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“My leg’s fallen asleep,” I say, using the beam to pull myself up.
It takes some work, my body so heavy with exhaustion that I feel as though I’m using every ounce of my strength. I don’t know how he can think I have anything left to fight him with. I’m barely standing on my own, for Heaven’s sake.
I let out a long, shaky breath once I’m finally on my feet. My head spins from the change in altitude and Trevor seems to phase in and out of focus, like back at the bar.
“What did you give me?” I ask him. I need a name so that I’ll know what I can expect from my body, but I’m also afraid that the drug might have harmful effects on the baby.
“Just a sedative.”
Okay, that’s good, I suppose.
“How long are you going to keep me down here? You know they’ll find me, right? You know that there are already people looking for me.”
He gets edgy again. “I’ll keep you here as long as it takes. And nobody’s coming for you, believe me.”
I start pacing a short line where I’m standing. I make a show of trying to get the blood flowing in my legs, but what I’m really doing is plotting my path to that phone. I just have to keep him talking, keep him distracted.
“As long as what takes, Trevor?”
He begins to mirror my movements, walking slowly up and then down along with me. Our eyes are locked, neither one of us submitting to the other.
“You know what I’m talking about,” he says.
I give an incredulous laugh. “You mean I’ll be here as long as it takes for me to confess my undying love for you?” I stop my pacing. “Or until I admit that we belong together?”
“You need to shut up.”
I can’t believe this guy. And another thing I can’t believe is the fight in me. It’s like a furnace in my chest that refuses to die down.
“Yeah?” I advance on him, coming up short just a few feet from where he’s standing. I’m ballsy, but I’m not stupid. “You want me to shut up, Trevor? Make me.”
“Bitch.” He spits the word at me.
Then he reaches behind him, and to my genuine surprise, pulls a gun on me.
Well, fuck.
All that attitude I felt coursing through me a minute ago is utterly deflated by the sight of the pistol aimed directly at my head. Now it’s fight or flight. But Trevor is blocking my path to the stairs that lead out of here, which means I’m going to have to do both—fight, then flight.
I act before my brain can talk me out of it and lurch forward, throwing an elbow to his face as I leap past him.
Trevor cries out in pain. “What the fuck, Emily!”
I skip the first two steps and jump directly onto the third, stretching to take the rest of the stairs the same way. But my legs are still like jelly and I stumble on my second leap. I quickly scramble
to get up and keep going, but I’m not fast enough. My fall gave Trevor enough time to come after me.
“You stupid bitch!”
He pulls my ankle hard, sending me careening over the side railing where I crash onto the cold, hard concrete. The wind is knocked clean out of me, and I’m left coughing and spluttering in a useless heap. My back is searing in pain. I can’t move. I blink away the hot tears stinging my eyes to find Trevor standing over me.
“You should’ve just listened to me,” he says, waving his gun around. “All you had to do was love me back, plain and simple. But no.” His gun arm steadies out, aimed at my chest.
This is it. I can tell by the look in his eyes. There are no chances left, no more mercy. He knows he’ll never have me, so now all that’s left for him to do is keep anyone else from having me, too.
Right then, a deafening crash splits my ears and I throw my hands over my head as broken pieces of wood fly through the air like missiles. Heavy footsteps come pounding down the stairs. Trevor turns toward the sound, and just as he raises his gun, a blurred shadow jumps the railing and smashes him to the ground.
Chapter Twenty-Four
