from her eyes. I felt her very last breath before her body grew heavy and her head hung with her eyes staring blankly into the nothingness. I released my grip on her neck and allowed her to fall to the floor. Her body hit the floor hard but her eyes remained open. I knelt to the floor and slowly closed her eyelids, tears forming in my eyes.

              She should have loved me like I loved her.

▪▪▪▪▪

              I could feel the tears forming in my tear ducts at the recall of the event. I forced myself to stay strong. She was gone. She was in a better place now, watching over me like the angel she was.

              I smiled as I brought my attention to Liza’s house. She came back a few minutes ago, storming out of her car. I assumed that she got into a fight with her boyfriend. She had stormed into her house and slammed the door behind of her.

              I never imagined that she could have been capable of so much hate. She seemed like a very nice person who could never get mad at anyone. And maybe she was. Maybe that son of a bitch boyfriend broke her heart.

              Forming fists, I stared blankly at my steering wheel. If he was causing my Liza to be in such pain, he would definitely have to be punished.

              I glanced over my shoulder to the back seat of my Sedan to see the bouquet of gardenias I had bought for her. Just knowing how happy she’d be when she saw them brought a smile to my face.

              I grabbed the bouquet and stepped out of my car, closing the door carefully behind me. A smile formed on my face as I walked up to her front door, tempted to open the door and claim her as mine. I knew that the time wasn’t right so I just laid the bouquet on her welcome mat. Surely, she’ll come out sooner or later and see them. Her mood will instantly be lifted and I was sure of that.

              I walked back to my car and started up the engine. As much as I wanted to stick around to see what her reaction would be, I didn’t know how long she would take before she stepped outside. Besides, this day will be pretty much useless if I just stared at her house all day. I would need to find more information about her. I needed to show her how much I cared.

              I needed to show her how much I loved her.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN - LIZA

              “So you’re saying that you have a secret admirer?” Katie questioned, sitting perched on the edge of her seat, eyes wide.

              It had been a week since I had received the gardenias. Since then, I have received three more bouquets; each had a personal note attached to it. They were all lengthy in content but my “secret admirer” made each note different from the next.

              “That’s what I think,” I said, biting down on my bottom lip. I snatched the piece of paper from Katie’s hands and examined it once more. “Do you know anyone who would do this? I mean, it seems like it’s just a prank.”

              “Or maybe someone has a crush on you,” she wiggled her light orange eyebrows playfully, “Have you told Sean yet?”

              “It’s been days since we spoke and it would potentially be days before we speak again,” I said nonchalantly, “It’s not like I don’t want to talk to him, I just don’t know what to say. I think it’s best if we take some time away from each other,”

              She gaped. “Sean is head over heels in love with you and you’re saying that you want to take a break from him?” she questioned, “Sean? The running back? The hottest guy in our grade? The--”

              “I get it, Katie.” I cut her off, “I’m aware of what he is but I just don’t know if I want to deal with all that right now.”

              She heaved a sigh, “Liza, what’s going on? Why the sudden change of heart?”

              I pulled my knees into my chest and rocked back and forth on the sofa. “I thought that having the house to myself would be a good thing but I’m getting more and more scared by the minute.”
 

             
Katie chuckled as she plopped down on the couch next to me. “Are you kidding? You’re scared of a little secret admirer? If anything you should be flattered.”

              “We don’t know if it’s a secret admirer.”

              “Well, who else could it be?” she asked, quirking a brow. “Not to be the bearer of bad news but you aren’t exactly popular. You and I were pretty much wallflowers until Sean came along and swept you off your feet.”

              I laughed at the memory. “I guess I just miss Jeremy.”

              “You actually miss the early curfews and constant scolding from your brother?”

              “No,” I laughed, “I don’t miss that, I just miss him.”

              “He’s going to come back, Liz.” she reassured me. “And when he does, you’re going to wish he didn’t. So just enjoy your freedom now.”

              “Katie,”

              “Yeah?”

              “I love you. You know that right?”

              Her eyes widened, “Oh do you now? I never would have guessed!” She said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

              “Come here,” I insisted, flailing my arms around my best friend since kindergarten. “I have no idea what I’ll do without you.”

              “You’d lose all sense, that’s for sure.”

              I smiled at her, opening my mouth to respond when a noise coming from upstairs caught my attention. “What was that?” I asked, exchanging looks with Katie.

              “It’s probably Sean trying to sneak in from the window again,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her legs on the couch. “Go save him before he does something stupid.”

              I was hesitant at first. Though Sean was famous for trying to sneak into my window late at night, I made sure that all windows and doors were locked. There was no possible way he could get in. “Watch the door, in case he decides to be a normal person and use the front door.” I told her before heading up the stairs into my bedroom.

              I ran over to my bedside window to see that it was locked, just as I thought. I sighed in relief and turned around to face my mirror only to be greeted by shattered pieces of glass and a few gardenia flowers drenched in water.

              My eyes flickered over to the dresser that the vase once stood upon and then down to the floor again. I grabbed a plastic bag from my bathroom and carefully placed the pieces of glass in the bag and threw the flowers in the trash along with the glass. I ran back downstairs to see Katie lounged out on the couch reading the note that I had received. “Did you find out what it was?” she asked, not removing her eyes from the note.