I skirt around him on the landing, keeping him in my peripheral vision.
If I can just get up to my floor?—
A sweaty hand closes around my wrist and yanks.
Shout shoves me face-first against the wall, twisting my arm up at an uncomfortable angle. “Oh, I’m definitely having a good night now.” His wet mouth presses against my ear. “Play as hard to get as you want. I like it when they fight.”
Ice water pumps through my veins. I try to push him off, but he crushes my arm between my chest and the wall. With him pressed up against my back, I lack the necessary leverage to force him off.
The cold stone scrapes my cheek.
My breath sits thick in my chest.
No one knows I’m here.
“Get off!” I struggle, thrashing as much as I can, kicking my legs back toward his shins.
He shoves even harder against me, his shoulder pinning my face and muffling my cries. I shudder when his free hand slides over my thighs, up my skirt?—
I bite his shoulder as hard as I can, tasting the cotton of his shirt.
“Bitch!” He whirls me around, backhanding my face so violently, I hear the crack of his fingers against my cheekbone.
Though the burst of pain shocks me, I manage to fight past the sensation and fumble for the mace in my pocket. I grab the small bottle, aim, and spray.
He curses, ducks, swings wildly with his arms, and knocks the weapon from my fingers.
The bottle rattles as it tumbles away from me, the sharp smell of peppers stinging my eyes.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
Shout swipes furiously at his right eye. The left one glares with a sinister gleam.
“You like it rough. I can work with that.”
Terror and rejection both escalate.
No.
I won’t let this happen.
Adrenaline explodes in my blood. With a burst of strength, I push past him and launch myself toward the staircase.
I manage two steps before Shout smashes me into the wall and shoves his knee between my legs. His upper lip curls with vicious triumph. Both of my wrists smack the wall, pinned above my head by his meaty grip. My head rings where my skull hits the stone.
I shriek, desperate for someone to hear me.
Anyone.
Please.
I suck in a frantic breath. Before I can scream again, Shout’s neck bends back at an awkward angle. He releases me as a brawny arm chokes off his own yell.
He stumbles and collides against the opposite wall.
In the next instant, Kellin’s on top of him.
My head swims. Dazed, I watch as my rescuer slams an elbow into Shout’s Adam’s apple.
