I am all alone on my floor, crying, in pain, and miserable, and I wish my life would end. I don’t want to be in a world like this. I have a small bit of hope, and that is Jordan. He gave me something to look forward to—and the hope that the rest of the world isn’t as bad as my life is.
There are good people in this world. There has to be. I just haven’t met anyone good except for him and my best friend.
I stay on the hard floor for thirty minutes, and then I hear motorcycles. My heart stops in disbelief. Has he come for me? He said he would. I sob into my blanket. I could be free. The motorcycles get closer and closer until they are parked outside my house. The broken-down trailer sounds like it’s shaking from the power of the motorcycles.
Then the trailer is silent. The TV is turned off, and I only hear my breathing. Footsteps sound on our ratty porch, and a couple of men start talking. I strain to hear what they are saying. Someone else speaks, and I know that voice.
Jordan.
He came for me.
I plant my hand on the floor and roll myself onto my stomach. I lift myself with all my might until I am on my knees. I pant loudly in pain; it’s excruciating. I grab the edge of my bed and push myself up the rest of the wall, my body shaking from the exertion.
Bent in half, clutching at my stomach, I walk to my bedroom door and unlock the lock. I pull it open, my body screaming at me.
I hear a loud noise, and my mom screams. They must have kicked the door in. I hold on to the wall with one hand and my stomach with the other. I clench my jaw at the pain while closing my eyes to hold back the tears.
“Alisha!” Jordan calls.
I spur forward. When I enter the kitchen, Jordan is standing there with three other huge men. Jordan is just as big. My knees start to give out, and I grab the corner of the wall and hold myself up.
“Where is she?” Jordan roars at my dad.
My dad starts apologizing, but Jordan doesn’t give a shit. He pinches the bridge of his nose, walks over to my dad, and punches him right in the face. My dad falls back onto the floor, out cold. I stare in disbelief at how Jordan can knock someone out in one punch.
I just want to be held right now, and I want that from Jordan.
“Jordan,” I say softly
His gaze connects with mine, and I see fury in them. I feel ashamed. Jordan runs over to me. He stops when he is a hair’s width away from me. He touches my face, and I wince at the smallest of touches. I let the wall go and wrap my arms around his waist.
I let out a deep breath as I feel his warmth and the strongness of his chest. Closing my eyes, I sink farther against his body, letting him hold me. I don’t care about the pain. All I know is I feel like I belong somewhere for the first time in my life and everything will be okay.
“Baby, I am so fucking sorry,” he whispers.
I shake my head. “You didn’t know Jordan,” I whisper back.
“I am taking you away from here. You will never see this fucking place again,” he says vehemently.
“Let’s go,” I whisper to him as I stare into his eyes.
“Nothing will harm you again,” he tells me.
I close my eyes at the feelings I am experiencing. I feel safe. “Okay,” is all I can manage to get out before I black out from exhaustion, the pain, and everything that has happened today. I feel him catch me, and then there’s darkness.
I catch Alisha as she passes out and pick her up bridal-style. When I turn around, my brothers look at the girl in my arms. It’s fucking heartbreaking how messed up she looks. She is five foot nothing and maybe one hundred and twenty pounds. Even through the cuts and bruises, I can see how beautiful she is.
“Man, she’s fucked up,” Vin says.
I set her on the couch. I turn to her father, who is now waking up from when I knocked him out. I kick him in the side, and he startles awake.
The moment I got a good fucking look at the man sitting in this living room, I knew that these were her parents. She has her dad’s fucking eyes and hair color, but her stature is just like her mother’s. Her mother is so strung out and just fucking staring into space with drool running down her face.
I pull my gun out of my pocket and twist the silencer on. “Vin, cover Alisha’s ears.”
Her dad wakes up and stares at me in disbelief as I click the silencer into place. He starts shaking his head. I bend down until I am eye level with him.
“Please,” he whispers, his putrid breath hitting me in the face.
“Death is too easy for you,” I tell her father, “but I don’t have time to torture you and for you to beg me to kill you. Enjoy hell.” I stand up. I grab a pillow and place it against his head and the gun so the blood doesn’t splatter on me.