Page 41 of Last Man Standing
Releasing me, he turns on his heel and rips my closet open.
“S-Sebastion? What’s going on?”
“Jameson!”
I cry out at my brother’s voice and desperately search the shadows. “Linc?”
“What the fuck are you doing, Jameson? I told you I was coming to you.”
My nightmare-addled sleep makes way for consciousness. Alertness. My vision adjusts to the dark, and then my heart sinks when I realize Lincoln isn’t here at all. He’s in the phone clutched in Sebastion’s fist.
“Just wait there. Nova and I are at the airport now.”
“Not waiting.” Sebastion jerks my suitcase from the closet and lobs it across the room until it lands on my bed. Then he rips my clothes from the hangers and tosses them, too. “Pack, Scarlett. Now.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Terror leeches into my limbs. It replaces the blood in my veins and supercharges every horrifying thought nestled deep in my brain. It’s like I never escaped that scared girl from before, because Sebastion does what Roy has done in the past; tearing me out of my sleep and trashing my room, and just like back then, I let him. I stare in frozen shock and gnaw on my nails.
“Just relax for a fuckin’ second,” Lincoln snarls. “We’re gonna buy our tickets now, then I’ll let you know what time we’re set to land.”
“You got another letter.” Sebastion empties my closet and piles everything onto my bed, then he charges across to the drawers and empties those, too. “It has this fucking address on it, Castro.”
My lungs seize in my chest. “What?”
“That’s a threat,” Sebastion snarls. “And we have no fucking clue if he’s there in Denver, or already on our side of the country. We gotta move.”
“You’re not taking my sister anywhere! Fuck, Jameson. Just stop for a second.”
“Keys and locks, dickhead. You keep them separate. That was the whole point of you and Nova jumping state lines. I still have the key, and you were supposed to locate the lock. Unfortunately for us, the lock just grew wings and is on its way here.”
“Jameson!”
“I’m moving her.” Sebastion swings back around, one arm overflowing with my clothes before he dumps the lot on my bed, then his eyes stop on mine in the dark and glitter with something I think translates to you need to trust me. “Get dressed. Go to the bathroom. Pack your bag. We’re in the truck in fifteen minutes.”
“No, you’re fucking not!” Lincoln roars. “Scarlett, honey. Don’t go with him. Get in your car and drive into town. Book a room at the hotel, lock the doors, and hunker down. I just need a few hours, then I’ll be right there with you.”
“I don’t know, Linc.” Nova’s voice crackles with an ache I know in my soul. A fear I’ve felt too many times. “I think we should let him move her, and when we land, we can follow them wherever they go.”
“He’s not taking her anywhere!”
“You trusted me to stay with her,” Sebastion sneers. “But now that trust is gone? Am I suddenly less capable of protecting her?”
“No, I—”
“Was I her fucking soldier, Castro, or her babysitter?” He grabs my trembling hand and drags me toward the door. “Go to the bathroom. You have five minutes to search the house for whatever you wanna take, then I need you dressed, with shoes on, your bag packed, and your ass in my truck.” He holds my gaze for a beat. He nods. Then he slingshots me into the hall so I’m forced to catch myself against the wall, or ram face-first through the plaster. “Go, Scarlett. Now!”
A terrified sob bounces through my chest and knocks the oxygen from my lungs, but I push off the wall and scramble into the bathroom. I switch the light on and blind myself with the bright glow of the bulb. Tearing my shorts down and sprinting past the mirror, I catch sight of my bare torso and remember the sports bra I wore to bed. And shorts.
That’s it.
I pee, even when I didn’t really need to, then I bound up again, yank my shorts up, race to the sink, and wash my hands. Snagging a hair elastic on the fly, I charge back into the hall.
Instead of turning left, I dash right and sweep up my pencil case and books. Hugging them to my chest, I spin again and run into the living room.
What do I take?
What do I need?
“Scarlett?”
