Better Off

26

After I talk with my mom, I don't waste time heading toward Thorne's place. Hope starts to fill me to the brim, and I can't stop thinking of the thought of Thorne and I together again. I was so stupid when I broke things off with him. I didn't even give him a chance to explain himself. So that's what I'm going to do now—hear him out. He at least deserves that, doesn't he?

I still have the spare key Thorne gave me to his house on my key-chain, which is convenient right about now. I don't pay much attention to anything as I storm out of my car, racing to his front door. Adrenaline courses through my veins like I'm on some sort of action mission. I'm inside the house in seconds, calling, "Thorne? Please let—"

"Ah," I hear a voice saying—one that doesn't sound like Thorne's at all. The sound stops me in my tracks, and I hesitate somewhere between the front door and the kitchen. "Just who we were expecting."

We?

I look into Thorne's living room with wide eyes, my mouth gaping open. Fear courses through my veins, my heart thudding in my chest. Because it's not Thorne sitting on his couch, staring at me with an amused smirk curled on his lips. Instead, it's another man, one that I've never met personally before but couldn't forget if I tried. I recognize the dark hair, the bright blue eyes, the perfectly tailored suit.

Franco.

And he's not alone. It only takes me a second to notice the two large men the size of refrigerators standing in the corner of Thorne's living room—Franco's body guards. If I wasn't frightened before, I'm terrified right about now.

"Don't look so startled," Franco says with a condescending tone, rising from Thorne's couch slowly. His movements are calculated and planned out, as if he really was expecting this to happen. For me to run right into his trap. "We're not going to hurt you. Well, I take that back. We don't want to hurt you, but we will if we have to."

"Where's Thorne?" My voice trembles, yet I still manage to get the words out. Don't let him see how scared you are, I tell myself. Be strong. "What did you do to him?"

Franco chuckles like he finds me funny, shaking his head. "That's the problem," he reveals, slowly making his way toward me. "I don't know where Thorne is. I'm afraid this here is my last resort to make him come out of hiding."

"What do you mean?" My hands shake at my sides. I wish they didn't. I don't want him to know how afraid I am in this moment. It takes everything I've got to try to keep calm, to try to tell myself that I am going to be okay.

"You see, Sunshine." When Thorne calls me Sunshine, it makes me smile—despite where the nickname originated. When this man calls me Sunshine, however, it makes me feel dirty. Like I need to take a shower to wash the sound of the word off of me. "Your little boyfriend wronged me in the past. I gave him everything. I gave him good money for easy work. I helped cover the cost of his sickly mother's hospital bills. I was practically a father to him."