Lemonade

Chapter 30: Lemonade.

It's quite irrelevant but yeah...^^

Jackie's POV

I flinched as I heard gunshots from the living room.

"Jackie!" The faint chanting of my name made my heart jump. His voice. It was him. "Jackie!"

Glass breaking and clanking metal sounded from passed the dark wood door, making me stare at it in fear and shock. Suddenly, it burst open with River coming through, frantically searching for something. His eyes landed on me. Those beautiful chocolate eyes that made me melt every time I thought about him. Seeing them again made me overwhelmed with happiness.

"Jackie." I ran to him and hugged him tightly. He squeezed me in return but let go. "There's no time. I've got to get you out of here."

He basically dragged me out and ran with me to the nearest exit. A window. Really?

He started to jump over and climbed all the way down. "Jump. I'll catch you." I looked at his outstretched arms skeptically. As I swung my legs over the rail, the sound of a gun made me freeze. I turned to look at what the source of it was and sighed when I saw Elijah.

"Elijah."

He looked at me with cold eyes and clenched his jaw. "Don't do it."

"Elijah." I tried to reason.

"I'm warning you. I will not hesitate to shoot this gun."

"You wouldn't hurt me."

"And that's exactly why you can't go back to him. Stay." His voice cracked. "Please, Jackie." The gun in his hand was trembling now. "Don't leave me. You can't. You know you can't."

I did.

"I don't want to be alone again." A tear rolled down his cheek and I cracked just a little.

"Elijah, you have to understand." I pleaded.

"No, you have to understand. I told you what happened to me. You know how I was sold to some gang by my mother for some drugs. You know they tortured me. You know they took away what was most important to me. They raped my sister in front of my eyes and then killed her. You know I've been through so much. You know I'm psycho. So don't leave me. I'll go crazy. Please." His eyes were red now. "I love you."

"I'm sorry, Elijah. I told you. I'll always love River. I hope you find someone good. You deserve better than me."

"But you know me."

"Bye Elijah." I dropped down and landed into River's strong arms.

We ran to the familiar black Lambo and got in, speeding off. What I didn't expect was the gunshots that I heard following us. I turned around to see a faint Elijah with his body out the window and his arm straight out aiming towards us. One thing I'd learnt was that Elijah had great aim. He let us leave.

"Don't worry." River spoke as he made a sharp turn into a new road. "You're with me now." His eyes were dark as he stared onto the road ahead.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere he won't find us."

After 10 minutes of silence, we pulled up to an expensive looking hotel. "River?"

"We'll stay here until it's safe." He pulled me inside and headed straight for the elevators.

"Won't you check in?"

"It's done already."

The elevator stopped on the 25th floor and we stepped into a room immediately. Why a penthouse?

He showed me the shower and directed me to the closet that had girls' clothes. He waited for me to get cleaned up and I sat next to him timidly.

"You want an explanation." He stated.

"Yeah."

As if in distress, he ran his hand over his face and huffed. "So...last time we saw each other, I broke up with you." He paused. "I did it to protect you but I didn't do a good job, now, did I? I'm the leader of a gang and I messed up some s*** that I was supposed to trade with Elijah. You know this part of the story. You got taken, I took his b****, you got taken again. I searched for you everyday, Jackie. I tried to find you and up until today I couldn't. You see that anklet?"

I looked to the anklet he had given me when we first started dating.

"Please don't get mad but, that's a tracker." I raised my eyebrow. "Alex set it up so that the code couldn't be broken easily if anyone who wasn't me was trying to disable it. He set it up so well, even he couldn't crack it. It changes everyday and that's why it took so long to find you. But I'm glad I finally did." He held my hands gently and looked into my eyes. "I'm so sorry for messing you up. I'm sorry this happened to you. Please forgive me, baby. I love you."

"I love you too, River." I pulled him closer to me and kissed him. A deep, long kiss that lingered on my lips when I pulled away. He smiled at me and snuggled into me.

"I love you more."

"I love you most." I one-upped him.

"I love you more than I love myself." Okay, he wins that one.

Later in the night, he took me out. River said that being in public was the best thing to do right now. Elijah couldn't do anything in public. I was dressed in a black and white printed romper that plunged in the middle. It was beautiful and it was shocking when he told me that he picked it out. Although it shouldn't have, his attire also left me breathless as we left. A fitted white shirt hugged his arms and torso comfortably with a few of the buttons undone at the top. He paired it with navy blue dress pants and in his hands were peach roses. So yummy. Thank goodness my thirst is back. "Thank you."

We ate at a restaurant called La Plaza. He booked us seats outside where we looked at garden across the restaurant that was lit up with fairy lights. I saw countless red rose bushes and stone benches made for couples. It was special.

We walked the way to the hotel slowly, hand in hand and observing our surroundings.

Suddenly, the world stopped as his body dropped in seconds. I screamed, looking at the hole that had gushing blood on the side of his head. "River!!!" I screeched as I dropped to my knees. I held his head in hands as I slapped his face in useless hope. "No!!! Come back! Don't go!!!"

A crowd had surrounded me and someone was trying to pull me away from him. Tears blurred my sight as I dropped my head into my bloodied hands. "Come with me." His deep voice lured me to go with him. "I'm sorry, Jackie. It had to happen."

Elijah opened the passenger door to the black Lamborghini and closed it after I got in. I sobbed as I took in the scent that was imprinted in River's car, screaming hysterically as we drove off.

He's gone.

He's dead.

But I've got Elijah.

They say when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

I guess I'll just use this overused phrase for once.