Page 40 of Bait

I walk on the grass to save my toes, and it’s easy to pick up pace as I cross the grounds toward the river path. I flinch as grass turns back to tarmac, then flinch again as my toe scuffs a stone.

Ow.

Tonight could be really fucking painful.

In more ways than one.

I realise now that he could appear at any moment. I scan the shadows, my heart suddenly racing. Will he throw something, like last time?

Or will he just jump me and throw me to the ground.

I’m petrified and excited all at once, to the point that my heartbeat is in overdrive. Everything about this screams crazy. But I couldn’t talk my body down from this if I tried. Every single muscle is wound tight and ready to go.

I’m ready to go.

But he said to walk slowly, so I do. I walk as slowly as my jittery nerves can bear, the harsh ground underfoot not helping.

I breathe as steadily as I can. In through my nose, out through my mouth. I clutch my handbag tight just to keep hold of something.

The drop to the river path is dark. Really dark.

I hesitate at the top, my eyes blinking and searching. Waiting.

Waiting for the monster to jump out of the shadows. Waiting for him to hoist me from my feet and drag me away.

Tiny steps, so tiny. Edging closer. I’m so expectant. So alert.

But he isn’t there.

Fuck.

I was so sure. So fucking sure.

But no. I descend without incident. My feet hit the grit and soil of the river path and all I hear is water down below.

My senses run riot down here, imagining horrors all around me. Hands in the undergrowth reaching out. Hot breath on my neck.

It’s the crunch of a stick behind me that sets me running. A squeal and I’m away, racing along the riverside without even so much as a glance back over my shoulder.

My hands swing at my sides, handbag long forgotten. It bounces against my ass, making a strange slapping sound as I go. My breath is wild in my ears. My heart is on fire.

My feet don’t feel a single thing.

I know this way well, but at this pace it feels laced with peril. I’m dipping under imaginary branches, veering away from imaginary demons. In danger of going tumbling just to escape the one behind me.

It’s a while before I know for sure there are footsteps pounding after mine. He’s at a distance, but he’s closing. I feel it.

My body screams with it.

I’m sprinting on wild instinct and nothing else.

My lungs are burning. My breath rasping in my throat. My heart thumps loud.

But not as loud as the boots of the beast behind me.

I fly like the wind, as fast as I’ve ever run in my life. My belly lurches with the thrill of being captured, but my flight instinct doesn’t agree. All I can do is keep on going, adrenaline so high, it’s fucking incredible.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running when the undergrowth gets deeper to my right. I don’t know how long it’s taken to reach the part of the path where there are barely any lights left at all.

I have to slow down here, so I do. I curse under my breath as my foot squelches in wet mud, and I know I’m too close to the river.

Shit.

I head further up the bank, but when I do his footsteps are nearer. Louder.

Faster.

He’s right on top of me.

My heart booms and so does my clit. My thighs are slick even though it’s fucking insane.

I’m desperate for him, even as my body finds its reserves to keep on running.

I’m making desperate noises as I breathe and I can’t stop.

I can’t stop because I fucking love it.

I’m a tumble of emotions with no structure. No backbone.

It’s all I want to do to fall on the ground and beg that he doesn’t hurt me. Beg that he does. Fall at his feet and beg him for anything; beg him for everything. Everything.

But then I see a light up ahead.

I know this place. I’ve been here before.

My heart soars as I recognise the pub from my crappy date with pink-shirted Jack.

The car park there is dim, but it’s lit. I’ll see the monster coming.

Oh fuck, how I want to see him coming.

I want to see every inch of his brutality as it comes my way.

Every inch of his beautiful face.

I make a final sprint for it, even as I feel him at my back.

The world stops spinning.

It slows to nothing as I feel the heat of him.

A thump of his boots and I hear his breath.

And then he grabs me.

Hard.

He steals the last of my breath from my lungs as he slams into my back. My bare feet are still running in the air as he lifts me clean off the ground.

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