There’s something loud. A ringing. High-pitched and painful in my ears. Damien’s lips are moving, but I can’t hear anything over the ringing. It’s so loud. What is it?
Pain explodes in my head. Damien smiles, but his eyes are still empty.
I can’t breathe.
The world goes dim.
All I can see is a pinprick.
Him.
He’s going to kill me.He’s going to kill me.
The world goes black.
Chapter 3
Luca
Myheadispounding.Worse than it ever has.
Where am I?
I try to sit up, but my body hurts, and my eyes don’t really want to open. I finally make it into a sitting position, peeling my eyes open as the throbbing in my temples and the back of my head threatens to make me throw up.
I force a deep breath through my clenched teeth and look around. I’m in bed. Damien is beside me, dead to the world, chest rising and falling with each breath.
What the fuck.
Everything hurts, pain exploding so acutely through my body that I can’t quite tell where it’s coming from, only that it’s relentless and awful. My skin feels like it’s being flayed from my body, and my thighs are sticky with something that I don’t even want to think about.Can’tthink about.
Things come back to me in flashes of panic and pain.
A hand around my throat.
My head against the wall.
My…No. I shake my head, gasping as my stomach lurches. Fuck.
I glance at Damien. I have to get out of here. He was… he was going to kill me. I swear he was. And maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he just wanted to scare me. But I know I can’t… I can’t do this.
Not again.
Not anymore.
Not another night. Or even anotherminute.
My knees almost buckle when I try to stand, the pain in my head nearly taking me to the floor. My ribs hurt. Worse than before, and the throbbing in my head is making it difficult to think.
Damien shifts, mumbling something under his breath. I freeze, panic filling my chest so quickly it takes my breath away. I won’t survive him waking up right now. When he settles, I reach for my phone, my fingers shaking.
The backlight turns on before I can grab it, and it feels like a knife in my eyeballs. I close them, breathing through the nausea.
I pick up the phone and walk to the bathroom. It’s slow going, but when I make it, I shut the door behind me and sink to the floor. I don’t even look in the mirror. I can’t. I’m not sure that I can handle seeing myself reflected back at me.
I dial Austin’s number, hoping like hell he answers. I don’t even know what I’m going to say. I don’t even know why I’m calling him.
His voicemail picks up, and my heart sinks. I dial again, tears burning my eyes.
