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But possibly the only option.
Taking a deep breath, I slipped the vial in my mouth, holding it carefully between my teeth, saying a silent prayer that nothing made my teeth knock together too hard. The glass was sturdy enough, but could easily break. Then I would be the one swallowing a shitton of lethal poison. And Bayleigh would be stuck with Kyle with no hope for escape.
I just had to find an opening and quickly.
I could hold the bottle between my teeth to unstop it, then quickly pour it into Kyle’s mouth. Even if he tried to spit it out, the concentrate would be strong enough to incapacitate him in just a couple minutes, depending on what it was.
Long enough to get Bayleigh free and get her the hell out of here.
Then, well, then I guess I would have to come back and… deal with the body.
That would be a new one for me.
But I could do it.
I could borrow his car that was so conveniently in the garage where no one would see me hauling around a body, then I could drive him out toward my neck of the woods, stick him in my wheelbarrow, and walk his ass deep into the mountains where he could rot and be eaten by scavengers.
A fitting end to such a scumbag.
I slapped my tape back over my mouth and got my hand back into the loose zip tie.
Then we waited.
I didn’t need her to speak to know what she was feeling. I swore I could feel the fear and uncertainty pulsing in the air around her.
He had to go for me first.
I had to minimize the amount of trauma she was going to endure. She likely already had enough to keep her from ever wanting to live alone or trust another man again.
She would have a long road ahead of her.
This situation was upsetting to me for sure, but it was different. First, because I knew from the moment that I grabbed the vial that there was an out for me, one way or another. And, second, he wasn’t my past tormentor, someone who’d taken so much from me already. And third because, well, I had purpose now.
To save her.
It was amazing how having purpose could motivate you, could quiet the fears in your mind, could focus your body, ready you for the coming fight.
As if I summoned him, Kyle’s footsteps started moving in our direction again.
My gaze slit to Bayleigh, trying to comfort her with just my gaze. She seemed to grasp that, giving me a short nod before her gaze slipped to the doorway where her ex stood.
“Think I want to have a little… release before we get to the punishment part of the night,” Kyle said as his hands went for his belt.
Memories, unwanted and dizzying, flashed across my mind, making me lose precious seconds.
When I managed to take a deep breath and push away those flashbacks, Kyle was already near the bed, his belt off.
But he hadn’t tossed it to the side.
Oh, no.
He was lifting it and wrapping it around my neck.
The hard jerk my body did was instinctual as he threaded the belt through the loop and started to pull it tighter.
My heartbeat hammered in my chest as his one hand held the belt just tightly enough that it was uncomfortable, but not enough to make me pass out. No. Kyle wanted his victims alive while he did whatever he wanted to them.
Well, tonight was not that night.
And I was not the fucking one.
So when he yanked me upward by my neck, using the belt to turn me away, I knew it was my chance.
He would be distracted by trying to get his dick out.
And I could slip my hands free, pull off the duct tape, turn, and catch him off-guard.
Taking the time for one slow, deep breath, I played it through in my head until it was time.
My elbow collided with his ribs, making a choked sound escape him as I whipped around. His hand on my neck slackened enough for me to spin, to push, to get him onto his back.
“You stupid fucking—“ he started as I reached into my mouth to unstop the vial.
Smart move. Keep opening your mouth around a known poisoner.
Thankfully, Kyle’s stupidity made it easy to lean over him and start to pour.
But at the last second, after some of it had slipped between his lips, making him retch, his hand yanked hard at my neck, making the vial slip inside my mouth.
And some of that purple poison mingled with my own saliva.
I spat hard and fast, right there all over his face before he whipped out from under me, spitting and gagging onto the floor.
“The fuck… did you… give me… bitch,” he managed between spitting.
I was too busy trying to make sure I didn’t swallow any of my own saliva to pay him any mind.
