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One second, he was right there, pressing up against me, smirking, eyes filled with the promise of seduction. Then the next…
I scream as he hits the ground, my voice lost in the crowd of people who have barely adjusted their dancing to compensate for the body on the floor.
How can no one see what’s going on here?
“Arnie!” I yell as I try to grab at him, pull him to his feet again. But his body is limp and unyielding.
My own heart pounds rapidly against my chest as I try to find his pulse.
There. He’s still breathing.
“ARNIE!” I scream louder in his ear. Please wake up, dear God, please.
A hand suddenly grabs my arm, pulling me to my feet.
I’m confronted with a man perhaps twice my age. He does not dance, doesn’t even sway in time with the music. His cruel grin makes his scarred face seem all the more unsettling.
He leans in closer, over Arnie’s collapsed form. “You’re coming with me, doll face.”
A shudder of recognition jolts through me when I hear his voice. This was one of the men that attacked us that day at Alpine.
I take a step back, bumping into the dancing bodies behind me.
“There’s no use running,” the man calls after me. “Padraic has the place surrounded.”
My mind threatens to disassociate entirely. But the sight of Arnie on the floor… I can’t leave him there. Yet I can practically hear his voice in my ear, screaming at me to run.
The man must see the conflict in my eyes as he aims a light kick at Arnie’s ribs. I scream again,, tugging on the arm of the woman behind me. Making myself and my desperation known to as many people as possible.
By some miracle, a young man notices Arnie on the floor and immediately goes to help him up, oblivious to the armed man threatening me.
The scarred man growls at the sudden attention and knocks the stranger away. The younger man flies into a group of girls who immediately begin yelling at Arnie’s attacker. Before my eyes, I see a fight taking shape.
Maybe… Maybe I can lose this man in the crowd and double back for Arnie.
Swarms of people are gathering around us now. I can see the panic in the scarred man’s eyes as he lunges for me—only to be held back by two broader men who appeared as if by magic to defend the other group of girls.
I take another step back, then another, not wanting to turn my back on that cruel face. But I steel my nerves and begin pushing through the crowds more fiercely. I duck raised elbows and ignore death glares as I move toward the edge of the crowd.
I glance up at our table, trying to catch the eye of either Felicity or Bella, but there’s no one there. Are they down here already? I look around, but the sea of faces is all unfamiliar.
All except one. His scarred face pushes through the crowd toward me at a surprising pace.
My escape plan begins to form more rapidly as I take off at a sprint. Arnie knew the people who worked here. If I can just get the attention of the bouncer-
“Woah there!” A man grabs hold of me as I barge past him, almost tripping over his feet in the process.
“Sorry,” I murmur as I try to take off again.
But the man holds me firm. “No need to rush, Roisin.”
I freeze in place. How many people has Padraic sent?
“We can make this easy for you,” he purrs, reaching to wrap a loose strand of my hair around his finger.
The fear that’s nearly paralyzing my body is only dwarfed by my outrage. My knee collides with his groin a second later. I don’t bother watching him fall to the floor—I’m already taking off across the room, narrowly avoiding toppling a tray of shots in the process.
A few seconds later, I hear the telltale sound of the tray crashing to the floor. I don’t need to turn around to know my pursuers are hot on my tail.
