CHAPTER ONE

LENA’S POV

We were always running from something. Me and my mother, we've changed locations more times than I can count, names, Id’s, we just didn't stay in one place long enough to make friends or build any solid relationships.

So when I walked in on my mother that night reading a letter in tears, I knew that we were being haunted again.

She looked shocked when she saw me, and when I picked up the envelope that came with the letter, she looked like I had just picked up a bullet.

She snatched it from me, and burnt them all in the kitchen sink before I could even ask and she never spoke a word about it.

And that was only the beginning of our fight.

We always argued about something small and inconsequential but we both knew the real reason why. It was about my father, and how we were always running and how there were always rules that made no sense.

“I am going to a party tonight mom,” I announced with a huge smile on my face as I pulled on my jacket. “I'll be gone for just a few hours.”

My mother froze. “You say what?”

I frowned. “I know how you feel about staying out late mom, but I'll be back.”

My mother stood up abruptly and stood in front of the door. “Don't go please. Not tonight."

"Mom."

"There are rules, Lena."

"And I am twenty." I snapped. "I'm on a scholarship. I get up at six every morning and I have never missed a single class this semester. I just want one night."

"You can have forever as long as you're safe." My mother snapped back.

"Safe from what?" I asked innocently, and immediately I knew that I had made a huge mistake. Her jaw tightened and she turned pale but I didn't care. I asked anyway because I needed answers and it was high time I got one. "We have been running my whole life and you won't even tell me what we're running from. What if nobody is actually watching us? What if we have been running all these while for nothing?"

Her eyes moved to the window. She walked towards it and closed the window after checking properly to make sure that the outside was clear.

"Someone is always watching," she said quietly.

"Is it Dad?" I asked and the temperature dropped ten degrees. The room suddenly became very still, very silent.

"We don't talk about your father in this house."

"And I'm asking you why. I ask every time, but you never tell me why. You only say he's dangerous. Why is he dangerous? What do I really need to know." I asked, tears streaming down my eyes.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she walked to the counter, and grabbed a bottle of beer which was the sixth she will take in the last hour.

She dropped down to the floor and rested her back against the cabinet. She suddenly looked small, and I understood that she had been carrying a lot.

I picked up my purse. “I just wish you would actually talk to me and stop carrying it all alone.”

She shook her head. "Some things are just too hard to talk about. Too hard."

I walked out either way because I had already made up my mind to.

"Don't wait up," I said, and walked out into the rain.

I stood in the rain, and closed my eyes as the cold water hit my skin.

“Just one night.” I said to myself. “One night to be free.”

I waited until John stopped his bike in front of me.

“Still coming girl?”

I smiled. “Of course.” I said and climbed the bike refusing to look back at the building as we pulled away.

I ignored my mother's voice ringing in my ears. She always warned me never to trust anyone on motorcycles but I buried her warnings under the sound of the engine as the rain hit my face. I told myself that I was just a girl going out on a Friday night but I never knew I was wrong.

***

The Racers Bar was exactly what it sounded like. It was loud and dim, smelling of leather and spilled beer. It was full of people who didn't know my name or care about where I had been the week before so I loved it immediately.

I drowned myself in tequila as I tried to put the fight with my mother and her paranoia behind me.

"Slow down," John said.

"I'm fine."

"That's your third shot in twenty minutes."

"Then stop counting." I took the fourth and set the glass upside down on the bar. I hit the dance floor next and danced without thinking.

I swung my body like I was high, and maybe I was, but I didn't care. My hips moved without permission and my hands went up as I swayed my body to the beats. My eyes were closed and for the first time in weeks I wasn't my mother's daughter running from a shadow I couldn't name. I was just a person dancing on a Friday night.

Till I bumped into something talk and strong.

Strong hands caught my arms before I could hit the ground. I looked up immediately and forgot how to speak.

He was so tall that I had to tip my head back to see his face. Tattoos crawled up his neck, the dark ink almost kissing his jaw. There was a scar above his left brow, sitting like it was a special design. He was cold and loving into them sent a shiver down my spine.

He let go of my arms the instant I had my footing and I struggled to stand properly.

"Sorry," I said, but he didn't reply. He just looked at me like he knew everything about me then walked past me like I was invincible.

I scoffed, then frowned because my body was already reacting to him and I hated it.

I walked towards him immediately and sat on the stool beside him.

“You bumped into me, how about you buy me a drink?”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “No. You bumped into me, and haven't you had enough to drink?”

I eyed him with a smile on my lips. "You don't know what I've had."

"I know exactly what you've had."

I felt a prickle in my skin. "That's a strange thing to say to a stranger."

He raised his brows. “Maybe because it's a strange night.”

I smiled once more. “So am I getting my drink now?”

“I think you've had enough.” He said plainly.

“No. It's never enough until I've had you.”

The next moment, I was in a room. I didn't remember how I got to the room, but I could clearly remember kissing him with fire burning between my legs.

My lips were still on his when he shot the door with one hand and my clothes came off piece by piece. My back landed on the bed and my legs came up in the air as he did something with his mouth that almost drove me insane. And I didn't even know his name.

I woke up before sunrise and picked up my clothes one after the other then vanished into the dark.

***

I froze on the door step. The apartment door was open, which was very safe because my mother never left any door open.

I pushed it wider and stepped inside. The light in the kitchen was on and my mother was lying lifelessly on the floor.

My stomach dropped.

"Mum." I screamed, already on my knees beside her. "Mum, hey. Look at me."

She was barely breathing. Her skin was white and her hand fell when I lifted it up.

"Mum, stay with me." I took her in my arms and grabbed my phone at the same time. My hands were shaking so badly I mistyped the number twice. "I've got you. I've got you, okay, just stay with me."

The dispatcher picked up.

"What is your emergency?"

"21st street off campus road." My voice came out hoarse as tears dropped from my eyes. "Please hurry."

"Can you just calm down and tell me what is happening?"

I looked at my mother on the floor seeing the way her face had gone grey. And looked behind her. The kitchen window behind her was cracked open and the latch was broken from the outside.

"It's my mom," I said. "They got to her.”