Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 65041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
I didn’t say a word or make a peep; I hadn’t even moved yet. Too scared of what would happen when I did. I couldn’t fathom how he knew I was awake. I barely realized I was awake. Before I could finish that thought, the night’s disturbing events came crashing down on me like a pile of bricks. What was supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of my life turned into one of the most traumatic.
All I heard next was the sound of a switch clicking on the nightstand. The light immediately blinded me, illuminating the bedroom. My heart pounded against my chest, my mind once again reeling with thoughts of why I was there, and what he was going to do with me next. I wanted to look around the room, but I couldn’t will myself to look away from him. If I peered around the room, it’d make it too real. My subconscious was protecting me from the reality of what had become my life.
Our gazes locked with my emotions running wild inside me.
Every last fiber of my being screamed at me to ask him all the questions tearing apart my brain, but I knew I wouldn’t get any answers. However, it didn’t stop me from wanting to ask them anyway.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything, when he interrupted, reading my mind, “You want answers,” through this device he held over his mouth to distort his voice.
I hesitantly nodded, not being able to find my own voice. The feelings stirring through me were crippling me in ways I never thought possible. There was no holding back anymore.
I exploded, bursting into hysterics while my body began shaking uncontrollably.
It was too much.
It was too real.
I was battling the inevitable of losing this unexpected war I found myself in.
“Cove, stop crying.”
Shit!
He knew my name, setting off a whole other level of terror, causing me to emotionally breakdown. This was far worse than when Mrs. Beckham died. I thought about the life I still wanted to live and the future I deserved to have with all the people I wouldn’t get to see again or say goodbye to.
Would my parents even notice I was gone? Would they care?
“Look at me,” he demanded, further freaking me the fuck out.
I fervently shook my head, tightly shutting my eyes.
“I said look at me.”
“NO!”
I should have known better, but of course I didn’t. My mom always said my defiance would eventually get the best of me, and she wasn’t wrong.
“Cove—”
“NO!” I put my hands over my ears, laying my head on my knees and curled into a protective ball as if it would rescue me from this horrible scenario.
The instant I felt his hands yanking my arms away from my ears, my fight-or-flight defenses finally kicked in, and I chose fight. I fought with everything inside me, knowing my life depended on it.
Kicking.
Punching.
Screaming.
I laid it all out, finding strength I didn’t know I had in me.
Until he pinned my body onto the bed, holding my wrists above my head. Now he was hovering above me, making me much more vulnerable in this position with him on top of me than I was before. I was at his mercy, and he knew it too.
Still, I didn’t open my eyes. Scared of the consequences of what I just did and what would happen because I didn’t listen.
Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and he loosened his hold for a second. Thinking quick on my feet, I opened my eyes to find him reaching for it. I used his moment of distraction to my advantage and kneed him in the balls as hard as I could, silently thanking Reid for teaching me this self-defense technique.
He groaned, falling forward but before he could fall onto the bed, I shoved his body off me and hauled fucking ass. His body collapsed to the floor in a loud, hard thud, and I instantly felt an immense sense of satisfaction that I could at least hurt him.
Ignoring the unsteadiness of my body and mind, I rushed out of the room and slammed the door behind me. I grabbed the chair beside the frame, setting it under the doorknob, securing it in place in hopes of locking him in there to give me time to escape.
With one foot in front of the other, I tore through the place I was being held captive in. I ran as fast as I could down the narrow hallway, my bare feet mercilessly pounding on the floor. It was only then I noticed I was cleaned up, wearing a man’s shirt and boxers, but naked underneath it.
Did he undress me? Wash me? What else happened while I was passed out?
Trying to stay focused on the present, I sped through the house at rapid speed, looking for a front door or anywhere else I could escape from.