bloodied body and while I knew I should’ve felt sadness by the fact that I was probably going to spend the rest of my days in prison, all I could think about was how free I was going to be for the rest of my life.
“Snowflake,” Zeke whispered from behind me.
I swung around and he put his hands up like he was afraid I was going to shoot him. His eyes were wide as he stared back at me. Soon, Finn and Tiny were standing behind him, looking into the room. The three of them surround me as Zeke slowly reached in and slid the gun from my hand.
“Oh my God, what did you do, Patience?”
Words were stuck in the back of my throat and I had to push them out. My voice sounded like it was a million miles away. “He was hurting Syd.”
His eyes looked past me and took in my sister’s unconscious body and my dad’s dead one. Then his dark eyes crashed into me and a shadowy, sad expression covered his face.
“Finn,” he called over his shoulder. His eyes never left mine.
Finn’s white face appeared next to Zeke. “Yeah, man?” His voice shook.
“You’re my boy, right? You’d do anything I asked you to do, no questions asked?” Zeke asked.
Finn swallowed hard, then shook his head yes. “Yeah, dude, I got you. Whatever we need to do. Let’s do it and get the fuck out of here.”
Zeke reached out and ran his finger down the side of my cheek. His eyes filled with tears as he leaned in and softly kissed me. “Take Patience and leave,” he said sternly.
“Zeke, don’t do this man. You’re going to ruin your life,” Finn said with wild eyes.
Zeke shot him a final look and Finn held up his hands and shook his head.
“If this is what you want,” he said with finality.
My head whipped back and forth between the two until finally it sunk in. Zeke was going to try and take the blame.
“No!” I screamed out when Finn grabbed my arm.
I tried to pull away, but then Tiny was next to me, pulling me as well.
“I’ll tell them the truth. I’ll tell them I did this. Please, Zeke, don’t do this,” I called out as I struggled against their tight hold.
They pulled me away from him and my feet dragged across my sister’s pink carpeting.
“Who do you think they’ll believe?” Zeke asked. “A guy like me from the wrong side of the tracks who’s already been to jail? Or you, the governor’s daughter who’s stupid enough to try and protect her boyfriend from prison?”
I grabbed the doorframe as Finn and Tiny pulled at my body.
“No!” I screamed out once more.
He was right. It didn’t matter what I said. If he confessed and told them I was only confessing to save him, the cops would definitely believe him. Again, our backgrounds were biting me in the ass.
My fingers were turning purple as I gripped onto the doorframe. His eyes burned into mine and a single tear fell down his cheek. He sniffed once and wiped it away with the back of the hand that was still holding the gun.
“I love you, snowflake. Always.”
Finn pulled one last hard time and my fingers slipped away from the doorframe. I screamed, not caring who heard me as they pulled me down the hallway, then down the stairs.
Twenty-Five
Zeke
I woke up from my nightmare about Patience being pulled away and into the darkness with her name on my lips. The thick comforter was stuck to my sweaty chest, so I peeled it back and let the cool air rush over my sticky skin. Reaching over for her, I pulled back a pillow.
With wide eyes, I sat up and turned on the lamp next to my bed to see that she wasn’t there. Instantly, I felt like something was wrong. I jumped out of bed wearing just my boxers and went through the apartment, switching on lights, looking for her. She was gone.
I ran back to my room and threw some clothes on. I searched for my keys, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. Then I realized that if she wasn’t there, she was in my car. I ran to the window and ripped back my curtain. The streetlights out front shined into my empty parking space.
“Shit!”
I burst into Tiny’s room and flipped on his light. He looked up at me like I was crazy with sleep-filled eyes and wild hair.