Less than Perfect by S. J. Evans (librera reader .TXT) 📖

Skye wondered if things would ever be the same again.
Finding enough courage to break the awkward silence, she spoke up. “Rachel and Victor ditched us,” she told him.
He seemed to nod a little, keeping his eyes on the road. “Yeah, Vic told me.”
“How long have you two been friends?” She asked, before she could stop herself.
He sneaked a peek at her, his usually bold eyes orbiting around dark and swallowed in despair. “A few years ago. We met shortly after my sixteenth birthday.”
“Is he a good friend?”
“Yeah, usually.”
“Do you ever get the feeling there’s something a little…off about him?”
He frowned. “Why do you ask?” Defense took power in his voice.
“I don’t know. There’s just something about him that seems to not feel right. I asked Rachel the same kind of thing but she seemed to shake it off, like she didn’t sense it.” Her brows were narrowed, her eyes glazing across the street they were traveling on. It was getting darker outside, rain clouds cutting into the once perfectly sunny sky, ready to release the water at any moment.
“Sure, he’s a weird guy sometimes, but I’ve never sensed anything all that strange about him. Even if he did try to…never mind.” He murmured.
She wasn’t sure if he was talking about when Victor had told her to stay away from Jules or not, but it didn’t matter. Maybe he was right: things never end well once involved with Jules. “Yeah, I guess.” She whispered.
It was deathly silent again, neither one wanting to speak.
But then the silence was filled with a scream as Skye jolted forward in her seat, screaming at Jules to stop the car.
He slammed the brakes, the tires shrieking as the car came to a sudden stop. Both his and her face was stricken with surprise and fear, hardly believing what was in front of their eyes.
“Bryan?” She breathed, gulping down the vile that surged up her throat when she slammed into the seatbelt, pain pounding against her body.
“What was he doing in the middle of the road?” Jules gasped, clutching the steering wheel, tightly.
She was about to respond when her words got stuck in her throat halfway, fear pulsing through her body. Bryan was walking towards her side of the car, with a gun in his hand. She shook her head frantically, tears cascading down her cheeks, as she whispered “no” over and over again. She locked the doors, but it was no use.
He banged on the windows with the gun, yelling at her to open the door. She didn’t know what to do or how to react as she lost all of her thoughts at the sight of the gun. She was so frightened that she didn’t even hear Jules’ voice telling her not to, that he would handle it, over and over again.
That was when she realized what he was going to do and stopped him, thrashing a hand out and grabbing his arm. “No, don’t! He’ll kill you, Jules. Just let me talk to him.” She screamed, sobs escaping her lips.
He shook his head. “No, I can’t let you—”
Bryan smashed the glass of the car window, reaching his hand in to unlock the door. “I told you to open the door, Skye,” he growled, opening the door and dragging her out of the car by her shirt. She screamed, clutching for Jules’ hand, for anything, but Bryan was too strong and quick and had her neck clamped under his arm, the gun aimed at Jules as he stepped away from the car a little.
Jules, eyes wide and frantic, put his hands up, surrendering. “Look, Bryan, you don’t want to do this, man. Don’t hurt her, or do anything rash. Just calm down,” He said hastily, trying to sound as calm as possible.
Skye was struggling in Bryan’s grip, kicking and pulling, anything that could get him to surrender the gun, but the attempts were feeble. She was too drained and afraid.
Bryan shook his head, once. “I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago,” he sneered. Clicking the gun, he straightened it towards Jules, aiming to kill. But Skye hit him hard in the chest and he pulled the trigger, the gunshot echoing in the darkening street.
Jules gasped in pain, eyes wide with shock, as he moved his gaze to look at his shoulder. Blood poured from the bullet hole wound, and he made a cry of agony as he fell against the seat, cursing.
Skye screamed, frozen in her place. She couldn’t believe Bryan had actually shot Jules, she couldn’t stand the guilt that washed over her as she watched him reel in pain. He managed to say her name once as he tried to push himself over to the other side of the car, but fell back again in defeat. She remembered screaming Jules’ name, over and over again through sobs, as Bryan rushed them over to his car, her body limp in his arms.
Instead of taking her to the passenger side of the car as she thought, he brought her to the trunk and popped it. She sobbed, shaking her head as he lifted her up and dropped her in it, her head slamming against a beer bottle on the floor. Her vision blurred and swirled as she begged with him to stop, but he ignored her and slammed the trunk on her.
Faintly, she heard him curse himself for shooting Jules, and then, she heard him open his car door, slam it, and turn on the engine, her world fading out by darkness. The only thing on her mind was that she hoped Jules would be okay, no matter what happened to her, he would manage to be all right.

