Page 25 of Hearts Storm

“Aw, c’mon.” Buzz Cut moves in even closer. So close now, I can smell the cigarette smoke clinging to his denim jacket. “Don’t be like that. We’re just tryna’ have some fun.”

“I said I’m good.” I sidestep again, angling toward the curb. “Have a nice night.”

I barely take two steps before his bearded friend lurches sideways, cutting off my path and grabbing my arm. “You sure?”

“Hey.” I yank my arm from his grasp, voice sharper now. “Back off.”

But they don’t. Instead, they close in.

Before I can pivot or duck around them, they’re herding me, using the sheer mass of their bodies to crowd into my personal space. My heels scrape against the sidewalk, and I stumble backward as I’m pushed around the corner into a narrow alley.

Darkness swallows me whole as my shoulder blades hit rough, unforgiving brick.

“Come on, relax!” Buzz Cut laughs. The harsh, raspy sound bounces off the narrow walls as he plants one hand beside my head, caging me in. “Jesus. We’re not gonna hurt ya. We just wanna have some fun, that’s all.”

“Yeah, babe.” Scraggly crowds in, so close I can see a yellow stain on one of his front teeth. “You’re gonna love what we got. Trust me. We know how to treat a lady.”

My heart is slamming so hard I can feel it in my throat. Frantically, my gaze bounces around, looking for any means of escape.

But the alley dead-ends.

A dumpster sits about twenty feet back, and a single flickering light casts eerie shadows across the pavement.

“Let me go.” My tone is firm as I try keeping my voice steady despite the fear clawing at my throat. “I’m not interested.”

Buzz Cut’s grin turns ugly. “That’s not what your dress is telling me.” His hand comes up, fingers digging painfully into my breast as he squeezes hard enough to make me gasp. “Damn, you’re a feisty one.”

“Get off me!” I shove at his chest, but it’s no different from the brick wall currently biting its way into my back. Solid and unforgiving.

“Goddammit! Help me hold ‘er still, D.” Using his other hand, he grabs the hem of my dress, yanking it up with a rough jerk. “Come on, baby. Show us what you got under there.”

D cackles, grabbing my wrists and pinning them above my head. “Hold still, sweetheart. We’re just getting started.”

Struggling in vain, I wobble on my heels as I try to knee Buzz Cut in the balls. But he’s too close, too strong, his weight crushing me against the wall as his fingers dig into my thigh.

“Please,” I gasp, hating the tremor in my voice. “Stop.”

Then, in a blur of motion, Buzz Cut is simply... gone.

One moment he’s on me, the next he’s flying backward. A dark shadow flashes across my vision right before the sound of a sickening thud assaults my ears when he smashes into the opposite wall, crumpling to the ground.

His friend shouts in alarm, releasing my wrists as he backs away. “What the⁠—”

But I don’t see what happens next because my legs give out, and I slide down the wall, curling into myself when I hit the ground.

Arms wrapped tightly around my knees, I squeeze my eyes shut, retreating into that safe place inside my head where nothing can touch me.

My world narrows to the sound of my own ragged breaths and the distant thudding of my heart in my ears. Vaguely aware of the far-off noises of grunts and growls, and the wet, muffled sound of flesh hitting flesh, I tuck my face into my arms.

Finally, I hear scrambling feet, then a pair of frantic footsteps running away.

“Hey.” A deep voice, gentle but urgent, cuts through the fog in my brain. “Are you okay?”

It takes a second for the words to register, then another for me to process that they’re directed at me.

Slowly, I lift my head, blinking away the fog. It takes my brain a moment to catch up, to connect the face in front of me, but my heart stalls when I see who it is.

“Oh, shit.” Brex’s expression shifts from concern to shock as recognition dawns. “What the hell? Pretty?”