AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stupid,” the man growls.
“Excuse me?” I blink at him, a frown working between my brows.
“You are stupid.” He repeats the words slowly. “You shouldn’t be wandering down dark alleys in the middle of the night if you can’t defend yourself.”
It takes me a few seconds to process what he’s saying. Andhowhe’s saying it. Like I’ve personally offended him.
“It’s not the middle of the night. It’s just after eight. The storm is making it darker than it would be if—”
“You didn’t even check to see if anyone was around,” he continues, ignoring me. “Your head was down and you don’t have a weapon. If you’d spent half a fucking second observing your surroundings, you would’ve seen that asshole waiting at the mouth of the alley. Fuck knows he wasn’t being sneaky about it.”
The shame I was already fighting back redoubles and charges at me again. Tears burn in my eyes.
“It was raining too hard to see anything!”
“I saw him from across the street,” he scoffs.
I look into his inhumanly blue eyes again and snort. “No wonder. What are you, a werewolf or something? Normal human eyes don’t look like that.”
His annoyance with me is interrupted for the barest of seconds with something like amusement. Then his full mouth turns down into a grimace. “Get your bike and go.”
“Good idea. There are a lot of assholes wandering around tonight, apparently.”
“And I won’t always be there to save you from them.” He turns around and walks away.
Just like that, I’m alone again.
In the dark. Soaking wet. Shaking with a chill that goes far beyond skin deep, and burning up with a single question on my mind.
What the hell just happened?
3
PIPER
My hands are still shaking as I reach for another slice of stuffed crust pizza. I’m showered, in clean pajamas, and eating the frozen pizza I promised myself, but mentally, I’m still in that alley with that man’s vodka breath rolling over me in nauseating waves.
"Piper!"
My name being shrieked through the tinny speakers of my phone makes me jump. A dribble of grease drops from my pizza onto my flannel pajama pants.
"Damn it, Noelle. You made me spill."
"Good! Put down the pizza and pick up your phone," my best friend retorts. "You should be calling the police, not stuffing your face."
I drop the pizza on a chipped ceramic plate and wipe my fingers on a paper towel. "I'm not stuffing my face. And what would I even tell the police?"
“That you were attacked by a deranged parent outside of your job! I’d say that’s a good starting point.”
“It sounds simple when you say it like that, but…”
The beast of the man who rescued me floats in my mind’s eye. There was nothing simple about him. He saved me and called me an idiot in the same breath.
Not exactly a knight in shining armor.
“What did you say?” Noelle makes a growly sound in sheer frustration. "Move your camera. What's the point of video chatting if I can't see your face?"
"Ashley has been on a black screen this entire chat," I point out. "You're not yelling at her."
