AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’s going to wish I had tossed her from the roof that night in the city.
TWENTY-EIGHT
ALIZE
There isn’tbody wash strong enough, or water hot enough to scrub the feeling of Liam’s sleazy hands from my body. It’s been almost an hour since I’ve been in the shower.
It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I try to remind myself.
I take a deep breath, but the exhale comes out as a sob.
You stabbed him. Ezra was there to help you. Everything is fine.
I wish it felt that way.
This is the second time Liam has tried to hurt me, but this feels worse than the first because every second of it is burned into my memory. The first time I was drugged, which in hindsight seems like a blessing in disguise.
The same few scenes keep playing in my head—being startled from my sleep by him, his threat to toss me out the window, his death-grip on my neck and the squelch of my knife piercing his side. It’s been hours, but my whole body is still tense, on edge.
I’m not sure what happened to him, but there were screams coming from the living room for a while. The sounds paralyzed me. I sat hugging my legs inside my room for what felt like hours. Then Alexander showed up, and…
I felt relieved to see him.
It’s probably stress mixing up my thoughts and feelings. When I realized Liam was attacking me, Alexander’s name was the first on my lips. When it felt like he wasreallygoing to kill me, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
The anger wasn’t even there. Just sadness.
Sadness that my life would end where it is, with Alexander as my enemy. When I realized I wasn’t going to die, the sadness stayed. Now, I can’t shake the feeling of wishing things were different, thathewas different from all the other men in my life. If things weren’t like this, then I wouldn’t have to turn to anyone else.
I wouldn’t have to even consider meeting up with my father.
It still unsettles me thathe’smy best option to escape all this. But Liam’s attack has proved that I’m not safe anywhere right now. I’ll have to disappear—and disappearproperlyif I want peace. I don’t know how to do that yet.
Turning the shower off, I squeeze the excess water from my hair and step out of the glass enclosure. I’m in the middle of wrapping a towel around me when there’s a knock on the door.
I clutch the towel to myself and skitter over to my dagger laying on the countertop.
“Alize?”
It’s Alexander.
My grip on the knife loosens. I clear my throat. “What do you want?”
There’s a long pause. He tries the door but it’s locked.
“Open the door,” he says.
I look around the bathroom, then down at myself, a bubble of unease building in my chest. I’m too weak to face him right now, too unsure. But I do as he says, opening the door just a few inches. Enough to see half of his face, and show him half of mine.
“What?” I say, imbuing my voice with as much vitriol as I can muster.
Alexander’s expression is drawn. His lips are turned down, his eyebrows low over his piercing blue eyes. Their blue is darker, like murky pools of water. He’s got a slight tan. It’s been a little more than a day since I’ve last seen him, but it feels like so much has changed between us. He feels closer, but still so far.
Does he feel it too?
“How are you feeling?” The softness of his voice settles in my stomach against my will.
I suck in a breath.Fineis right there. I should say it, I want to say it. But it just won’t come out. My hesitation is all the answer he needs.
