Status Updates From Visions of You (Lost & Foun...

Get back here, you bi--h!” My lungs burned, and my vision wavered, but I kept fighting. A hand fisted in my hair, yanking me back. We fell in a tangle of limbs. He slapped me across the face, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. “You don’t run from me. You’ll pay for that. You’re mine. Don’t you ever forget it.” I squirmed, trying to get my hands free so I could fight. “I’m not yours. I never will be.

“He cares about you. If he’s putting distance between you right now, it’s because he thinks it’s what’s best.” I glanced back at Holt. His fingers gripped the wheel tightly, his knuckles white. “Sounds like you know a little something about that.” His jaw worked back and forth. “Sometimes, we have to sacrifice for the people we love the most.” “Sometimes, you’re just making yourself into a martyr,” I mumbled.

Holstering his weapon, he gently turned me away from the sight. It was only when his hand came into contact with my back that I realized I was shaking, trembling so hard my teeth chattered. West cursed and pulled me into his arms. “You’re okay. You’re safe.” Was I? Because there was a dead rat in my locker, and I hadn’t missed what had been written in blood on the inside of the door. YOU’RE MINE, OR YOU’RE NO ONE’S.

Hushed voices came from the kitchen. I strained to hear what they said. Cara’s voice raised a fraction. “Don’t let him get to you.” “He gives me whiplash. One second, I think we’re friends. The next, it’s like he can’t even stand to be in the same room as me.” I winced. I was an asshole. There was no question. I had to figure out a way to keep my distance from Lex but not hurt her in the process.

She bent, picking up a rock. But my eyes were locked on the white envelope. I hurried to Cara’s side and snatched it up. Someone had written my name in block letters across the front. I should’ve waited, should’ve handed it to the police or West, but I needed to see what was inside. I tugged the notecard free, and my blood ran cold. YOU’RE MINE. TELL THEM TO LEAVE, OR YOU’LL BE PUNISHED.

What did you do?” She spoke in one long, run-on sentence. “I might’ve told West what’s going on & he told his boss & they’re going to come out here and try to figure out what’s going on.” “What?” I swallowed the anger I felt at Cara telling the last person I wanted to know about this. Because the idea of West seeing me as a kid who needed to be rescued from a mess of her own making was almost more than I could take.

But there was something about Lex. She was an old soul. She saw through everyone’s façades to whatever lay beneath. Her haunting amber eyes flashed in my mind. The same ones that had held so much understanding when I broke down after my mother died. The ones that sparked with gold fire as she played her guitar and sang, pouring every emotion into the husky words. The ones that burned when her gaze locked with mine.