Trapped (Bullied Book 4) (Bullied Series) Vera Hollins (best large ereader txt) 📖

Mel ended her speech, inviting witnesses of bullying to stick up for victims instead of keeping quiet, and one junior came out to share her story, but I couldn’t stay here a moment longer.

Feeling the sudden urge to get some space, I whispered to Kevin that I was going to the restroom and stood up. I had to pass Blake first, and I held my breath when I stepped in front of him, more than aware that my butt was right in his face because the space between the rows was so narrow. I let the breath out only when I was off the bleachers and scurried out.

I burst through the gym doors and rushed down the empty hallways in search of…what? Clarity? Answers? Anything that would dull this ache and longing that were becoming unbearable. Music. Music was the answer.

The sunrays blinded me when I stepped outside, and I shielded my eyes with my hand as I went to the parking lot. I needed music badly, and my headphones were in my car.

“Jessie!” I spun on my heel and halted, my eyes widening when I saw Blake running toward me. “Wait!”

I stared at his ridiculously sexy body as he rushed over. Each muscle was accentuated, flexing and unflexing, and it was too much. My body didn’t care about logic or reality. It didn’t care that I would never be his priority or above his need for revenge and the lost love of his life. It just wanted to take and give.

He stopped a bit too close to me as he grabbed my face to pull me in for a kiss, and I lost myself in the contact of our lips. It felt too good. His hands went down to the small of my back and pulled me flush against him as his tongue stroked mine with great need. I clutched the lapels of his jacket, not caring if anyone could see us or not.

Was it too foolish to have this overpowering hope in my chest that survived each bump in our road? Was there any chance, no matter how tiny, that Blake would give up on ruining or risking his life?

I pulled my lips away, wishing this was more than just a stolen moment. “Wait—”

He pressed his face into the crook of my neck and continued kissing me, battling against my reason.

“Wait,” I repeated, willing my hands to push him away, but I was so needy for his kisses, already leaning closer to him for more… I pushed him away and took a step back. “Do you have any clue how scared I am for you?” I asked. “Do you know how scared I am that any day now, I won’t even see you anymore? I’ll come to school and hear you’re dead, or jailed for life. And the more I think about your revenge, the more horrible scenarios I come up with, and I feel so lost because you’re so hellbent on that revenge and…” My words dwindled away when he cupped my cheeks with his hands.

“I know.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I know, and I’m so sorry. I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I want to be with you, but…”

“But you won’t change your mind. Nothing will ever make you change your mind because you don’t even want to consider a life free of your revenge.”

He grimaced and dropped his hands. “Don’t, Jessie. Please don’t say it. I—”

“The world is so much more than you think, Blake. It’s not all negative. It can be happy and full of joy, and I wish you would let yourself experience it. But you won’t even try.”

I turned around and continued walking toward my car with a suffocating feeling clawing at my chest.

“Jessie!” he called after me, but I didn’t stop, my eyes set on the pavement in front of me. I wanted to lose myself in music and forget about everything.

I fished my keys out of my pocket. “I want to be your friend, Blake. Maybe even something more, but that doesn’t matter,” I said when I heard him stop behind me, opening the car door with my shaky hand. I bent to reach inside. “It can’t matter when you could lose your life—” I froze, my eyes going wide when they met the end of a gun.

“Finally,” Isaac, Blake’s friend from the track, drawled with a crooked smile. He was sitting in my back seat with his gun pointed directly at me. “Now we can get this party started.”

Before I could even process what was happening, Blake rushed between me and the gun incredibly fast and shoved me behind him, shielding me.

“Blake, are you crazy?” I shrieked. Terror bolted right through me because he was risking his life to protect me. “You can’t—”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Blake asked Isaac, and the realization hit me hard. It was him—the guy I’d seen behind me here yesterday. That was Isaac. That was why he’d looked familiar.

Isaac’s smile grew bigger. “Blake, my man! I have to say, this has just become ten times better. We planned to take your girl as a bait, but now that you’re here…this is perfect! It’s like, like…” He snapped his fingers. “Like poetic justice, yes!”

His casual way of speaking only added to my jumbled up thoughts. I scanned the parking lot for any witnesses, but there was not a living soul.

“Isaac, what the fuck are you on?” I wanted to peer further around Blake to see Isaac better, but Blake’s arm held me back. “Stay back,” he hissed at me.

Isaac chuckled. “What? You thought we were friends? Think again, man.”

Blake’s muscles locked up. “You were feeding me the info on Bobby Q and his guys.”

He grinned. “And I fed them the info on you.”

“What?”

“I told them about your plan to get back at them. They had a good laugh, really. Almost as good as