I gaped in shock, my mind not processing anything.  

Peter groaning in pain.

Sam's parents and their guards making their way up to me.

Sam in the doorway.

I stayed still, not even making an attempt to run.  There was no use.  I knew it was coming for me.  I can't just disappear.

Peter came to life.  "Don't touch her," he groaned.

A man kicked him in the ribs, telling him to shut up.

I almost laughed at the situation.  Peter and I had just made up and again, it was messed up.

Two men grabbed my arms. 

"Saw this body on a lingerie site," one laughed.

I bit my lip hard.  I knew that job was a big mistake.  Now it was really coming for me.  

And I deserved this all.

The men dragged me to Sam's parents.  I kept my head up, staring at them in the eye.

"Congrats!  You win."  I muttered to them.

Sam's mother grinned.  "Charlotte Barlowe.  A family friend." 

Who thought they could be this evil?  

Sam was shuffling his feet. 

They had probably threatened him with Julie.  I just knew it.  By the looks of it, Sam had chosen Julie.

It kind of hurt me a little, but I reminded myself that I was the one to leave them all.  

Peter started to freak out.  "GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" he started to yell.

Immediately,  Peter got up to his feet, obviously in pain.  He tried to swing at one of the guards, but-

He fell down.  I mean, a shot guy versus a muscly bodyguard.  Do the math, Peter.

But a small siren could be heard.  Peter must have had a security unit installed.

My heart started to panic.  

Police may be a good thing for the situation as of NOW, but NOW, I'm currently a minor.

I've also done some stuff I don't need laid on the table.  

Sam's parents seemed to take notice.  They ordered the guards to take me to the door.

Before I was dragged out, I met eye contact with Peter.  Peter's eyes were half open, but they still sent me an urgent message.

I wished it was something like, "Don't worry, I'll find you."

But it wasn't.

It was more like a goodbye message.

I smiled back at him.

With all my heart, I smiled.  

And that smile would be one of my last. 

I felt tears start to spring.  If it was another day, I would be happy that my story was coming to an end.  But after figuring out all of my pieces, I wanted a few more.  

Selfish, isn't it?

That day I was in the hospital.  The last time. 

I knew this day would come.  I knew I would die at the hands of my captors.  

But I didn't want it to come so soon.  I wanted more time.

And that's when I realized that Peter meant more to me than I realized.

I sobbed.

Like full baby mode sobbed.

Charlotte was gone.  She knew it too.  She had smiled at me.  She had freaking smiled at me.  To let me know that it was going to be ok.

To hell with that!  Nothing will ever be ok.  Nothing in this world is ok.

I just let them leave.

The police came like 10 seconds too late.  They found me, and quickly fixed me up in a hospital room.  

While Charlotte is probably underground somewhere being beaten like a rug.  

George was immediately asking questions.  I knew he knew that something was up with Charlotte, but I didn't tell him.  He poked and prodded, but in the end, he responded to a stone looking man.  

Hah.  A man.  A man who let his friend be taken away by monsters.

It would be no use telling the police.  And Charlotte had looked at me in a way that said that she would never be coming back.  We had found her once, and that would be the last time we would be that lucky.

Luck never runs twice.  In stories, yes.  In cheesy romances?  Yes.

But not in our story.  Our story was messed up.

I started to remember the kiss.  I just-

She was just so intoxicating.  She was just so- I can't describe the feeling.

But then right then, I had to let my anger scare her away.  She probably was more scared of me than of her captors.

So there I was.  Sitting in a bed, with a bandaged arm and a wounded soul.

I was in this numb, numb shock.  A shock that can't be explained.  A shock that took complete control of my mind, soul, and body.

I had lost Charlotte, yet again.  We both realized that the next time she would be found, she would never come back.  They would take extra precautions.  They would kill her faster.  She would suffer.  Her memory would be erased from the face of this earth.  She would lie in the earth unnoticed.  No one to honor her life.  No one to realize that someone was trying to ask for help, but never received it.  No one would ever remember her.

Except for me.

My eyes refused to close, and my heart refused to beat slower.  My head refused to stop throbbing.  My mind was spinning in circles and circles.  My mind throbbed with mind-shattering questions.  Ones that made my heart crack and crack with every thought I thought.  

Why had I let myself get so freaking close to her?  I knew from the point I had saved her that she would be gone again!  I knew these type of people.  I had met them when I had fallen into that hole after my parents died.  Yet I let Charlotte go unprotected.

I let her go to school.  I let her get a job somewhere off of New York.  I let her just roam around free, vulnerable to the public.  

When if fact, she needed protection.  A protection she couldn't afford herself.  A protection that desperately needed me.

I had realized, when I first met her, that she was begging for help.  And I had tried.  And failed.  And tried.  And again, I failed.  

And this would be the last time.