When Colby pulled up to the curb I sighed and stood up, feeling the exhaustion creep up on me again.
It was a long day and I just wanted to go to sleep.
"How'd it go?" Colby asked as I got in the car. "It went." I said and buckled my seatbelt, not looking at him.
"You scared me, ya know." He said quietly as I nodded. "That was the goal." I said and crossed my arms.
"Alright, I get it. I'll leave you alone." Colby said as I nodded. "Great." I said and picked at my nails.
We drove in awkward silence for a while before I sighed and looked over at him.
"We have to talk." I said with a sigh. "You're the one ignoring me, sweetheart." Colby said with a laugh.
"Because I keep telling you how bad you hurt me and you think it's a good idea to get back together." I snapped and looked over at him.
"I think we both know how we feel..well at least I do. We know how things ended and I've admitted that I fucked up." Colby said with a sigh.
"There's no fixing it as far as I'm concerned." I said as he nodded slowly.
"I understand." He said then pulled into the driveway of the house we were staying in.
I didn't know if he actually understood or if he was saying that to get me to shut up.
I knew Colby. He would fight for what he wanted and wouldn't let anyone change his mind.
He was the most stubborn and frustrating person to ever exist.
When we got out of the car, I felt my legs give out slightly. I was sick of feeling so weak but it was something I would have to get used to.
I slowly made my way towards the front door, feeling my muscles ache.
"You good?" Colby asked as I nodded. "I'm great." I said and went inside.
"Hey, Jules." Sam said as I walked into the house. "Hey." I said and went towards the stairs.
"Going to bed?" He asked as I nodded. "We'll talk tomorrow." I said then went upstairs.
When I got to my room I flopped onto the bed, not bothering to get changed.
I was so exhausted that I fell asleep almost immediately, my body falling into a good sleep.
Luckily there were no dreams or nightmares because I just wanted one night to recoup from all the shit that's been going on.
When I finally woke up, the sun was shining brightly into my room. "Fuck." I groaned as I sat up.
My muscles were sore and my head was pounding. It felt like I had the worst hangover ever.
I got out of bed and stretched, trying to relieve the pain I was feeling.
Since I was wearing the same clothes I was wearing last night, I decided to get changed. I didn't realize I still had Colby's phone though until it slipped out of my pocket and crashed to the floor.
"Shit." I whispered and grabbed the phone, seeing multiple notifications from the contact Will.
The top text was only one word that sent a chill down my spine.
SOS.
"God damnit." I hissed then turned and left the room. "Colby?!" I called out as I walked down the hall.
"You okay?" He asked and popped his head out of one of the rooms. "SOS." I said and held his phone up.
"I forgot you still had that. I wouldn't say that's an SOS moment, sweetheart." He said with a chuckle as I shook my head. "No. Will is sending you an SOS, dumbass!" I snapped as he hummed and took the phone.
"He's a tad dramatic." He said nonchalantly and looked at the texts. "And you don't take threats seriously." I snapped then turned and left the room.
"Woah, what's going on?" Sam asked as I stormed into the kitchen. "Your friends an idiot." I said causing him to laugh.
"What did he do this time?" He asked and poured me a bowl of cereal.
"He gave me his phone and I accidentally kept it over night and Will sent him an SOS this morning." I explained as he nodded.
"And the problem is...?" He asked as I sighed. "When I told him, he said that Will is dramatic. He doesn't take anything seriously." I said and took a bite of my cereal.
"Trust me. When it comes to you, he'll take any threat seriously." Sam said as I sighed. "Don't remind me." I said as Colby came into the room.
"Everything okay?" Sam asked nonchalantly. "One of my men was killed last night." Colby said with a shrug as my eyes widened.
"And you don't care?" I asked as he shrugged. "We're bound to have some casualties during this." He said as I rolled my eyes.
"Typical." I mumbled and focused on the bowl of cereal in front of me.
"Jake and Corey made it to Washington an hour ago. They're starting the task of finding Adam." Sam explained.
"Great. I think we need to formulate our own plan. I don't want to look weak by doing nothing." Colby said as I looked up.
"Yeah, we can come up with something." Sam said with a nod.
"I want to be a part of it." I said causing them to both look at me. "Nope. Not happening." Colby said as I rolled my eyes.
"You and I both know I'm capable of killing people." I said and raised my brows at him.
"Correct, but you and I both know you're terrified of it." Colby retorted. "That doesn't fucking matter. You know you can't do this without me." I said as he chuckled.
"That seizure must have fucked you up because that's a bold and very wrong statement." Colby said as I glared at him.
"She could be into something." Sam said as Colby and I stared eachother down. "What?" Colby asked and narrowed his eyes at Sam.
"Julia is tough. We could try to get her captured, but she'll have a tracker and bug so we know where she is and can hear her." Sam said and looked at me.
"She would only be around them until we can get in and kill them all." Sam said as Colby looked at us apprehensively.
"Yeah, it's all fun and games until they kill her though." Colby said as I shrugged. "Either you involve me in your plans or I leave. Your choice." I said and narrowed my eyes at him.
We glared at eachother in silence for a second before Sam stood up. "Alright. Well, I'm gonna let you guys sort this out." He said then left the room.
"Why are you so difficult, Julia?" Colby asked quietly. "Because you don't own me." I said and crossed my arms.
"I know that but I'm not willing to put you in that sort of danger. It's not worth it when we can get the job done a different way." He explained.
"That brings me back to the point I've made multiple times. You showing people you care about me makes the problem worse." I said and raised my brows at him.
"It's just not so simple, Julia." Colby said causing me to sigh.
"I think you think I'm weak. And you think you can control me because of it." I said and stood up.
"Whether you like it or not I'm going to leave. It's your choice if you want it to benefit you." I said then left the room.
I knew it was going to be hard to stand my ground but I wasn't going to let Colby and I fall back into our old ways.
I wasn't a damsel in distress. I was someone who has been through a lot of shit.
I was a girl who has never had an easy time. Even before I was taken by my first ever love, life was hard.
My body count was getting higher and my willingness to be submissive was getting lower.
It was terrifying to want to put myself out there out of fear of being killed, but this would be never ending if we didn't take matters into our own hands.
It was funny how much Colby talked about being the best in this field.
Sure, he acted differently around me but he also made a lot of mistakes. It was easy to get in his head.
All people had to do was fuck with me.
That made Sam and I's plan more likely to work. If we were able to control the situation it would be easier to attack.
It could go south really quickly though. The people we were messing with were smart and Colby had a huge title that people wanted.
I knew this plan would be dangerous but it was something I wanted to do for myself.
I needed to prove how strong I was now.