Page 149 of His Reckless Freshman

Because he knows it’s over.

He’s got nothing to lose. He might as well take you down with him.

My eyes bulge and I scuttle back, the office door rattling when I bang into it. I scramble for the handle.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Kieran darts toward me again, and I let out another scream, wrenching the door open and bolting through it.

“Jolie!”

I hear Ben’s voice and race toward it, but I end up tripping and crashing into Carina’s graphics desk before trying to bolt around Heather’s writing space. But Kieran gets a hold of me again, fisting the back of my hair.

A panicked wail punches out of me as pain spikes across my scalp.

“Get your hands off her!” Ben’s pounding on the door now, but I can’t respond.

Wrenching me back, Kieran throws me down once more, my shoulder clipping the edge of a table and knocking over a computer screen. It crashes to the floor at the same time I do.

My cry is more pitiful this time as my body tries to cope with the agony radiating through me.

Ben’s out there. He’s coming for you.

But he can’t get in!

When Kieran jumps on top of me again, I can only whimper. His eyes are wild, his gaze that of a full-blown maniac as he reaches for my throat, wrapping his fingers around my neck and cutting off my air supply.

“You meddling little bitch,” he seethes, his voice a wispy rasp.

I try to fight against his hold on me, but he’s lost his mind. It’s like he’s been possessed, and I don’t have the strength to counter the demon on top of me.

Ben’s not going to make it in time.

I’ll be dead before he even manages to open the door.

53

BEN

“Jolie!” I roar, shoving the door with my shoulder and trying to open it again. “Fuck you, lock!” I shout, slapping my hand on the wood when I hear her cry out again.

Fuck.

“Get your hands off her!” I bellow, hopelessly trying the locked handle.

I’m a desperate man.

“Oh shit, my key card only gets me into the building. I don’t have access to the offices on this floor.” The lady who reluctantly let us in sounds just as scared as I feel.

A crash from inside makes us all flinch.

“Jolie!” I throw my shoulder against the door.

“I’m calling the police.” Caroline pulls out her phone while Casey starts helping me get through this fucking door.

“Together. Ready? One, two, three!” We throw our weight into it, and it starts to crack.

“Again, again!” I shout, and Casey counts us down.

A dull pain radiates through my shoulder the second time, so on the third attempt, we use our legs, kicking at the door until it splinters and finally pops open.