“Worthless bitch,” he swore sharping, covering his hand over mine and clicking the file open.
I shivered at the touch of his skin on mine, which only made Carter chuckle, his hot breath fluttering over my neck. My eyes stayed on the computer screen, watching as a black box came up, text scrolling too fast through it for me to understand what it was doing. Nothing fucking good, that was for sure. As soon as the black box disappeared, Carter leaned forward and withdrew the portal drive, shoving it back into his pocket.
He stood straight and waved the gun in my direction. “Now find me the thumb drive, and I’ll be out of your life.”
Like hell, I thought. Carter was like a disease with no cure. “I don’t know. And that’s the truth. They don’t tell me shit.” My fingers clutched the front of the desk and brushed up against something small. Something fastened under the center drawer.
Holy shit.
Doing my best to keep my facial expression schooled, I wiggled the little rectangular device out from its holding clip.
“I suggest you start looking,” Carter ordered, glancing to the locked door.
I took the opening and slipped the USB into my back pocket as stood up and turned around to face him. By the time his cold eyes returned to me, I moved to start opening the desk drawers.
Carter stepped up close behind me, so close his chest touched my back and his breath stirred my hair. The barrel of the gun pressed into my lower back. “Do you want to show me what you found?”
My blood froze in my veins.Remain calm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I was proud of how calm my voice came out.
“I love that you like to do things the hard way. It makes this so much more interesting.” His nearness made it feel like a million spiders crawled over my skin.
A string of f-bombs went off in my head as I stared straight ahead, afraid to move, even breathe. Carter slid his hand into my back pocket, the gun firmly pressed into my back. His hand basically cupped my ass, lingering longer than necessary.
The asshole was enjoying himself.
Fucking creep.
My jaw clenched. “Get your hands off me.”
Carter’s fingers finally removed the thing he’d been so desperate to find for months now. He jabbed me with the gun and commanded, “Turn around.” I did as asked, facing him with slow movements, terrified that if I moved too quickly, he’d shoot me. I took my time lifting my eyes, hating what I knew I’d see on his face. Triumph glittered in his deranged eyes. “Now, was that so hard?”
I opened my mouth to tell him to go to hell, but the door handle jiggled, shifting our attention.
“Josie, are you in there?” Brock called from the other side. “Why is the door locked?”
About fucking time. Christ.
At the sound of Brock’s voice, Carter’s eyes grew wild, and his face drained of color. All I could think was,good.I hope he pisses his pants.
Something spurred inside me, some basic instinct to survive. “Brock! He’s here!” I yelled, forgetting for a brief moment about the weapon aimed at my chest.
“You stupid bitch,” Carter hissed, shoving the USB into his pocket. I didn’t see his other hand move until it was too late to deflect the blow. He hit me on the side of my head with the butt of the gun.
It wasn’t hard enough to knock me out, but damn if I didn’t see stars as pain burst into the side of my skull as I stumbled, struggling to stay on my feet and keep conscious. Groaning, I dropped my head, pressing a hand to where the pain radiated. A warm, sticky substance oozed onto my fingertips. Blood.
Son of a bitch—
Crash. The bedroom door shook under what sounded like a shoulder ramming into the wood, vibrating through the room.
Carter scrambled around the desk toward the other side of the room where the sliding door led out to a small private patio. I froze, unsure if I should run to the door or tackle Carter and try to stop him from escaping.
After another smash against the door, I took off toward Brock, reaching the exit just as Carter shoved open the glass doors.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This was bad. Like the entire Academy collapsing bad.
As I flung open the door, Brock stood on the other side like an avenging angel. His eyes were dark and darkened further when he caught sight of the blood dripping down the side of my face. Stepping over the threshold, he glared at Carter with such violence that I nearly trembled. Brock’s hands were fisted at his sides, and they unclenched, then clenched again.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Brock demanded.