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Oh crap. I stumbled backward away from him, covering the back of Ava’s head with my hands as I smooshed her against me, muffling her crying against my breasts.
But Dax moved so freaking fast. He didn’t lumber or stumble, he freakingflew, winding back his arm as he raced toward me. My spine bumped into a chair, blocking my escape, and there was no time to dodge or duck; there was only enough time to lock my arms tight around the baby and turn my face in, squeezing my eyes shut.
The impact was big and massive, and I think I now knew what it felt like to get hit by a train. The good news was that it happened so fast that I blacked out before I felt the actual pain.
* * *
The coldness,creeping along the insides of my legs and getting all up in my business, is what initially infiltrated my consciousness again. But swiftly following that, it was the awareness of a frigid, hard, yet rough surface at my back, scratching my skin that told me I was lying on a concrete floor.
Naked.
I gasped and started to curl my limbs in toward my body, instinctively seeking warmth and modesty, but the move was cut abruptly short when freezing metal hands seemed to clamp around both my wrists and ankles and keep me spread and exposed.
I choked out a cry of surprise, my eyes springing open and pain pouring from all kinds of strange places on my body.
My surroundings were dark, dank, and cold enough to scream basement. There was no ceiling, just rafters, pipes, wires, and the floorboards of the level above. The only source of illumination was two dangling lightbulbs that showcased an empty room with only a furnace, water heater, and a rusted, metal kitchen table, which had been pushed against one wall and was crowded with junk on top.
Other than that, yeah, the space was vacant…as far as I could see, anyway.
About the time I realized thehandsholding me down against the floor were actually manacles, I finally heard the footsteps. They vibrated into my ear telling me someone was walking closer.
I flipped my face the other way, my jaw lighting up with white-hot agony as I did, and I finally saw the shoes strolling forward in a calm, unhurried fashion.
A hoarse gasp crowded my throat. Already beginning to breathe raggedly as the panic struck, I lifted my attention up dark jeans to the man’s face, only to find him holding a green garden hose in his hand, with his thumb resting on the spray nozzle.
“Dax,” I rasped, shaking my head and trying to deny that this was actually happening. “Wha-what’re you doing? Where are we?”
He tsked, making a disappointed sound as he shook his head. “See…if you’d gone back to my place with me when Iofferedon our last date, you’d already know that answer, darling.”
I swallowed fearfully. So this must be the basement of his house. Not original but maybe it’d help people find me faster…like, about only three days after I was already dead, instead of a whole year.
God. With a shudder, I licked dry lips and tried to talk my way out of this. “Look, I can tell that you’re upset…”
Though, actually, he didn’t look mad at all. He looked gleefully demonic as if all his sick and twisted, serial killer dreams were finally about to come true. The shadows falling over parts of his typically handsome face really helped with his creepy factor, too.
“But if you could just uncuff me,” I tried, tugging experimentally at my restraints as I sent him a hopeful smile. “Then I’m sure we could talk—”
“No!” he roared, silencing me quite effectively. “You didn’t want to talk to me forweeks. So no talking now. Not anymore.”
My throat worked as I tried to swallow and keep my wits about me. I couldn’t lose it right now. I couldn’t.
Taking a big breath, he seemed to settle down, and in a calmer tone, he added, “It’s time to teach. I need to teach you thatno onetakes out a restraining order against me.”
“Okay, okay,” I told him, trying to sound reasonable. “I get it. And I’m sorry about that. My family made me do it. They were concerned, and I tried to tell them there was nothing to worry about…” Pausing to press my lips together because,surprise, my family had been freaking right. There’d actually beenplentyto worry about. Didn’tIjust look like the fool now? “I—I knew you’d never hurt me,” I added with a shaking, trembling voice because, boy, had I been wrong about that, too.
So stupidly wrong.
Suddenly remembering how he hadn’t just hurtmebut how he’d been pinning Lucy against the wall and choking her, I gasped. “Lucy!”
And the baby. Oh God. I’d been holding the baby when he’d knocked me unconscious. What had happened to Ava Grace?
“W-where’s my friend? And her daughter? Are they okay? What did you do to—”
Without answering, he pointed the nozzle of the hose at me and pulled the lever, dousing me right in the face with a stinging slap of cold, watery horror.
I screamed. Or, at least, I tried to. It came out sounding more like a drowned gurgle, to be honest.
For the longest moment, I couldn’t breathe. I was sure this was going to kill me. I was going to drown to death. But then Dax moved the spray down, over my neck and chest, and along my arms and legs. Over my breasts.
