Safely in the Arms of the Mafia King

Dallas Clarke snatched my phone away and hit the end-call button. His face was full of contempt and impatience.

"Sabrina Tanner, are you seriously this childish? You're a grown woman, and you're still tattling to your parents?"

He shoved my phone into his pocket and let out a cold laugh. "Do you seriously think one phone call is going to make your dad, who works out in the woods somewhere, swoop in to save you? Stop embarrassing yourself!"

He had no idea that the man he looked down on was actually the owner of this entire nature reserve. In other words, this whole mountain belonged to my family.

My vision kept fading in and out as the nausea and dizziness from the sugar spike tore through me.

Olivia Phillips, Dallas's so-called girl best friend, chimed in without missing a beat. "Dallas, I told you from the start that she is so manipulative. Look at her. She ate one little energy bar, and now she's pretending to be weak so you'll feel bad and carry her down the trail."

She continued, "Just saying, though, you two lovebirds can be lovey-dovey on your own time without wasting everyone else's. If you pick her over us tonight, I'm not going easy on you during the drinking games!"

Dallas laughed at her teasing. "With your tolerance? You'd belong at the kids' table."

"Screw you! I'm going to make you eat those words."

As they bantered back and forth, the two of them ended up in a playful embrace. This was not the first time they got physical with such a complete lack of boundaries.

When Dallas first introduced me to his group, Olivia was there. The moment she saw me, she broke into a huge smile and pulled me into a tight hug.

"So you're the girlfriend! Dallas talks about you all the time. Finally, we get to meet you in person! You're even prettier than your photos!"

She sounded friendly, but her eyes scanned me from top to bottom in a split second.

After we sat down, she casually commented, "You wore a dress to hang out? Super feminine of you! But just so you know, we're a pretty rowdy bunch. When we start playing games and stuff, you might want to be careful not to get it dirty. I gave up on that a long time ago. I've been with these guys too long, so I'm more comfortable in cargo pants. They don't stain, and they're easy."

Everyone laughed, as if wearing a dress to a casual get-together was the strangest thing in the world. I felt her subtle hostility, and I also knew I would never fit in with Dallas's friend group.

Yet every time I told Dallas how I felt, he made it sound like I was the problem.

"Olivia's a tomboy with a dude's personality. She doesn't mean anything by it. Be more understanding. I'm introducing you to my friends so you can get along with them, not so you can get jealous.

"You're making me look bad when you act like this."

To prove that I was supposedly overthinking, he even forced me to join this hike. And now this supposedly "harmless" tomboy was watching me suffer on the ground with smug satisfaction.

Dallas kicked at my leg irritably. "Alright, quit the act and get up! You're holding up everyone's hike."

The symptoms of hyperglycemia left my entire body weak, and every breath felt like it was burning my chest.

I grabbed desperately at his pant leg, using every ounce of strength to beg him, "The medication! Give me my insulin! I really can't breathe!"