ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER dusty as fuck motel room. I was lying on the floor, staring up into the muted pink void of the ceiling while the daily news acted as the soundtrack to my misery. I don't know where Luke went and quite frankly, I don't give two shits. I was just glad I was alone. 

I struggle to my feet, placing my elbows on the foot of the bed as support. The blood rushes to my head when I straighten my spine and I become dizzy. My thumb had been wrapped, I think Luke did it when I was crashed out because I wouldn't let him touch my when I was awake. 

With wobbly steps, I make my way to the adjacent bathroom and over to the sink. My blonde hair had prevailed after I almost bit Luke's arm off when he tried to dye it. He said if I don't agree soon, he's going to force the colour onto my head. 

My blue eyes were faded, like a pair of denim jeans that had been put through the wash too many times. There was a bruise on my cheekbone, on my temple and just above was the bruised area around my hairline where I had been hit over the head with a rock. 

There was a nasty gash on my right thigh, just below the hem of my pyjama shorts, and the result of my attempt to crawl through a broken window. Luke had caught me, he always does. 

I was just so fucking tired all the damn time. Part of me wanted to keep fighting; to keep running. But a small part of me, she was so exhausted.

I place my elbows on the edge of the sink and lean forward, resting my forehead against my arms. I wrench my eyes close as shouting from outside echoes. I brush it off as the couple a few doors down who shout at each other at all times of the goddamn morning. 

I sigh heavily as I straighten my back and stare at my reflection. I looked like shit. 

And it wasn't in the sense that those characters in movie use, when they're kidnapped and held hostage for days in crappy motel rooms yet still manage to maintain a full face of make up. Nope, my life said fuck that shit. I hadn't washed my face let alone shower and my hair was an absolute rats nest. 

I pathetically try to fix it my running my fingers through the long strands but it barely did any help. 

The shouting continued and I rolled my eyes. I had lost most of voice by now, so Luke didn't bother with the duct tape as there was only a quite rasp left when I spoke. I turn around, feeling the urge to release the little water I drunken when I hear the door burst open. 

"Hayden!" I hear before Luke appears in the doorway of the bathroom. He sighs a sigh of relief, "Good. Let's go." 

"What? What's going on?" I question as Luke charges at me, throws me over his shoulder and carries me through the room and out the door. I slam my handcuffed wrists against his back and kick my legs, but he holds me tight, "What the hell is going o—" 

"Hayden!" 

I hear the familiar voice, somewhere far yet close. My head perks up as I glance around looking for the blonde ball of sunshine that had just shouted my name. 

Luke makes a sharp turn and begins to run down the stares, his shoulder bone jutting harshly into my lower stomach with every step. 

"Jones!" 

That simple word alone was enough to make my heart sky rocket. My eyes dart around the second story balcony of the motel and struggle to keep focus. But I see him. Chase and Noah were on the other end of the L shaped structure and I watch as Chase takes off into a dead sprint just before the second story floor breaks my view.

I could almost cry. He was here. 

They were running down the stairs as Luke throws me into the backseat of his car and slams the door shut. He then jumps into the drivers seat, turns on the ignition and reverses so fast that I could hear the tires screech loudly against the tarmac. 

I was violently trying both door handles of the car, screaming through my dry throat and watching out the window as Chase and Noah make a bee-line for the car. 

Luke shifts into gear and speeds out of the motel. It was so fast I get pushed back against the seats and my neck whips back.

"Stop." I manage to croak out as Luke's frantic eyes glance at me through the rearview mirror. "Someone's going to get hurt, Luke." 

"No one will get hurt, baby. I'll get us out of here." Luke says calmly as he continued to break the speed limit at record speeds. It was grey and gloomy and overcast above and the road was wet from the earlier rain. 

Luke speeds down a long empty road, lined with tall walls of pine on either side. I glance around, noticing the emptiness before glancing over my shoulder to see Chase's familiar black mustang racing after us. Relief and happiness fills my system at the sight. 

"Stop the car Luke." I tell him as Luke continues to apply pressure to the accelerator, "I said stop!" 

I scream as I throw my arms over the head of his seat and pull back, locking the handcuffs around his neck. The car instantly begin to swerve and my body slams into the side of the door. 

"Fuck! Hayden!" Luke croaks out, struggling to keep one stable hand on the steering wheel and the other attempting to take my hands from around his neck. 

Was this dangerous? Hell fucking yes. But it was also necessary. I had been complacent for so  long and I think it's about about damn time I had a say in what happens with my life. 

I continue to pull against Luke's neck, feeling the handcuffs dig into the flesh of his skin. Luke takes his other hand off the steering wheel and attaches it to my wrist. 

It took a total of three seconds before the car begins to veer off the road. I stare through the windscreen as the car zooms off the road and towards the line of pine trees. I pull my arms back over Luke's head, but it was too late for him to gain control again

We hit it. I'm not sure when nor at what speed. All I know is that the car stopped when it collided with the tree, but everything inside kept moving. 

All air dissipated from my lungs as I'm slammed against the chair in front. Glass flies everywhere and I could feel it slice my skin, white hot and sharp. It was almost in slow motion. 

Then, all at once everything stops and I go soaring back. My spine heats the leather seats before I fall over. 

Everything was dead silent as I lay across the glass covered seats. Through hazy eyes, I could see Luke hung over the steering wheel and past him was the engine, crumpled and teeming with white steam. It looked funny. 

A half dazed smile crosses my lips. 

"Hayden!"

I heard my name again and it took a while for me to process what the hell was going on. Then slowly, I lift myself up and try the door handle once more. The door juts ajar and lifting my leg, I kick it open. The feeling of fresh air was amazing and I peel myself from the interior of the car. 

