Consumed

ARIANNE

I played an irregular rhythm on the table with my fingers as I stared at my phone screen. I’d been sitting on the leather chair in his office, pacing around, playing games on my phone and doing basically anything to kill time.

Thirty minutes had never been so long since I’d known time. It felt as though a certain person was dragging back the time, making my chest swell with unease.

I didn’t know I was panicking until I stared at my fingers. I was chipping the polish off subconsciously and now my nails were totally ruined.

It was then I realised the rate at which I chipped my nails off had lessened since I met Tristan and my nails had been staying longer, untouched, than before.

The moment it struck thirty minutes, I slapped my hands down on the table and pushed myself up, grabbing my phone and heading towards the door. Something was definitely wrong and I couldn’t help the feeling. I had tried to convince myself it was the way he lived and it was probably not the first time he was stacking guns to himself. But there was a little hole in my chest that was saying something different.

I yanked open the door and jerked back when I saw four men in suits, standing at the door. Two men were standing at the wall opposite me, and the other two were standing on each side of the door.

I eyed them but they remained stone faced, staring into space like deprived robots. Clearing my throat, I took a step out of the door but again, I jerked back when one of them shot out his arm in front of me, stopping me on my tracks.

“The boss said he’ll be back soon. Till then, we’re to keep you safe.” He said, not even looking at me, just staring straight ahead.

I swallowed the panic in my throat and cleared it. “But your boss didn’t tell you to keep me locked here, did he? I’m not Rapunzel.” I said and tried to move, hoping he’d lift his big arm out of the way but he kept it there. “You’re not going to let me out?” I sighed out and he said nothing.

Rolling my eyes, I went back inside and slammed the door. “Tristan better have a good explanation for this.” Breathing out, I called his phone.

It rang the first time. No answer.

Again. No answer.

Again. Voicemail.

Again. Switched off.

He said to call him if I needed anything. Why wasn’t he picking up? Oh God.

My heart thumped heavily against my chest, my fingers coming together when panic crept in as I paced in the office. He wasn’t picking up. It was switched off. He’d never do that. Unless he was really busy with what he was doing. Yeah, he was busy. That was it. He was just busy.

With my gut screaming loudly at me, I walked back to the leather chair and sat, feigning patience. I wasn’t patient. He said he’d be back after thirty minutes and it was five minutes past thirty minutes already.

Okay, maybe I was overreacting. I shouldn’t be expecting him to be back on time. He was human, not a robot. There was no way he’d stick to the exact time he promised.

Well, dammit!

I shot up from the chair and flung open the door. “Let me out or I’ll call him right now.”

The one opposite me spoke up. “He has told us to keep you safe.”

“Well, I’m not safe in there. I’m a minute from exploding. At least, let me cool off with something in the club. It’s suffocating in here.” I didn’t even wait for them to decide if to let me go, I just started walking to the door that led to the club.

I opened it and the soft music from earlier was still cooling off the air. There were fewer people and the bar was empty, just one bartender in black bow tie with a white towel slung over his shoulder. I walked to it and sat on the stool.

He shot me a smile that I didn’t return and texted Brian.

Me: Where is your boss?

I dropped the phone on the bar counter and blew out a breath. Glancing behind me, I saw the four bodyguards standing separately near the door I came out from. Again, Tristan better have a better explanation for locking me up with bodyguards and not picking his call.

I checked my phone and saw no reply from Brian. Angrily, I smashed my chipped thumbs on the keyboard.

Me: Where did he go? Why isn’t he here? Why are you guys not answering me?

I tossed it on the counter, ignoring the way the idle bartender was staring at me. I wasn’t feeling okay. Nothing was. I needed to see Tristan. And the longing was getting acute with every passing second.

Still nothing from Brian. The asshole was always in front of computers. How the hell did he not have his fucking phone with him?

Me: FINE! I’m running away from here.

The reply came within seconds.

Brian: Don’t

The asshole was seeing my messages. What the fuck was happening?

Me: Where are you? I’m coming to the club

It took long before he replied.

Brian: Fucking stay!

