“Answer me, goddammit,” he snarls.

I close my eyes, and angry tears slide down my cheeks. You’re stronger than this, Meadow. You can beat this fear. You can swim now. Let him throw you over the edge...let him...my eyes snap open...if he throws me over, I can swim to the side and run...I can escape. My heart rate picks up, and my body fills with that familiar adrenalin.

“Last chance. Answer me, or I toss you over.”

I clamp my mouth shut, fighting with fear and terror, fighting with my own head. This might be my only chance. I focus on trying to breathe as I feel Axel grip my shirt, shoving me forward. I swallow a scream, and my hands clench together. You can do this. You can swim now. It’s going to be fine. It’s all okay. You’re stronger, braver, better...

“Fine, have it your way,” Axel hisses, and then he shoves my body forward and I fall over the side of the bridge with a scream so loud it echoes through the night sky.

I land in the water with an almighty crack. My skin burns angrily as I struggle to resurface. It isn’t easy when I’m cuffed, but I manage to. I blink furiously, kicking my legs and using my combined fist to shove the water from my eyes. I see Axel’s men standing at the left and right sides of the bank. They’re watching me with smirks on their faces. I scream help, and begin flailing around, pretending I can’t swim. Then I take a deep breath and go under the water, heading straight under the bridge and out the other side. I ignore the tingling all over my body, and the slap-like pain that’s radiating off my thighs.

I reach the bank, and I can hear Axel’s men yelling and cursing at each other. They probably think I’ve drowned. At least, I hope they have. That was the point. I launch myself out, hitting a bunch of thick, spikey shrubs. I scramble, struggling to get to my feet without the use of my hands. My body is filled with a strange kind of power, and the fear of jumping from that bridge is gone. Instead, it’s given me a sense of strength.

I duck down, and I shove through the trees. I have no idea where I am, or if I’m going to end up over the side of a cliff running into the night like this, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I can’t hear Axel, and I wonder if he’s still making his way off the bridge. That, or he’s slowly murdering his men for being so stupid.

When I get past the shrubs, I begin running gently, cuffed arms out in front of me to navigate my way through the trees. I glimpse a light to my left, and my heart leaps into my throat. Seconds. Seconds. I turn to the right, pushing on, distancing myself from the light as much as I can. I can hear voices yelling in the distance somewhere, but I don’t want to stop and hear what they’re saying.

I hit what feels like pavement, and I almost sigh in relief. A road. I peer left and right, and the lights of the cars begin appearing both ways, burning my eyes. I squint and take a step back, debating which way to run. The road was behind the bridge, I believe, so I’ll go left, the way that leads away from him.

With bare feet, I start making my way down the road in a light jog. My legs are aching, and an awful tingly feeling is creeping its way up my body. My body is stiff and sore, and my head is pounding, but I don’t stop. Nothing can make me give up right now.

I don’t even want to consider how close Axel might be. I didn’t hear him yell. Maybe he thinks I didn’t surface.

Then I hear the rumbling of a Harley-Davidson, and my body stiffens. I slowly turn, and see one single light hammering toward me. With a scream, I leap off the road and begin running through the trees again, hitting them and scratching my body with their twigs. I see a light flash, and then I hear the sound of boots crunching. I pick up my pace, and end up running directly into a large, thick tree. I am launched backward with a scream, and blood spurts from my nose. I cry out loudly as I feel my body sink to the ground in shock.

Then I feel arms, wrapping around me and dragging me back out through the trees.

“Let me go,” I scream.

“That was fuckin’ stupid, but smart. You’re fuckin’ clever, you little shit,” Axel growls.

“My...n-n-n-nose...” I choke out, pressing my hands over it as Axel drags me.

When we step onto the road, Axel lets me go and flashes the light across my face.

“The fuck did you do?” he asks.

“I ran into a tree trying to escape you, you stupid fuck!”

He snorts, and then turns to his bike, opening the side panniers to get an old, oily slither of material. He lets me go for a split second, so I turn and attempt to launch my body back toward the shrubs. If I can run further, maybe a car will see me with blood all over my face, and stop.

Axel growls and runs after me, his boots crunching loudly on the gravel. He reaches me before I even have the chance to get fifty meters down the road.

My body is exhausted.

I’m exhausted.

His fingers curl around my arm, and he spins me towards him with a feral hiss. “Fight as you may, you will not escape me. I’m not going to be making such a stupid mistake again. You’re cluey, girl. Smarter than I’d thought. Your dad would be real proud.”

“How dare you?” I seethe, tugging my hands, but he’s got them firmly clasped in his.

He steps back, keeping one hand on the chain of my cuffs. He takes his shirt, and pulls it up, unhooking one arm before switching hands and unhooking the other. My eyes widen in shock at the sight of his excessively large, muscled body. Jesus. He walks toward me, and curls his fingers around the back of my head, pressing his shirt to my nose. I’m grateful he decided not to use the scrap of material, but the pain of him pressing it against my face has me crying out in agony.