“I know,” I moan. “It just came out. And now you know why I stay inside and away from people.”
“You’re awful quiet,” Nina says to Lanie, whose eyes are wide.
“What’s there to say? Alyssa was savage.”
“Oookayy. As fun as tonight has been, we’ve established that we all have early mornings. I need to go to bed for fear I might burn down the neighborhood with my dragon tongue.”
Lanie rolls her eyes, leaning in and laying her head on my shoulder. “I love you.”
“Love you most.” I sigh.
Nina places a kiss on my cheek on her way past me.
“Get some sleep, love.”
“I will. You too,” I say, plastering on a smile.
I shut the door behind them, turning to slide my back down the wall. My butt thumps against the hard ground, but I welcome the sting. It’s a sign that I am alive.
A heavy breath rushes through me as my eyes roam the empty space around me. It’s too quiet. It leaves too much room to think, and thinking is the last thing I want to do right now.
The events of tonight with Corinne weigh heavily on me.
Garrett didn’t speak directly to me, and that fact is heaviest of all.
Judgment
TAP. TAP. TAP.
My hand swats at the air, attempting to bat away whatever nuisance is messing with my forehead. My alarm hasn’t gone off, which means there’s still time for sleep. And sleep is what I need.
Thunder rolls overhead, shaking the house, and I snap up to a seated position. A flash of lightning bursts through the room, and my heart slams against my chest in response. Something streaks across the end of my bed, and the hairs on my neck stand at attention.
More lightning shines through the window, causing shadows to dance around the dark space. It’s only shadows from the trees outside my room. Nobody is here.
My eyes land on the alarm clock next to my bed. Three thirty.
Plenty more sleep to be had.
I sigh in blissful relief, curling back into my fluffy pillow and pulling the blanket up to my chin. It’s not long before my eyelids lower and my breathing slows.
The bed shakes and I spring up again, fear slinking its way under my skin. The storm wasn’t behind that.
My hand fumbles with the lamp on my end table until I find the small round knob and twist, illuminating the room. Blinking to adjust to the light, I lose a few vital seconds of awareness. Seconds that could doom me.
A scream bursts through my chest, rocking my small frame as I yank the blankets to my chin. There’s a man at the end of my bed, wide-eyed and pale as milk.
I should jump up. I should fight. Instead, I sit here like a damsel waiting for some prince to come to my rescue. Pathetic.
My eyes dart around the room looking for something that could be used as a weapon, eventually landing on the lamp.
“What are you doing?” His hoarse voice has my teeth chattering and hands shaking.
Not wasting another second, my hand darts out, and I manage to pull the lamp into my hands, only to detach the cord from the electrical outlet and plunge myself back into darkness with a strange man.
“Help,” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Help!”
There’s a noise that sounds like the snapping of fingers, and the overhead lights turn on. The man is still in the same position at the end of my bed. His face is shielded by the gray hooded sweatshirt he’s wearing.