“Fuck you!” I spat out, almost smashing the phone across the room but stopped when I realised it was a new one and I needed it. He’d been gone for almost forty-five minutes and his cell phone wasn’t going through. To worsen the whole nerve-wracking situation, Brian was barking at me. Something was definitely wrong. Maybe my gut was right.

Quickly, I stood up from the stool and rushed towards the exit. I knew the four men would be matching after me so I hurried out of the door, hoping I’d lose them on the way. But then, I reared back at the last minute when a hefty man slipped in front of me, blocking my path and almost making me collide with his chest.

“The hell?” I looked up, my frown deepening when I saw another man in suit, his expression not different from the ones behind me. “Let me go. I have to go somewhere important.” I said through gritted teeth, impatience and anger—my two worst enemies—expanding with every second I spent staring at their faces.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. You can’t le—”

“Why the fuck can’t I? Get out of my way!” I pushed him, but like a rock, he didn’t move nor did he shift. Blowing out a mouthful of frustrated air, I ran my hands through my hair roughly, thinking of a way to get out of the club. I couldn’t wait for Tristan to be back. I was incapable of waiting. And Brian even screamed at me to fucking stay put.

I ran back into the club, knocked his office door open, rummaged all his drawers until I found a delicate weapon, kept it and stormed out. I tried calling Brian and Tristan again on my way towards the exit but none of them were reachable. And it pained me I had no one else to call aside Brian.

“Let me out.” I snapped when a guard trooped in front of me the moment I opened the front door. I was about to do something irrevocably dangerous when I caught sight of someone striding towards us. He was big, stripped t-shirt and ripped jeans. And a tattoo on his neck.

Holy God!

“Hey!” I waved my hand, trying to catch his attention like he wasn’t walking towards me already. “Can you help me out here? They won’t let me go.” I was literally almost crying at this point.

The man got to me, giving the guard in front of me a look that made him step aside. He was surely a close friend of Tristan with the way the guard immediately obeyed him, maybe he could get me out of the club.

“Where's Tristan? I’ve been trying to reach him.” I asked him.

He masked a worried look. “He’s fine. You have to go back in, Arianne.”

“And do what? What is wrong?”

He breathed out, apparently having the patient span of an ant. “I don’t know. Just stay inside till—”

“Eternity? Come on, I’ll shoot myself to death if I stay here for another minute.”

“He’s just busy. Why do you think something is wrong?”

I breathed in, biting my bottom lip as I ran my fingers through my hair. “I just...I just you know, I have this bad feeling and I can’t seem to distract myself.” When I removed my hand from my hair, I found it grabbing his shirt in desperation. He looked shocked but he didn’t swat my hands away. “Please, take me to him. I just need to see him. I don’t have to talk to him. I only want to know he’s alright.”

He pushed my hands down. “You don’t get it. Tristan is very strict ab—”

I yanked out the knife from under my dress and brought it to my neck. “And I’m fucking serious. Take me away from here. I know you know where Tristan is.” I snarled, the blade of the knife pressed against my flesh.

I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know why I was going this far to get to him. I didn’t know why this bad feeling wouldn’t stop strangling me, cutting off my air and making me do absurd things in order to breathe. And I knew it wouldn’t stop until I saw Tristan.

“What the fuck are you doing? Drop the knife.” He shifted forward to grab my hand but I stepped back, pressing it harder against my neck. “I can’t take you, Tris will be bloody pissed at me.” He gritted out, angry at my nuisance. But still, I arched my head up and pressed it harder, aware of the guards that were trying to get to me. “Fine fine. Just put the goddamn knife down before you do something foolish.”

He walked away from me as he slipped out his phone. With his back facing me, he spoke discreetly with someone on the phone before turning to face me again. “Let her go.”

I dropped the knife in my hand and started running after him, trying to catch up with his long strides. He unlocked a red car after many steps and I slipped into the front seat, my legs bouncing as my fingers kept feasting on each other.

“He’s fine right?” I asked when he started driving. The man flashed a glance as if he couldn’t believe he was actually driving me.  Then Tristan’s words about not trusting this man seeped into my head, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

The rest of the ride was silent. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the nervous energy radiating from him or because the car was too small, but it all did nothing to shrink the tension wrapping around my spine. I was supposed to be calm now that I was going to Tristan but calmness was a sea away from me.

