Our Broken Pasts [Editing] | #Wattys2017

Chapter Nineteen

Hailey

He had called Will. He had gotten him involved. I could let this happen, I just couldn't. And yet, it was. It was just the thing I had wanted to avoid, but you couldn't stop the inevitable. I supposed that I had known the minute Nathan showed up in West Falls that something was up. I just didn't want to believe it. I believed that I could be safe.

With Will.

Now, I could hear the tires screech outside. I knew it must be Will. Minutes later, I was proven right. Nathan stood in front of me as Will entered the dank warehouse where I was tied to a chair, the ropes around my wrists drawing blood.

Will's eyes narrowed on me and something like relief shot through them. "Hailey," he breathed.

"If you want her, you go through me first."

I knew instantly that Nathan had said the wrong thing. Maybe he had big, ugly thugs working for him, but Will had the heart. And the strength. And Nathan was puny.

Will

I stepped toward the runt. He flinched back, eliciting a chuckle from me. He was as nervous as a girl.

I could see his ugly thugs circling closer, counting six total. Jordan and Blake were back at the entrance. They weren't allowed in, per the instructions Nathan had given me. I couldn't take them all. But I would sure as hell try, if it meant Hailey would be safe again.

"Bring it on, bud. You don't got nothin'," I smirked at him.

"Fuck off," he growled. "Do you realize I could-"

"Kill me? No. You'd get someone to do it for you. That's the kind of guy you are, pretty boy."

Hailey's eyes went wide behind Nathan's back, warning me. Warning me not to make him mad.

Too late.

"Pretty boy," I taunted again.

With that, Nathan's eyes flashed and he launched himself at me, fists already flying. I deflected him easily, grabbing him by his arm and twisting it behind his back.

"Get him!" He shouted at his thugs.

The brainless twits they were, they came at me. I twisted Nathan's arm just a little harder. "Call them off, or I'll break it," I said calmly.

Nathan's body tensed. I could only imagine the murderous look that passed through his eyes.

"Call them off," I repeated.

"Back off," Nathan muttered. When they didn't, still uncertain, he growled the command again.

They moved away and I released Nathan, but not before elbowing him in the stomach, making sure I could get to Hailey with no surprises.

I walked over to her and cradled her face in my hands. "Hailey."

"Will," she breathed.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

I untied her and we walked out of the room. I took a second to lean close to Nathan's ear and say, in a tone that was dead serious, "Don't you ever come near her again, or I will kill you."

Once we were out, I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialled 9-1-1. They showed up ten minutes later, checking both Hailey and I out and pulling Nathan and his thugs from the building.

Finally, he was gone.