But that didn’t mean they knew where I was. They’d never failed me when I had dated Brock—I never considered what happened that night a failure on his part, just something that no one could have done anything about. But would they know what random office building I seemed to have found myself in?
And for that matter, what did they do to everyone in this building? Do I want to know?
No one ever came to bother me in the time that I was in the room. I thought I heard Eduardo’s voice outside a couple of times, but it was apparently just as likely that I imagined it. No one ever knocked, peeked in, or stepped up to the door and paused. I was, for all intents and purposes, forgotten.
So long as I got found before I starved to death, though, that wasn’t really the worst thing in the world. I couldn’t be raped as long as I was alone.
Alone, I found myself drifting to thoughts about Mason. I thought about how, even in the one date we’d had, it had felt so special and so fantastic. I thought about how being with him made me feel as safe as I had since I became an adult.
Perhaps most telling of all was seeing Brock and him back to back. Brock had once been the guy I thought I would marry. I really, truly, earnestly believed in my youth that he was the one. And then, in one grocery store conversation, I’d learned he was happily in love with another woman, and the guy I’d started to have eyes for was still friends with him.
And it didn’t affect me in the slightest. If anything, it made me happier that Brock had been able to find love. He’d been able to forgive himself enough to find someone.
And as for me…
Well, if I got out of this, and I wound back up with Mason, I was not going to let the opportunity go by to show how I felt about him. Sure, maybe there’d be some awkward moments, but on the whole, I would show him how much I cared. I would not let my past stop me; slow me down, maybe, but not stop me.
Mason. Save me. And I’ll be yours.
I clung to the thought to keep me optimistic as the night dragged on. It really did warm my heart, although I could have used some food to warm my body and my stomach. The Black Reapers would have to find meeventually,if for no other reason than that Eduardo would grow impatient and lure them in for what he thought was his big show.
But I wouldn’t allow that to happen. I would—
BANG!
“They’re here!”
In a matter of moments, chaos seemed to break out all around me. Gunfire, explosions, shouting, screams of the dying all filled my ears in a matter of seconds. Everything went to hell so quickly that it was hard to believe that just seconds ago, I’d been thinking about what I’d do with Mason when I saw him again.
The gunfire seemed confined to the hallway outside, but I knew that wouldn’t last. And then the glass broke beside me, and bullets flew past me, thudding into the wall just at my shoulder level. I gulped.
Had those bullets been just a few inches inward…
I had to get low. I rocked back and forward in the chair until I had enough momentum to fall to the ground. I landed awkwardly, banging my nose into the ground, but I stayed conscious. Better a busted nose and an ugly face than a shot to the heart and a dead body.
And then I closed my eyes.
And I prayed and waited.
I prayed for the Black Reapers to win. I prayed for Mason to come and save me. I prayed that this would be the last night of violence, that this town would finally find peace.
I prayed but was not sure what to expect either way.
And then the door swung open. I could not see who it was, but—
“I know you’re still alive, bitch.”
Eduardo…
“You’re coming with me.”
You want to avoid losing your soul again?
You’re going to have to fight.
Pray you have the strength.
Mason
