Pressed back hard against the wall, with the nuzzle of the rifle so close to his forehead, Ryder was truly trapped.
"One smart move and I'll blow your head off,"
The threat gave way to panic, Ryder fought against his will power to keep still while still conscious of how close the gun was.
"You've been good to him. I'd be nicer if you do the same for me."
"Depends on — "
"Shut up!" the assailant dug his thumb and index finger deep into the teen's neck. Ryder gasped aloud. "Isn't it fair for me to kill you? You've been fucking with my boyfriend! The nerve! What do you think you have that I haven't given to him already? You owe me, boy, you owe me your life."
His maniacal laugh reverberated across the once still cabin. For the first time in seven years, Ryder tasted bitter bile coming up his throat.
"You're a fucking bas — "
He didn't finish. In the spur of the moment, Ryder delivered a kick on the assailant just below the ankle, making him wobble down to the floor. Ducking out the door, Ryder missed the ghastly hiss of a bullet over his left ear.
Freed, he flew down from the top stairs, lucky enough to roll behind the sofa. A hiss went off again and this time he felt a sharp pain springing up to his nerves to his brain to register he'd been shot.
Looking up to face his predator, Ryder noted his assailant's features in anguish, blood pooling out onto the floor. He was tall like Jacob, only that his eyes were fierce green and he had a large scar running down the side of his face down to his neckbone. Even without being told, Ryder was aware of who he was.
"Jacob would kill you,"
Uncertainty clouded Jasper's eyes as he navigated around the teen, his lips curved to the right in a smirk which matched the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Jacob? Or did you mean Julian? He can try but I don't think he'll do anything when he finds out I've got you under my paws,"
"You're wasting your time. After all, I mean nothing to him too,"
"That's false. I watched you both have sex yesterday. Twice. I'm not stupid, fag." he pulled out a six-inch knife from his breast pocket, clicking it open. "I intended to end you immediately but this will do," he grinned, a wicked blade springing up from the ivory handle. "A slow painful death suits you,"
Heat in his mouth, Ryder writhed from his injury, biting his lips in agony while attempting to crawl away from the assailant. He knew Jasper spoke the truth yet he was determined to fight death.
"And oh, guess I forgot to tell you, I stabbed Julian up the hill."
The magnanimity of the words couldn't have come at a better time. With a sharp grunt, Ryder encircled his fingers round a small coffee cup not so far away from the sofa, hurling it head-on. Jasper roared, letting go of his blade to rub his bloodied temple where the hit had got him.
Ryder ran for the back door, Jasper shouting and cussing out profanities only he could understand, while stomping about. With a heavy thud, the teen made it past the back stoop, limping as he went around the house to the front porch.
Breathing hard against the cold, Ryder snagged a rag off the porch rail, tieing it around his bleeding ankle. A figure loomed low behind him, twisting away, he smartly missed a second swipe of the knife.
Fury flared in Jasper's eyes as he glared down at him, blood trickling down his face onto his jacket. He smirked, rubbing a thumb over his visible erection.
"You're a live one,"
Ryder scooted back as far as he could, hating himself for falling off the stool and lying with legs spread in front of him, having to even listen to him. Ryder couldn't imagine how Jacob or Julian could've loved this monster.
Jasper knelt before him, thrusting the point of the knife against his neck.
"Scream. Yell out loud, let him come to you," he growled. "I want him to come running to your aid,"
His eyes narrowed to dark evil slits. Leaning so close to the teen, he whispered. "He killed Sophie. Maybe if I can get you to die with her, justice will be served."
Ryder gulped, drenched in the sticky heat and thick sweat running down his back. The point of the knife pierced his skin, hot red liquid dripping down his pale skin. With an impatient huff, Jasper pressed his foot on his prey's bleeding ankle.
Head thrown back, the teen screamed.
"That's right. Yell! Cry out so he'd come to save you," Jasper barked, cruelty warning in his eyes. Ryder rolled about, bleeding profusely but free from the blade.
Even at that, running wasn't the best option. Sabotage could've been better. "He didn't kill her. You did," he managed to say without missing a beat.
"How do you know that?"
"He told me. You're Sophie's murderer,"
Jasper clamped a palm over his mouth and turned to look around, probably to make sure no one was around. "He's a fucking liar. I never knew where they lived."
"I bet you know much about it to choose to have sex with your sister's boyfriend,"
"It wasn't sex, he was mine first."
"But she'd been with him for years,"
Keep talking, keep him engaged.
"Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact that I claimed him first, I'm the superior here and I get everything I want. So now it's you. I don't want to only kill you but make love to you,"
The teen studied him, barely regarding his words but was focused on what came up ahead, his eyes bulging. Then he returned his gaze to the assailant.
"You were never man enough to have anyone,"
"No need to debate over it. When this is over, I'll — "
Jacob hit him on the head with a cudgel and with a groan he slumped forward, landing on the teen.
Ryder scrambled away. "Is he dead?"
"We're never lucky," he took him by the collar, thrusting him into the trash can. Jasper sat in it with his hands and legs sprawled, blood trailing down his temple. Ryder stared at the knife, still clogged in his palm, paralyzed with fear.
The fugitive smiled down at him, moving to take him in his arms when a siren sounded across the road toward them.
"Alright, Cyprus we've got you surrounded. Come out with your hands behind your head,"
Ryder recognized Preston's voice.
This seemed like a film out of HD only with him being the main actor and participant in it. Reality tore him to pieces. "We've come this far,"
"You okay?" Jacob asked, his eyes softening in concern.
"I'm good, just worried about you."
"You don't have to be. After what you've been through I'm all too ready to stop meddling in your life,"
"I'd never wished for that to happen. It's been a long story together,"
"I'm wondering if you'd like to keep the storyline a bit longer, just you and me." he tossed the cudgel aside and took long strides to the door. "I'll always love you, Ryder Ferris."
Outside, orders were being given and the porch floor was overrun with officers stomping. Ryder drew in a deep breath, his heartbeat pulsating, faint. He felt faint.
A nurse whisked him outside too, into an ambulance. He was ordered to stay still to keep up the blood flow until they got to the hospital. With one final peek out the window, he saw Jacob cuffed and dragged into the police van.
A policewoman had come along too to write his statement and was sitting beside him. "That's some serious injuries you've got there."
"Jasper inflicted them on me. He shot me and pricked my neck. If it hadn't been for Jacob, I'd have died."
"Stockholm syndrome. It happens to the best of us."