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It is too late to protest when I feel Reid’s hands slide under me and lift me into his arms like I’m a bride. He walks over to the door right next to the closet, pushing it open with his boot. The light senses his movement and flicks on. Instead of telling him off, I look around at the luxurious bathroom with black slate tile and cool lighting behind the vanity mirror, highlighting the modern luxury. He stops in front of a white free-standing tub and slowly places me down on my feet, keeping one arm around my waist. I forget that I’m standing against him, and my mind brings me back to the present. To the presence of him and the scent of his cologne.
“Hold on to me. Okay? Whatever that piece of shit gave you can make you feel off-balanced for a while.”
I bow my head and nod. Ashamed that I let someone like Michael do the things he did to me. That I am risking my life, but in Michael’s obsessive craziness, he wouldn’t kill me. It wouldn’t make his game seem worthwhile. If he killed me, he wouldn’t have anyone else he could manipulate and blackmail. He has me cornered. I just hope I can survive it all. Graduation is not too far away and then like all Prey, I can be free.
Reid leans and turns on the water, checking the temperature with his fingers. My hand grips his bicep when I feel a wave dizziness. His head turns and his eyebrows draw in when he notices. This is the part of Reid that draws you in. The part that drew me in. The few glimpses of kindness he can bestow on you, making you feel like you are all that he cares about. The few moments.
The ones I wait for.
The ones that I have fallen for.
“Thank you,” I croak.
It’s all I can think to say to him because he doesn’t have to bother with me. He could have called campus security and they would have called the police and handed me over, but he didn’t.
“You could thank me by telling me who he is, but we both know you won’t for whatever reason, and I have the suspicion this isn’t the first time he’s done it.” He leans close, sliding his hand on my cheek and wrapping his fingers behind the nape of my neck. My head tilts to look at his handsome face, but he’s looking above my head, like he’s picturing something in his mind. “Did you know that an animal when preyed upon screams when it’s caught by a predator as it begins to eat them alive.” Chills crawl over my skin when his eyes drop to meet mine and are pitch black. My heart pounds inside my chest and my ears begin to throb, the sound of the water filling the tub is like the blood rushing to my ears. He continues, “It goes silent and watches as the predator feeds on its flesh.” His thumb caresses my cheek, while he studies me and his lips break out in a grin. “Until the predator becomes the prey, when something bigger comes because he found the source of the screams.”
Only three animals pop into my mind. I read an article of things you hear in the woods that scream like humans and I remember the article mentioned foxes and rabbits. The fox eats the rabbit, and the lion eats the fox, but it’s the screams of the rabbit that called the lion.
“The fox and the rabbit. A-and the lion,” I say breathlessly.
“Smart girl.”
CHAPTER3
Jess
“You have to report him, Jess.”
Gia is pacing back and forth in the dorm room. When I was able to walk on my own, Reid dropped me off at my dorm. Back at the house where he lives with Dravin, he placed me in the tub of his bathroom and left me to bathe myself. I was relieved he gave me privacy, so I could lick my wounds and deal with my shame. I’m also glad they called Gia and she showed up here to check on me.
My refusal to say anything is obvious. Michael will harm my mother if I open my mouth and the fact that he knows I’m here doesn’t sit well with me. He knows where to find me, so running from him isn’t an option. I’m not sure how much influence he has or how much money is at his disposal. I know he’s rich, but I don’t know how rich. I have never been to his house so what do I know. All I know is that he owns a town and everything in it. Including the people.
“I can’t,” I say quietly.
She whirls around, her black hair fanning out toward me and her eyes almost bulging. “Are you fucking kidding me right now!” She places her hands on her head and walks closer so that she is facing me while I sit on the bed with my feet together, as if I’m being scolded like a child. She lets out a puff of air and stretches her arms out wide. “Why?” she asks, lowering her voice and breaking on the last part, before dropping her hands to the side and plopping beside me on the bed.
I close my eyes briefly and hate that I’m disappointing her. I hate that I sound so weak, but I really don’t have a choice. Michael has me by the balls, and he knows it. There has got to be a way to get off his radar, but I need to finish school first to be able to support me and my mom. Once I have a job, I can figure out the rest. Like how to get rid of Michael.
“I just can’t right now. I’m in no position to report him. Not yet. Not right now. You have to trust me on this.”
I swallow thickly. I know she is struggling to understand why I won’t do it but telling her this is futile. I know she will tell the twins, but by the time they look into it, my mother is fucked.
Michael is beyond fucked up, and obsessive people like Michael will stop at nothing if they don’t get their way. I have to find a way, but I know the twins are not the answer. Killing him is probably the only way to get him to leave me alone. But how would I ask someone to do that or ask that of myself? It would make me a killer. Like hiring a hitman to whack somebody. This isn’t a movie. This is my life. My future. I would go to jail and my mother would suffer either way. There has to be another way; Dravin and his brother are not the answer.
I can’t ask Gia to get involved. It would be too risky, and she has enough on her plate with Warren. This is my problem.
I shake my head when we both fall silent. Her mind must be turning, trying to figure out why I won’t tell her more.
“I can’t,” I repeat. My head turns and my eyes find hers. “You have enough on your plate with the twins and Warren. Anyway, what happened at the church?”
She looks away and I know that there is something she isn’t telling me. I’m deviating from the topic of what happened with Michael. How Reid found me, and I passed out from whatever Michael had given me. When she showed up after Reid called Dravin, she came over telling me that they took her to the church. I wonder if they introduced her to the Order. I feel her tense beside me, and the same way I’m not telling her everything in detail, she is doing the same. Maybe she can’t or the twins could have sworn her to secrecy from what was said.
“They killed the barista from the coffee shop,” she deadpans.
My body begins to feel hot and cold. The room goes silent and all you can hear is the humming of the air conditioner from the old building. I can feel the pressure from my heart beating in my ears. They killed him?
I knew the twins were ruthless and what he and that asshole Warren did to her, I wouldn’t blame them, but she’s saying it like it was a normal situation.