Every part of my body was in pain. But when I see Chase's car a few yards down the barren highway, Noah standing behind an opened door and Chase sprinting towards me, that pain seemed to vanish instantly. 

I take off for him, each stride bursting with pain but each step was closer him. It was hard to run with my hands still handcuffed, but I tried my damn hardest. When I reach him, I just collapse. He catches me with ease though and I feel his arms wrap around my body. The feeling, the realisation that I was finally home, was enigmatic and incomparable to anything I've felt before. 

"You're here." I mumble into the crook of his neck as Chase pulls his head back. I glance up at him as he holds my head between his two hands. A tear slips down my cheek, "You're actually here." 

"I never left, Jones." Chase mumbles before pressing his lips to mine. I was crying tears of happiness into the kiss as I met instantly. Our lips clash in a perfect blaze of fury and passion as our tongues battle each other. I was on fire, everything was on fire. 

I hold onto the front his leather jacket for dear life as Chase lodges his hands into my hear, keeping me steady; keeping me here. Chase pulls his lips from mine and presses his forehead to mine. 

He was breathing heavily, "Fuck, I love you." 

"Even....even after everything...before...?" I could barely form a coherent sentence. Chase chuckles as he leans back and moves my hair out of my face. 

"I don't think I could ever stop loving you, Hayden Jones. You're inside my fucking veins." Chase mumbles as the roar of an engine echoes over the silent road. I look past Chase's shoulder to see another car pull up beside the black vehicle and out races Penn, Vera and Levi. They were all here. 

"Hayden!" Vera cries out as they begin to run towards me. A large smile stretches across my lips as I go to step past Chase towards my girls, but suddenly a loud gunshot rings through my ears. I flinch down instantly at the terrifying sound. 

"Well, isn't this a nice little reunion." Luke said as Chase and I turn around to see him slowly walking away from the ground with a gun pointed towards the sky. Chase protectively pulls me into his side as Luke chuckles at us, "You two would make a great couple." 

Chase inhales sharply, "Luke...put the gun down." 

"It's cute that you think I'll take orders from you, brother." Luke grins at him, "Which reminds me, how's my baby Sofia?" 

"You fucking asshole." Chase grumbles under his breath as he starts forward but Luke instantly points the gun at him. I pull Chase back to me and slightly shift myself in front of him. 

"Everything was going so well until you had to show up and ruin it Chase." Luke laughs manically as he shakes the gun at us, "You always seem to fucking ruin everything, don't you." 

"Luke, you don't have to do this okay? We can help you, we can get you the help you need." I talk to him in a calmly matter, my my frantic eyes kept glancing at the charcoal black gun in his hand. 

"I don't need help! I need you Hayden!" Luke shouts, grabbing a fistful of his hair in frustration, "Do you love me, Hayden?" 

I glance up at Chase before returning my focus to Luke, "I can't give you an answer that you would like, Luke." 

"Just answer the fucking question Hayden. It's not that hard!" He screams, stepping even closer with the gun still pointed at us. 

"No." I say while clutching onto Chase, "But you already know this Luke. I will never love you." 

Luke stares at me for a while. He then begins to laugh and drops the gun to his side. He runs a hand through his hair, still chuckling to himself before he whips back to us and lifts the gun once more, "Well then, if I can't have you then I guess no one can have you." 

I heard the gunshot, the loud ear-piercing sound of death and destruction. In that moment, I remembered a saying I heard from some movie when I was younger; if you hear the gunshot, it wasn't meant for you. 

But in this case it was meant for me, it just didn't hit me. 

Chase had moved in front of me, giving me deja vu from the night I had snuck into that run down boxing club to watch him fight. Except this time, the sound that escape his lips was more painful and he crumbles into my arms as I feel force of the bullet through him. 

It all happened so fast I had no clue what was happening. Over the top of Chase's head, I could see Luke standing in the middle of the road, his gun still pointed at us and a blank look on his face. 

My eyes move behind him at the red and blue flashing lights as cop cars were racing towards us. Luke instantly takes off for the trees and I couldn't count how many cop cars were there because I could feel Chase begin to slip down my body. 

I crumble under his weight, "Hey, hey, hey." 

I set him down on the ground and rest his head on my lap. I move his hair out of the way of his face as he stares up at me with a confused look on his face, like he didn't even know what was happening. 

"It's going to be okay Chase. You're going to be okay. Just keep you eyes open, okay baby? Just keep them open." I ramble as I smile down at him, tears falling from my eyes as I hold his head with my handcuffed hands. I could see his eye lids were getting heavy, "Don't you dare close them you fucking asshole. I love you so much, you know that right?" 

Chase nods slowly as I could hear Noah and Levi and Vera and Penn all shouting from behind me as they near us. Chase's hazel eyes were now moving all over the show as he struggles to breath. 

I shake him slightly to keep him awake. I could see the cop cars at stop and a few of the men were running towards us, "Hey, look. Help is here, just hold on a little longer okay?" 

I lean down, still crying tears and press my lips to his forehead. 

"It's going to be alright. Everything is fine." I whisper to him, watching as his eyes lock with mine before slowly shutting. I shake him again and again and again. There was nothing there. "Chase....Chase!" 

Officers began to try and pull me off them and there were so many people shouting, but it just sounded like white noise to me. I think I was screaming too as I was pulled away watching ambulance officers surround Chase's body.

His numb body. 

ooof, talk about a cliff hanger, i'm getting pretty good at those i think. 

*cue evil laughter*

remember next chapter is on inkitt if you can't wait!

we're almost at the end and i'm so sad

important question below

i'm not sure if i'm going to do an epilogue or a sequel

what do you guys want more?

please comment your thoughts as this is a very serious matter :)