“Lame.” I held up my key fob. “Not much to wave.”
“Well, what’d you have in mind?”
“How ‘bout you never leave my side, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s go.’” The elevator doors rolled open, and we stepped in. “Oh, but that’s mean. What if you see someone there you want to talk to?”
“I won’t.”
“How do you know that?” I pressed the lobby button and rolled my shoulders free of the tension starting to build. I didn’t want him to find someone else to talk to or hang around with, I wanted him all to myself, but that wasn’t right, either. He’d said we couldn’t be more than friends. What if he found a girl he might want to talk to?
“I just do.” He looked at me sideways. “When I said last night that I wanted you, but it wasn’t a good idea, it wasn’t because it was you…that’s my rule with all women.”
“As in…you wouldn’t be withanywoman, period?”
He dipped his head, then focused on the numbers lighting up as we passed each floor. Five floors went by, and he’d not even breathed.
“So…this no women rule, how long have you been following it?”
“A while.”
“You’re so vague it drives me nuts sometimes.”
“Adds to my intrigue.”
It sure did, but that wasn’t a good thing. Made me like him even more. “Why do you have that rule?”
The elevator slowed as we reached the third floor. He stepped to the side as I ducked back, instantly becoming my shield. I moved right with him as if I’d done so for years, and he moved as if he knew exactly what I’d need. No, hedidknow.
The doors rolled back, and Dracula stepped into the elevator followed by a baseball player and…oh shit…a guy with a skull cap on.
Black.
And he had a goatee.
The breath whooshed out of my lungs as if that baseball player had used his bat on my back. Dang it! I hadn’t even made it to the ground floor before hitting a roadblock. Jenna and I had talked about how this party would be filled with obstacles. I could handle this.
I’d even looked at some pictures that resembled my attackers for this very reason.
Take it one at a time. Slow. Remember your skills. You can do this.Jenna’s words flowed through my mind as it started down the spiral into a full-on flashback.
Shit.
Sweat popped on my forehead and above my lip. I brushed my finger over my damp flesh and bit my lip. Just a little pain to distract.Sober. Let’s Get This Party Started. Try.The elevator dinged, and we were on our way down again.
The three who’d walked into the small box with us laughed, and a wave of alcohol-scented air washed over me.
That was all it took to send me free-falling into a flashback.
“Hold her down!” The guy yelled.
The sound of his belt loosening and a zipper shifting hit me like a slap to the face. I screamed so loud my throat burned, but a hand went over my mouth. I kicked and scratched.Please don’t do this. Please don’t—
A hand to my face sent my cheek exploding. Warmth paired with a pain I’d never experienced sliced along my face as I heard cloth ripping, tearing. Another set of hands held my wrists out to the sides of my body. So exposed. So vulnerable.
I closed my eyes. The cold cement beneath my body scraped my skin as the guys held me down and went to work on my clothes with the knife.
Just escape. Float away to a safe spot. Maybe I’ll be lucky and die tonight. Then I won’t feel anything. The cold air bit at my skin—
“Lina?” Hunter’s voice dragged me from the gruesome memory.