29
CLAIRE
I’m just finishing up in Jared’s closest when the door to the dim bedroom creaks open. For a second, I assume it’s Johnny, coming to help me do our detective work, but instead, my gaze settles on the six-foot-something, stinky-foot-smelling guy who this room belongs to.
I freeze, unable to speak or do a thing.
Come on, Claire, remember the plan.
“I… uh.”
Jared places his fingertips on the door and clicks it shut. He turns his attention to me, a devious grin on his face. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
With each step he takes toward me, I slink the opposite direction, until I back myself up against the wall and can go no further.
“I heard you were asking around for me.” He creeps closer.
“I was looking for…” But I don’t get the chance to finish.
Jared advances and throws one hand up on the wall beside me, his foul breath assaulting me with the proximity. He inches his body up to where it’s nearly touching mine. “I’m right here, baby.”
I cringe at the mental image he’s forcing into my head with his implications.
“I’m not interested,” I manage to say.
“And I don’t care.”
I weigh my options. Clearly, I can’t escape to my left, because his arm is in the way. If I bolt right, I have to side-step his desk and somehow make it to the door without him catching me.
“Thinking about going somewhere? So soon? You just got here.” He slams his other arm up to block all of my paths.
His arousal grows against my leg, and I realize I only have one route out of here. If I’m going to make this work, I have to play the part.
I relax my body, giving myself a better vantage point. I place my hands on his shoulders to brace myself for what I’m about to do next. I draw my leg back, ready to blast it forward and into his man parts.
His eyebrows raise, telling me that he’s buying right into it, thinking I’m going to go along with what he’s suggesting.
The doorknob rattles, implying Jared had locked it when he came in.
There’s a loud crash, and the door nearly flies off the hinges, but I’m already in full motion, blasting my knee straight into Jared’s crotch.
“Fucking bitch,” Jared yells, more distracted by my assault than everything else.
Johnny rushes in, his body a blur as he makes his way across the room, snatching Jared from his cowered position and pinning him against the wall with his hand around his throat.
Johnny tilts his head toward me. “You okay?”
I nod, holding my arms to my chest and backing away from that side of the room where I was trapped. “Yeah.”
“What the fuck, man?” Jared chokes. “We were just having some fun.”
Johnny slams Jared into the wall, squeezing his fingers tighter around his neck. “Didn’t really look like it.”
Jared grasps at Johnny’s arms, trying to pry him off, but Johnny has a death grip on him. It’s like there’s an unbreakable surge of anger coursing through Johnny.
Jared easily towers over him but he's no match to Johnny's adrenaline-induced strength.
I inch forward, placing my palm on Johnny’s shoulder. “Hey…”