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I made it past them and quickly went down the stairs. A shiver worked through me when I remembered the night one of the Knights had carried me down and put Nancy and me in a room.
Don’t go there, Ava. Stay focused on Drew.
It was just so hard to not remember when my life had changed forever. The dim lighting, cool dank air, and the low hum of male voices reverberating through the hallway had me stopping. A paralyzing fear shot through me.
My throat constricted, cutting off my airways. Shaking my head, I fought the memories threatening to rush back and destroy me.
No, you’re okay. You’re okay.
My heart violently hammered in my chest, and perspiration dampened my armpits. It was hot down here, suffocating.
I wasn’t okay.
How could I be okay when any one of these men could take advantage of me now that I was down here—alone?
No. They’re good men. Drew trusts them.
I wanted to trust them, but my body and mind took over as a PTSD episode roared through me like a freight train. I inhaled calming breaths, trying to recall the words of the Whitney Houston song to calm me, but I couldn’t. Everything felt out of control, chaotic. It was total sensory overload: sight, smell, sound. Coupled with Drew being injured, my greatest fear of losing him crashing down on me. I was spiraling into my personal hell with every ticking second.
I gasped and my knees buckled when a massive figure at the end of the hallway stalked toward me.
I was all alone.
My bodyguard couldn’t save me.
Drew couldn’t save me.Again.
“No!” I shouted, raising my hands for him to stop. “No!”
He ran toward me. “Hey, it’s okay.”
I couldn’t make out his face as my vision blurred. I didn’t recognize his voice.
Oh God!He was coming for me.
“No!” I yelled the one word that had been ignored the night I was raped. “Please don’t hurt me,” I begged, wrapping my arms around my knees and burying my face in my thighs like a scared mouse.
Had one of the club’s enemies gotten inside?
Get up and fight, Ava. Fight like Drew taught you. You’re not weak and vulnerable. You’re a warrior, a warrior Drew created so you’d never need to depend on anyone.
Drew had been training me for months for this very moment. I couldn’t let him down.
I wouldn’t disappoint him.
Fight.
Fight.
“Hey, I didn’t mean—”
I threw my foot up while pushing my hands on the floor for added power, hoping to hit him in the face.
His breathless screech told me I’d missed the target.
I lifted my head.
“Wolf?” Tina ran down the stairs. “Oh my gosh, what happened?”