Explanation

A loud noise woke Skye from her eerie slumber, snapping her out of the hollow of nightmares. She blinked quickly, gasping, and pushed herself up on her elbows. In the dark trunk of the car, she shivered, fearing the worst that could happen. She thought of the pain, Bryan’s anger seeking revenge on her, and of all the horrible things he could do to her. She wanted it to end, wanted the pain and insecurity to go away. She wanted it all to end.
She thought of Jules in that moment, remembering the way he was always so kind to her and the way he made her feel, and it was then when she regretted lying to him and letting him get shot. He didn’t deserve the mess he was in. And it was all because of her that he was involved.
Her heart ached for him; ached to touch him, to kiss him, to see him, and, most of all, to help him. She didn’t know where he was and how he was doing. She knew he was strong enough to look for help, but feared that he would do something stupid and she would lose him. She couldn’t lose him though. Just the thought of losing him broke her heart and suffocated her, squeezing all of the life from her.
Pain ripped across her head and she winced, falling back onto the floor of the trunk in agony. She felt as though someone had shattered a vase on her head and the shards were still stabbing into her head, piercing her. She wanted to drift away, to slowly and painlessly sink into the ground, unnoticed and uncared for. She just wanted to be set free of the misery she replayed in her heart and mind over and over again. Everything seemed to want to crumble around her.
A thump echoed through her eardrums, fracturing the brief silence, and she flinched, scrambling back against the part furthest from the trunks’ opening. Tears trailed down her cheeks, remembering the immediate situation. She ached, in dire need of sleep and medication. She was too bruised, too violated, that she felt the world closing itself around her as the trunk opened, numb light pouring in.
It was raining, she realized, grimacing as she blinked away her tears. “No, please—” she tried, looking into Bryan’s cold eyes. But she couldn’t speak, her throat constricted on even the smallest of words and she wanted to scream at herself to manage. She only had herself to survive and she needed to figure out an escape.
He was shadowed by the downcast, his shoulders heavy and his eyes weary, looking thoroughly upset. At what, she didn’t even want to imagine.
“It’s okay, Skye. I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her. The way he said it sounded so sure, so true, but Skye knew otherwise. She wasn’t about to give in to the man who was finding ways to ruin her life.
Trying again and again, she finally managed to form words, even if they came out as croaks. “Bryan, you shot him. You shot Jules back there. Wh—why?”
He groaned, shaking his head. “Because Skye, he was trying to keep you away from me. And I need to talk to you, Skye. That’s all I wanted, even earlier.” His eyes lit up, forcing her skin to crawl.
She gagged, coughing with disgust. “No, Bryan. W—we have nothing to talk about. I don’t want you near me anymore, Bryan. Not since you…”she trailed off, unable to say the words. She couldn’t say the words, they were too dark, too deafening. She didn’t want to think about what he had done.
He frowned, his expression increasingly darker. “No it’s not like that, babe. You never gave me a chance to explain myself, and when I saw him, I couldn’t have him ruin my only chance at telling you the truth. I had to do it, he—he was going to try to save you from me. And you don’t need someone to save you. I’m not going to hurt you, Skye.”
She cringed at his words. The world suddenly seemed to spin out of focus. She pressed herself against the barrier trapping her in the trunk again, wishing she would just slip away. “No,” she breathed. “I don’t want to hear it, Bryan. I don’t believe you. All you’ve ever done is hurt me. I mean, don’t you remember what you did today? You violated me, Bryan. How could I ever trust you again?”
He was above her, stroking her hair and kissing her neck. “You’re going to wish you never