Page 28 of Anton

By the time the main act hits the stage, I’m feeling better, and the first song drags me back into the rhythm of the room as the crowd surges closer. I let myself dance too, the music taking over.

A few songs in, I forget about the creepy sensation altogether. Still nursing my drink, I laugh at something Blair says, the alcohol warming my throat and helping me get out of my own head. Just as she leans closer to say something else, two guys step up to us.

“Hey, ladies.” The taller one gives us a nod. “Mind if we join you?”

“Uh…”

“Sure,” Blair cuts in. “The more, the merrier. Right, Thora?”

“Mm-hmm.” I press my lips together and shoot her a look, but she only nudges me with her elbow.

“It wouldn’t kill you to meet some cute guys,” she says into my ear.

It could kill me. Never know…

“Thora.” The guy with the blue eyes gives me an appreciative once-over. “That’s pretty. Just like the rest of you.”

Oh God. That’s it? That’s his entire pickup line?

“Thanks,” I manage.

“I’m Kaden,” he adds, gesturing toward the man beside him. “And that’s my cousin, Elliot.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Beside us, Blair is already laughing with her palm on Elliot’s arm as she draws him closer to the music.

“Want to dance?” Kaden asks.

“Sure.”

His face brightens, but I feel nothing. He’s attractive in a laid-back, surfer kind of way, yet when his hands settle on my waist, he isn’t the man occupying my thoughts.

Anton is.

I picture those dark eyes fixed on me and his solid body pressed against mine. I wonder what he would do if he saw another man touching me this way. Whether he would care at all.

He probably wouldn’t. But for now, I let myself pretend he would. That I matter to him.

At first, I’m fine. Kaden isn’t doing anything wrong. Then he leans into me, his palm sliding to my back as his mouth brushes near my ear.

“You’re pretty.”

The words shatter whatever calm I had left. Because it’s not him anymore. It’s someone else—voice deeper, rougher—and I’m not here.

I’m back there. Where it all happened.

“You’re pretty.”

The words rip through my head as the memory crashes in, dragging me under until I feel it all over again. The hard surface beneath my back, my body jerking as I fight him, panic ripping through me while I twist and kick, my heel connecting with something solid as I beg him to let me go.

Hands grab at me, forcing me down. “Shut up.”

His palm clamps over my mouth, smothering my scream as my head slams against the floor and pain bursts behind my eyes. I can’t breathe. Can’t move. Can’t escape the sickening certainty that he’s going to rape me before he kills me.

The music crashes back all at once, loud and disorienting.