Getting Away With You

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
Just before Freak pulled the trigger I moved, and jumped on him, the bullet slamming into the floor.

“NO!” I heard Matt cry from outside, his voice sounding upset beyond belief. “DON’T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!” He screamed and I pinned Freak’s arms above his head as the door flew open, the doorknob making a hole in the wall and I looked back at Matt as him and Jimmy burst in through the door. Matt pulled me up off of Freak and as soon as he did Freak opened fire, and I felt something hit my leg. Freak went to get up and Jimmy kicked him in the head, and he fell back. We ran outside and got into the Suburban. Matt and I got in the backseat while Jimmy got in the driver’s seat and pulled out, the tires screeching against the concrete and then slinging up gravel as we sped down the road.

“Oh my god you’re still alive.” Matt breathed and hugged me as tight as he could, and I hugged him back, never wanting to let go. It was all nearly over. The ending to my life nearly came years too soon.

“Hey, are you two okay? Shots were flying.” Jimmy glanced back at us, and we pulled away from each other, and just as we did, Matt froze.

“Oh my god, Danni, your leg.” Matt said, and when I looked down to my leg I saw a bullet hole in my jeans. Right on my thigh where my phone was. I reached my hand into my pocket, and found my phone, and when I pulled it out I stared in horror at the bullet, lodged in the screen.

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^*Matt’s POV*^
I stared at Danni’s phone, and the bullet lodged in the center of the screen. Freak shot her. If it wasn’t for her phone she would’ve been hit, and unable to run, and he would’ve surely killed her. I fucking walked out on her and left her in there with that psycho lunatic. I walked out. I accepted the fact that he was going to kill her. For that moment, I accepted that, and I didn’t know why then. I was going to let him do that, and take her away from me. I was going to let him rip her away from me because I still have that dark part in my mind; the dark part that Chase is in. The dark part that continues to tell me that I can’t trust her, that she is going to bolt for the cops if I ever let her out of my sight. And with that still there, I was going to let Freak get rid of her. I was going to let him end her life, and mine. At this point, I’m accepting to death if anything happens to Danni. I don’t want to live without her; I can’t live without her.

“Great, I’m out of contact with my parents now. I know what number they called from, maybe if I could just call them back I could divert them to some other city.” Danni sighed as Jimmy pulled out of the woods, off of the dirt road, and onto the pavement of a main road.

“You can use my phone.” I said, taking my phone from my pocket. and she took it from my hand, and dialed a number, but after she got it dialed, and I heard the ring faintly from the phone, she paused before she put it to her ear.

“Matt,” She began as she stared at my phone. “Matt, why does it have Chase’s name?” She asked, looking up at me in horror. I took my phone back and this sick feeling hit me like ton of bricks as I barely had the conscious to click end.

“Oh my god.” When you dial a number, if that number is in your contacts with a name, it will automatically come up as that person’s number with their name on the screen. The number she dialed was one of Chase’s many cell phones. “Chase has them.” I looked up at her.

“What?” She asked, her voice strained.

“He must’ve fled back to Huntington after he tried to kill Brian, and got someone to research you.” It’s his process. “He probably found your parents and convinced them he was some police officer or something.”

“So what do we do now? I mean, if he’s with her parents now, he already knows exactly where the house is, and he knows what room Brian is in at the hospital.” Jimmy said, bringing up a good point.

“What about my parents? I mean, I’d love to just leave them with him, but we can’t.” Danni said, and I looked back at her.

“We can’t go to the hospital, still. We need to go get a hotel room or something, keep our phones turned off, and be out as little as possible. If we be careful, and stay one step ahead of him, we’ll be able to come up with a plan, and they’ll get out alive.” I said and she nodded.

“We just…we can’t let them get hurt.” She whispered and I nodded, taking her hand in mine.

“We won’t, don’t worry, they’ll be fine.” I said and she nodded, her eyes getting watery as she fell into me, wrapping her arms tightly around me.

“I hope so.” She whispered, and I rubbed her back comfortingly.

“It’s going to be okay, trust me.” In a way I hated saying that when I barely eve trusted myself.

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Before we got to the hotel, Jimmy called Brian, and quickly explained everything, but didn’t disclose where we were going in fear that Chase found a way to listen. Brian understood, and wished us luck, vowing that he would try and escape the hospital, but Jimmy declined, telling him it would be safer for him if he just stayed there. He reluctantly said okay. We had decided to hide out in the honeymoon suite and presidential suite of a Hampton hotel way across town. We arrived, and I checked Danni and I in under the name Trent Cobb, and Jimmy checked in under Francis Greene. Danni and I got an extra key to our room, and gave it to Jimmy and he gave us his extra key. We were going to be on the same floor, but each of us at opposite ends of a long hallway.

“Oh,” Jimmy began just before we walked away. I looked at him curiously “And if a man comes in by the name Brent Harrin, could you do me a favor and tell him that we’re not here? I have a brother in politics and he’s been stalking us for months, and we’d rather not have to deal with him while we’re here.”

“Will do Mr. Greene.” The clerk smiled as she wrote the message down, and we walked to the elevators.

“Brent Harrin?” Danielle questioned Jimmy after the elevator doors closed.

“Yea, what’s up with that?” I asked, also curious as to why he had asked for such a request. I didn’t know anyone by the name of Brent, and I was sure Jimmy didn’t either.

“I used to go on lookouts with Chase, and whenever we’d go to a hotel to rather check in on someone, or spy on someone, he always used the name Brent Harrin. Always.” He said, putting emphasis on his last word. “It’s a sure thing, so if he does by some chance find out we’re here, hopefully she’ll tell him different.”

“Smart.” I said and he nodded.

“Only a genius could have thought of it.”