My palms were sweaty and I had one nail left to chip off. Anxiety would swallow me if I had no polish to chip off anymore so I hurried the man on. It was as if Tristan was the only antidote to every wrong thing stirring up in me.

We pulled up in front of an hospital some minutes later and when I turned to the man, confused, he sighed and didn’t meet my gaze. Gosh, I was right. Something was wrong.

Okay, hold on. He might not be a patient. He probably had the so called meeting in the hospital. Like an appointment with a doctor.

I turned to the man whose hand was gripping the steering wheel tight. “Why did we st—”

An ambulance siren cut me off as it drove past our car and stopped in front of us. Nurses rushed out of the hospital immediately, including Dr. Gabriel because we were in front of his hospital. Panic was written all over his face as he ordered the nurses around.

I had no idea my hand had unlocked the door until I pushed it open and got out. The double door of the ambulance flung wide and some uniformed men pulled out a man on a stretcher.

When the stretcher hit the ground and the nurses began to push the man covered in blood into the hospital, my breath seized.

My flowing blood turned to ice and the panic in me perished. My heart seemed to stop beating as well because I didn’t know how much I needed air until the man who brought me hit my shoulder.

I snapped back to life, the panic rushing back with vengeance as my eyes teared up. I just...I just saw Tristan. Tris..tan was covered in blood. Tristan was the one on the stretcher. That was the same suit he wore in the morning before we left home.

My eyes swept to the hospital door. Tristan!

I sprinted toward the door, my entire body vibrating with an unknown fear. I practically pushed the nurses out of the way and grabbed the stretcher, following the rest as they pushed it towards the emergency room.

Tristan was unrecognisable. Tears poured out of my eyes at the sight of his body, my heavy heart clenching in pain. He was drenched and soaked in so much blood I doubted he still had some left in his body. His pale face was painted in dried and fresh blood, the image sending a knife right through my soul.

“Tris—Tristan.” I shook his arm as we all sped to where they were taking him. I shook him harder, my cries loud when I realised there was a bullet in his chest. “Tristan!” I screamed, the nurses making no attempt to stop me. “Tris—please. Wake up, don’t you dare die.”

I bawled harder when I saw the emergency door and he wasn’t answering me. He couldn’t die. He couldn’t die after he told me he was always going to come back. As we reached the door and the nurses were about to stop me, I said the only thing I could only think of.

With tears clogging my throat, I pushed out the words. “I swear with everything in me, if you die, I’ll become a famous whore and let plenty men touch me. And I will fucking exhibit my naked body, and I’m not kidding, Tristan. I’ll do i—”

His eyes peeled open slowly, relieve bobbling in my stomach, not a little bit concerned about the looks the nurses gave me with my weird speech. What mattered was he opened his eyes and he looked at me.

His half lidded eyes were on me as two nurses came to me, pushing me back as they drove Tristan into the emergency room. I held his gaze until he disappeared, my heart fifty pounds heavier. I had had many disheartening moments in my life but none of them could compare to seeing Tristan drenched with his own blood.

The doctor breezed past me and I grabbed his collar before I realised. Dr. Gabriel turned to me, his eyes running over my body swiftly before gently tugging me to a side.

“Wait here.” He was about to go but I dragged him back.

“P—please, save him. I’m begging you.” My voice broke, my teary eyes pleading him as hard as they could.

“You don’t have to tell me that, Arianne. I will never let him die.” He said firmly, pinning me with assurance before he rushed inside.

I didn’t know why Dr. Gabriel looked so alarmed but for some unknown reason, I believed him.

I was about to fall into a chair when I saw someone I’d been too blind to notice. Brian.

He was standing not too far from me, his red eyes on the door. His clothes, arms and neck were covered with Tristan’s blood, telling me he was the one who saw Tristan’s body first.

I slid down the wall, sitting on the floor beside the chair as I brought my legs close to my chest, hugging them. I didn’t have the energy to ask what happened.

All I wanted was for Dr. Gabriel to come out and tell me Tristan, the man who claimed I was his, would survive.

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