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“‘It’s cold outside,’ you said. ‘Extra-large will warm you up,’ you said. Stupid, tiny bladder,” I mumble to myself as I quickly use the gross bathroom, wash my hands, and pull the door open.
As I walk out of the building, I slather my hands with the sanitizer that I always keep in my purse. Where’s Mason? He was right here. Where did he go? I scan the area, looking for him. I find him in the distance, flirting with a dark-haired girl in knee-high boots and booty shorts. Even from where I’m standing, I can tell that he’s charming the socks off of her. I can’t believe he can’t keep it in his pants for two minutes! Seriously, he left me alone at an illegal racetrack to talk to a random girl. And after that whole thing of how I shouldn’t be left alone.
I’m torn between whether I should go over to him or not. I don’t want to be that girl—the one who acts all jealous and possessive over someone she isn’t even with, but I promised Aiden I’d stay with Mason. Stupid boy letting his stupid hormones be the priority.
Before I can decide anything, a rough hand clamps down over my mouth and an arm wraps around me in a steel grip, trapping my arms at my sides and pressing my back tight against a hard body.
Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.
I try kicking the person behind me but it’s no use as they drag me backward with force. I’m frantic, mentally begging Mason to look over, hoping that he noticed someone grab me. The last thing I see before I’m dragged around the corner to the back of the building is the back of Mason, who is still flirting with the booty-shorts girl.
I can’t help but panic, and feel my eyes water.
He found me.
This is it.
I’m going to die.
This is not how I end. I did not go through everything I did just to die alone, weak and afraid, behind a bathroom at some illegal racetrack where no one will find my body. I absolutely refuse to go down without a fight.
Just you and him, Thea. You’re not a scared little girl anymore. You train and work out in preparation for this exact moment—you needed and wanted to be ready for when Tony found you.
You are Thea Kennedy and you are a survivor.
As we get to the back of the building, I force my mouth open against the hand practically smothering me and clamp down on it as hard as I can.
“Bitch!” My attacker hisses as they yank their hand away from my mouth, and I taste the metallic tang of blood.
Their other arm is still wrapped around me, trapping my arms at my sides, but I don’t waste time. While they’re still caught off guard, I promptly lean back into them and swing my legs forward, gaining momentum before slamming my heels into their shins as hard as I can. It works, and as they release me, I go sprawling to the ground, landing face-first in the dirt.
I don’t even waste a tenth of a second to catch my breath before I’m scrambling to stand up to get away, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Before I even have both feet under me, they grab my wrist and spin me around to face them.
Dave.
I’m so shocked that it isn’t Tony that I freeze. I never thought I’d be so relieved to see Dave’s hostile, ugly face in my life. My ease is short-lived, however, when he pushes me up against the brick wall of the building, and I’m reminded that while Dave may not be Tony, he clearly intends to hurt me.
“Such a stupid little bitch!” he snarls at me, his grip on my arms tightening. “You’re not worth the trouble, but your boyfriend basically dislocated my jaw. I’ve been eating soup and banana mush for weeks because of you. He ruined my face, and I’m very fond of it, so how about we break something that he’s very fond of?”
Dave tosses me like a rag doll away from the wall, and a pair of arms catch me. With barely a chance to get a glance of the guy, I notice he’s one of Dave’s friends from the party, one of the original linebackers who blocked me from escaping after I took Dave down at Noah’s party.
This new guy spins me around so that my back is to him and I’m facing Dave. New guy practically yanks my arms out of their sockets as he grabs each of my wrists and pins them behind my back, forcing me to stay in place. Dave smiles an evil, satisfied grin, watching me pinned helplessly by the inhumanly strong linebacker behind me.
“This is going to hurt me as much as it hurts you,” Dave says with a sadistic smirk. “But just remember, what’s about to happen to you is all because of your little bastard boyfriend.”
Dave draws back his arm and punches me right in the stomach. I swear my lungs collapse and I double over in pain. My eyes water as I desperately gasp for air, and the only thing preventing me from falling to the ground is the monster holding me from behind. My ribs . . .
The linebacker yanks my arms back, forcing me to stand up straight and face Dave again. He has a sadistic gleam in his eyes as he puts his face near mine and runs his hand over my hair, smoothing it out. “Don’t quit on me just yet, darling, this is just the warm-up.”
Despite still trying to catch my breath, I spit right in Dave’s gargoyle face. It contorts into an expression of pure rage. The guy holding me tightens his grip, forcing my arms impossibly close together and practically dislocating my shoulders. Dave winds up his arm to drive his fist back into my stomach, but a blur of black suddenly tackles him to the ground before he can deliver the hit. The guy holding me from behind releases me and goes to help Dave, and I buckle over, holding my stomach, trying to recover.
I’m too focused on trying to catch my breath to pay attention to the fight. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Dave and the other guy scrambling away, realizing that they’ll lose this fight.
My breathing returning close to normal, I straighten up and turn to thank Aiden for saving my ass once again, only to stop short when I’m met with a guy who definitely isn’t Aiden.
In fact, I’ve never seen this guy before in my life.
This guy is tall and tan, with bright-blue eyes and buzzed brown hair, and looks like he’s in his early twenties. He’s on the skinnier side and doesn’t look very muscular, but he must be strong if he made Dave and his giant friend retreat with their tails between their legs.
