(Embry’s POV)
Slowly handing the phone back to the man, Sebastian’s words were spinning around my mind. I loved Evelyn but she really did raise some odd sons. A sense of determination filled me, not quite enough to block out my fear but enough to not have me running back groveling for Noah’s forgiveness.
“Put these on, and take this” the man seated beside me gruffly said, handing me a bundle of clothes and a folded up piece of paper. “But, I thought I was safe, why do I need a disguise?”
“There’s a slim chance Noah could station his own men at public transport entrances, so just to be safe, follow the address on that map and expect random calls from Sebastian.” Unfolding the sheet of paper, I realised it was in fact a map, one that had a big red circle surrounding some area on a street.
“Where will this bring-” looking up I stared dumbfounded as the mysterious man was gone. Great. Throwing Noah’s jacket off, I placed on the new jacket, scarf and hat on, I traced the best route for me to go with my finger. If I get off in two stops and walk for a while I should be there within a decent amount of time.
Folding back up the map, red writing on the other side caught my eye.
“You’ll be safe here,
Tell her everything and don’t screw this up.
-Sebastian”
I couldn’t stop the anxiety pooling in my stomach, this would lead me to somebody Sebastian is clearly close enough with, that seemed like a good enough red flag for me to just not go. But what other choice did I have, I think I had about one thousand in cash, which was a lot but would not get me far. Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer that this would work out.
Staring back down at the map, I examined the tattoo parlour sitting in front of me, the open sign still brightly lit up. Biting back my consuming negative thoughts, I drew a breath in and entered the dimly lit parlour. I was mesmerised by the beautiful art on the walls, the atmosphere seeming warm and surprisingly welcoming.
“Embry, oh my god! Hi, what are you doing here? Is Noah with you?” spinning around to find the source of the voice, I could feel my jaw drop at the figure in front of me. “Indigo!” I exclaimed, he had sent me to his sister?
“You seem surprised to see me, did you not know I owned this place?” She questioned, placing down the ink gun that was in her hand down. “I- well no, not really-” not having a chance to finish, her face turned to one of concern. “Wait, wasn’t the wedding today? Where’s Noah, did something happen, are you both okay?” Her voice became increasingly alarmed as she inspected the dirt covered bottom of my white dress.
“He’s fine, I think anyway, didn’t Sebastian call you?”
I recalled the words from the back of the map.
“Tell her everything”
“No? Embry, I’m starting to get really worried, what’s up?” Taking the inside of my cheek between my teeth I was stumped on how I would even begin to explain this. “Indigo, your family haven’t been very honest with you,” I trailed off, “Noah and I did get married today but our relationship isn’t what you think it is.”
I grimaced at the knowledge I would have to relive everything if I wanted to inform Indigo of everything. “Is there somewhere private we can go so I can explain?”
With a nod on her part, I felt bad as I watched the worry swirling in her eyes, I was dragging yet another person into my mess. Nervously I observed as she flipped the sign to close and locked the door, “We can talk in the back room”, smiling gratefully at her I followed her into a small room with two couches, and a little kitchenette area.
Taking a seat across from her I nervously rambling, “I never had a dog named Buster who died, I lied, it was made up, I mean if I did have a dog I probably wouldn’t have even named it Buster you know, probably something like Sapphire or some- crap, okay, that’s not the point, sorry, it just feels a bit weird to talk about this after being away for so long.” Deeply inhaling I dug my nails into the palms of my hands, focusing on that feeling, “I can’t think of how to explain this, do you happen to have a phone or a computer I could use?”
“Thank you” I mumbled as she gave her phone to me. Opening up the search engine I typed in what I knew would explain what I couldn’t,
“Noah Hill kidnapping case”
I watched as a mass of anxiety while her eyes widened significantly reading through the articles on her phone. “What the fuck” she whispered, vigorously scrolling down.
“That’s not all” I frowned, reaching for her phone once again.
“Embry Thompson suicide”
Quickly looking away before the results came up I knew I wasn’t mentally strong enough to be exposed to that just yet. “Embry” her voice cracked, her eyes becoming watery, “what happened?”
“He got bailed out sooner than expected and I made a stupid decision to stay home alone and he took me, this is my first time properly escaping and Sebastian told me to come to you” I smiled weakly.
“Is Noah- Is Noah looking for you?” Moving my hands to under my thighs I tried to stop the shakiness that overtook me as I taught about how Noah was most definitely looking for me. “Yeah, he is, and he’s probably really really mad at me right now and if he finds me-” I gulped, “he’s going to do some really bad things to me.”
“Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. This has been happening this whole time right in front of me,” I noticed her chest heaving up and down in a panicked state as she sucked quick breaths in. “Indigo, Indigo, look at me, it’s okay, see I’m okay” I faked a smile, kneeling in front of her.
“We need to, we need to go to the police, Embry.” Yanking my arm from her new grip I stepped back from her, “we can’t, Sebastian warned me, he said it would be a stupid move because your dad has too much control over the police stations, he said if I can manage to be free from Noah for six months he’ll help me be free forever.”
I could see her face harden at this fact, “shit, the little fuckers correct, they’d just send you right back to him.” I could sense my composure breaking, tears slipping out one by one, “I’m scared, Indigo and I don’t know what to do.”
Dropping my head against her shoulder, I welcomed her comfort as she wrapped me tightly in her embrace. “Shh, it’s okay Em, I’ll help you, you’re not alone,” clutching onto the back of her shirt my sobs became increasingly louder as she said that.
You’re not alone.
You’re not alone.
You’re not alone.
All I’ve felt lately was alone, but here, as I cried onto her shoulder with her stroking my hair, I didn’t feel alone. Of course I was scared, I had never escaped that fear even when I knew Noah was behind bars somewhere but I wasn’t alone.
“Look I have an empty apartment above here, because I’ve moved in with Dakota, my fiancee, so I want you to live here and don’t worry about money or anything like that. I don’t even think Noah knows where this place is, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”
Smiling up at her, I could faintly taste the salty tears run across my lips, “you know, I’ve never actually had a real friend who wasn’t Noah before.” “Well Bree, I hope you like me because we are going to be the bestest of friends from now on” she winked down at me.
Maybe I’ll be okay.
(Noah’s POV)
It had been about two hours now since Embry had slipped from my grip. There was still nothing on her, as if she just disappeared into thin air. I had really convinced myself Sebastian would have found her by now but the bastard had yet to find anything, at all. I couldn’t distract myself from the deep pitted worry inside of me, what if something had happened to her?
She isn’t able to handle herself out there, that’s why she had me, to protect her and now without me, anything could happen to her. It was killing me. I was banned from going out to find her by my mother, she would be ‘too worried’ to know I was out in such a fury as it was getting dark. I knew what she was playing at, there was a greater chance of freedom for Embry if I was here, but despite her trying to help Embry, she was my mother, I couldn’t speak up against her wishes.
Burying my head further into the fabric of my little bug’s wedding dress, I let her magnificent scent surround me. Inhaling deeply I shut my eyes imagining she was here with me. How could she do this to me? On our wedding day as well, she had been so obedient lately, there was no excuse for a stunt such as this.
My tears were long dried up, my head pounding as I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I wanted her back, why won’t she come back. Pulling my laptop from the bedside table, I shuffled through my photo album of her, yearning for her to just apparate in front of me again.
I had everything planned perfectly for this honeymoon, I was going to spoil her, I even had that fucking necklace for her once we land-
Wait a minute.
Wait a fucking minute.
The necklace.