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“Don’t get too comfortable with your rich boyfriend,” she calls out. “We’re gonna fuck you up, then I’m gonna fuck him until he forgets your name.” She slams her shoulder against mine and moves out the front door.
Shakily, I shove my things on the conveyor belt and watch her through the store windows while she stands on the sidewalk and takes out her phone.
The hair on the back of my neck prickles, and my stomach swirls like I swallowed hot oil. I take my own phone out and dial Bobby, though I know he won’t be able to answer. The phone would be in his office or a locker, and he’d be with Aiden working out, but I’m shaken enough to try anyway.
The call rings and rings, goes to the answering machine, and I treasure the‘you’ve reached Bobby. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.’His voice is calming. His deep baritone soothing. “I love you, Bobby. You owe me a hug.”
I pay for my groceries and slowly walk to my car. I watch in every direction and squint my eyes as the first flurries drift down from the sky.
I hate snow. I loathe it.
I feel like Rita’s here. I feel like I’m being watched. But seeing no one, I toss my groceries in the back, climb into the front, and slam and lock the door immediately.
Normally, I’d take my groceries home – I have milk, after all – but I don’t. I don’t want to walk into my dark house all alone right now. I don’t want to see her again, so I drive straight to the gym. The milk can be replaced, plus, it’s cold out. It might still be fine by the time I’m done.
My cousin has officially given me the creeps and I need my family – my fight family.
I pull into the gym parking lot five minutes later. I pull up and cut the engine, and scanning every shadowed corner, I force myself to relax at the familiarity. Jimmy’s Jeep is here. Bobby’s Rav. Even Jack’s bike. Aiden’s dark truck is parked only two spaces away from mine. Everything is safe and normal, but that hot oil continues to swirl in my stomach, so I take out my cell and text Izzy.
Me:Hey, are you at the gym?
Izzy:Yeah babe. I’m a desk whore for the next hour, then I get to beat you up. Where are you?
Me:Outside. Can you come out?
Izzy:Are you scared of the dark? Are there clowns in the drains? Lol. On my way.
She sends a slew of crazy emoticons and ends it with a bunch of eggplants. She’s calling me a dick, but her text still loosens my chest and makes me smile.
Home.
I never knew this was my home until I was forced into it, but now I never want to leave. I sit in my car and watch the front door, and that leftover anxiety in my belly dissipates at the mere sight of her walking out the front door in teeny tiny workout gear and a big stupid furry hat you might see in a hard Russian winter.
I open the car door and climb out. I’m still wearing heels, so I work to not slip and fall on my ass. Looking back up with a nervous giggle, the sound cuts off at the shadow moving behind Iz.
I don’t have time to react. I have no time to warn her before the shadow moves fast as lighting and swings down over her head. Iz drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and before I can get a scream out, a thick arm wraps around my throat and cuts off my oxygen.
My legs kick out instinctively. My hands go up to my attacker’s arm. My nails dig in and my heels collide with my captor’s shin. I’ve been training for six months now, and all I’m doing is scratching and kicking like an idiot.
Rear naked choke, baby, we’ve practiced this. You know what to do.Bobby’s voice slides through my panicking mind, and just like he always promised, muscle memory takes over where my brain stops.
I stomp on my captor’s instep and lift my hands. Pushing his loose elbow up, I pull my head through the gap, and without letting his arm go, I extend and spin and shove down hard until his shoulder pops.
He cries out in pain, but before I can celebrate or escape, I drop to the ground at the cracking ache that slices through the back of my skull. I feel like I weigh three-hundred pounds as I fall, and then a brand-new agony sears through my head as it bounces against the unforgiving concrete ground.
