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Part of his face was in the shadows, but when Stella looked up at him, he shifted, and I caught a touch of gray around his temple. He was one of those guys that was probably older than he looked because he appeared more fit than guys half his age. Only something about him made me think he didn’t stay in shape with a mundane game of racket ball, and I shrank back into the booth.
Stella leaned forward and shouted, “This is the owner of the club.”
He inclined his head in greeting and waited until Stella sat back against the booth to bend down and whisper in her ear. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I wasn’t comfortable with him being that close to Stella, which was crazy. Maybe this was the final stage of insanity, projecting all of your fears onto other people.
She’d done so much for me without even realizing it, the least I could do was walk away before I embarrassed her in front of her new friend. Nobody needed to know what a damaged wreck I was on the inside.
When I stood, Stella reached over, her hand lightly touching my arm as she shouted, “Are you OK?”
“Yeah,” I shouted back to be heard over the pounding bass. When I leaned over to pick up my clutch, I made sure my mouth was close enough to her ear so I wouldn’t have to shout. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. You catch up with your friend and I’ll be right back.”
She gave me a thumbs up and I squeezed around the glass table. On my way past, her friend grabbed my arm to stop me. His touch was unexpected, and I couldn’t help the shiver of revulsion that slid down my spine at the sensation of a million spiders crawling over my skin. He quickly dropped his hand, but leaned in close, too close, his warm breath fanning my neck. I sucked in a breath, trying to maintain my composure.
“If you’re looking for the bathroom, they’re up ahead on your right.”
My smile was tight as I nodded, taking a step back to give myself the space I needed to breathe. The urge to run, the desire to get as far away from this man as I could, smacked into me. It took everything I had not to give in, to walk, not run away from him. A voice inside my head whispered that it would be dangerous to show any kind of weakness in front of this man. To ever let him find out that I was afraid.
Great. I’d gone from calling myself an overeating freak to hearing voices. This wasn’t one of those times when I could splash a little water on my face and shake it off. No. My body had gone into full on flight mode and I need to get rid of some of this nervous energy. Stella couldn’t see me like this, she just couldn’t.
The stairs up ahead were illuminated from above me and I took it as a sign. Normally I hated stairs, but today they were my salvation. When I finally made it to the bottom and saw the heavy red door leading outside, I practically sobbed as I pulled on the gold handle.
At the curb outside, I bent over, resting my hands against my knees as I sucked in big gulps of air. Closing my eyes, I started counting backward from a hundred as I focused on my breathing. Ninety-nine, in, ninety-eight, out, ninety-seven, in, ninety-six out. The pressure in my chest was just easing when I felt the prick of a needle against the side of neck.
My eyes flew open, all thoughts of counting and breathing forgotten when I saw a set of black boots on the pavement beside my flats.
“Don’t worry, man,” a deep voice called out from above me. “Her friend called me to come get her. She’ll be all right after she sleeps it off.”
I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was a meager croak. The outer edges of my vision blurred, the dizzying sensation like a punch to my stomach. Even if I blew chunks on the sidewalk right now in front of everyone, they would all assume it was because I was drunk, not because some asshole had drugged me.
“It’s going to be all right,” he murmured, trying to placate me. “We’ll be out of here in a minute.”
Why would anyone want to do this to me? Oh, god, it was like something out of a movie. I was being abducted, in the middle of all these club goers, and nobody would remember a thing because my body was too weak to fight him off. He could do anything he wanted to me once he got me alone. No! My mind screamed as it fractured even more. Not again.
Whatever he’d given me had a numbing agent in it, because no spiders crawled across my skin when he lifted me over his shoulder. The loss of sensation was almost worse. Being inside your body, watching what was happening to you, but not being able to do a damn thing about it. This was far worse than any of my previous nightmares and I found myself wishing for pain.
My mind was already fucked, and I doubted it could take another round of abuse. If I made it out of this alive, I’d never recover my sanity. There was no going back. No matter how hard my body fought against it, this was the end of the road for me.
My eyes felt heavy, and I let them flutter closed. Even in the pitch-black, Hunter reached for me. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he found me here. He was darkness and everyone knows the darkness always wins.
The florescent light down the hall blinked, casting room one-forty-two in shadow, which was perfect for my purposes. The smell of disinfectant hung heavy in the air and from the room beside me a man hollered out a woman’s name over and over, his pleas going unanswered. Machines whooshed or beeped up and down this stretch of hallway.
Everyone here was waiting to meet their maker, some sooner than others. The man in one-forty-two would meet his tonight. He just didn’t realize it yet, but he soon would.
I’d timed everything just right. The eleven o’clock shift change had just taken place and none of the nurses would be by for another hour. By then, I’d be long gone, and they would think he’d died peacefully in his sleep.
My father always said the devil came for every man at some point. The devil was about to be sorely disappointed because this man’s soul was mine for the taking. Normally, I didn’t care enough to drag out a man’s death, but he was different. With him, I’d actually enjoy playing the role of executioner.
The heavy wooden door was open enough for me to slip inside. Light from a streetlamp outside the window cast shadows through the blinds and onto the wall. A steady sucking noise came from the machine beside the bed, and he let out a barking cough that ended in a wheeze.
His physical appearance had drastically changed since the last time I was here. Back then, he’d still had a head full of sandy blond hair and some semblance of his formerly muscled physique. This man had patches of gray hair sticking straight up from his head, his skin was wrinkled and sunk in, and the outline of his hip bone was visible underneath the blanket as he lay on his side.
I hated that by killing him I was actually doing him a favor, but this wasn’t about him. Not really. No, when he took his last breath, I wanted him to know it was because of her. If I could bring her his head, let her know he suffered, I would. But I didn’t have the time to give that to her, so I’d have to settle for the next best thing.
He opened his eyes, and they widened in terror. A beautiful sight, but alas, unhelpful to my cause.
I brought my finger to my lips and shook my head. “Let’s keep this visit between us, shall we, Mr. Smith?”
He sighed and struggled to sit up. “Did my daughter send her little watch dog up here in the middle of the night to make sure she’s getting her money’s worth?”