“Yes, the genius that is Jimmy.” Danni said, a small smile on her face.

“The one and only.” Jimmy said as the doors opened again, and we all got off. We were faced with two hallways, and Jimmy turned to Danni and I. “If you guys need me, I’m at the end of the hall.” He said, and I nodded before he walked off. Danni still had a hold on my hand since we had gotten out of the car even as we began walking towards our room.

“Danielle,” is aid, grabbing her attention. “Are you alright?” I asked and she nodded.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“Well, you’ve had a death grip on my hand since we got out of the car.” I said and she let my hand go.

“Sorry, I’m just kind of shaken up. Chase is a scary guy, and he’s so conniving…” She trailed off, and I took a deep breath, my thoughts from the car still lingering in my head.

“I won’t let him hurt you, Danni, or your parents. Jimmy and I will keep you safe, and we’ll get your parents out of this mess.” I said, and we reached the room. I took the card from my pocket and opened the door to a large suite, bathed in white that was so blinding you almost needed to shield your eyes.

“I still haven’t had my shower today, so I’m gonna go get a bath.” She said, and I nodded as I closed the door.

“I’ll be here.” I said with a smile, and she leaned up and kissed me on the lips lightly before walking off towards the bathroom. I watched as she walked off, and something hit me. Her parents were with Chase, and once we save them, they’re going to want to take her back. Back to Huntington and away from me, but also away from Chase and this sick game he’s drug Jimmy, Brian and I back into, and is trying to bring her into. I don’t want to leave her, and I don’t want her to leave me, but I also don’t’ want her to get killed.

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^*Danielle’s POV*^
I stayed in the bathtub for an hour, and nearly dozed off, but it was nice to just relax, and not have someone pointing a gun at me for once. I soon emerged from the bathroom, and spotted Matt sitting on the couch, twirling his phone in his hands. I went over and sat down next to him.

“Thank god, I was about to come in there and make sure you hadn’t drowned.” He joked, kissing my cheek, and I smiled, wrapping my arms around him as he laid his phone on the coffee table and wrapped an arm around me. “I love you.” He whispered, bringing a bigger smile to my lips.

“I love you too.” I muttered into his chest.

“I’d never do anything to hurt you, Danni, or try and force you into the line of fire, so…I guess that’s why I’m saying this.” Before he could continue I pulled away from him lightly, and gave him a curious look.

“Saying what?” I questioned, and he sighed, deep and heavy like he was about to say something he didn’t want to.

“Danielle, when we get your parents away from Chase, I think…I think you need to go back to Huntington with them.” There they were; the words I never thought I’d hear him say, the words that cut through my heart like a dagger.

“Wh-what?” I asked, not really being able to comprehend anything else.

“You’re in danger whenever you’re near me or Jimmy, or Brian. Danger that could easily get you killed at any moment. If you left now, you could keep your life, and move on from me and Jimmy and Brian like we never existed.” He said, taking both of my hands. “I don’t want you to get hurt, but I can only protect you to an extent with you right by my side.” He whispered and I shook my head.

“No.” I said, my voice sounding much like a child’s to my distaste. “I don’t want to go back with them. I don’t care how much danger I’m in.”

“I don’t want you to be in this though. I want you to actually be happy, and not in fear every second that that second could be the last we’re together.”

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^*Matt’s POV*^
I didn’t want her to go, I really didn’t, but I didn’t feel she was safe anymore around me, or Jimmy, or Brian. But especially not me, because Chase has got a lot of issues with me right now, and he could bust through a window at any moment. Also because I’m still having these thoughts that she could be a liability. She could turn us all in, and leave. I call Chase a reincarnation of the devil, but really I’m the devil for thinking the way I am. I love her, and I want her to stay with me because of that, and the fact that I feel as if when she gets out of my sight, she’s going to go to the cops. I also love her, and want her to go because of that, and the fact that I love her so much I don’t want her to get hurt, or even worse; killed. If she died, I wouldn’t be able to go on. With her in another state, living would be hard, but it would be the thought that she’s still alive, and living on with her life the way she was supposed to instead of her being underground courtesy of a dangerous game that she had been drug into by a drug dealer and three men who didn’t have a choice but to participate that would keep me moving on. Danielle alive would be much better than the both of us dead.

“I don’t care, Matt.” She said, her voice raising a few octaves. “I don’t fucking care what kind of danger I’m in. I don’t care about who’s after me or you, or how many seconds we have left together.” Her voice softened. “All I care about is the time that I do have left, and that you have left, because I want to spend however many seconds I have alive on this earth with you, and only you.” She interwound our fingers together. “I don’t want to leave you, because I feel that if I do, as soon as I’m gone you’re going to disappear, and I’ll never see you again.” She said and I shook my head.

“I’m wanting you to go not because I don’t want to spend my life with you, because I do it’s just…it would be the safest.” I said and she shook her head.

“I’m the safest here with you.” She said, and wrapped her arms securely around me, and I knew I had lost. She was staying, rather it be the safest or not. I couldn’t force her to go, and I didn’t want to force her, it was just a suggestion of the safest plan to preserve the both of us. But most probably with her gone, I wouldn’t survive a day. I’d be gone right after she got on the plane. Hell, if I hadn’t of met her that night I wouldn’t be here right now. I’d be six feet under. She was like an angel, personally sent down from heaven to save me; to save the devil that I called myself. It truly wasn’t safe for her to be here. With me and my sick thoughts, and Chase and his twisted ways, this wasn’t life we were living right now, this was hell. And I was currently the devil.

“What did a devil like me do to deserve an angel like you?” I whispered, more to myself than anyone.

“You’re not a devil.” She whispered. “You’re my angel.”