I don’t release the gun though. Not yet when I could potentially use it if our positions shift.
But Storm starts to make good on his promise. His fingers grip my bones so tightly, it nearly takes my breath away. I’m used to pain; I’ve been put through it. First with Lynx, then—his idea—when I’ve fought at Dark Chapel myself, against grownmenin their prime, justto see what I could take. Lele has no idea, but Eve does. She helped coach me through every hit, and I am an expert at applying makeup when I need to be. I taughtmyself beauty skills in high school because Lynx sure as hell wouldn’t.
But Storm’s hold feels like it’s full of rage.What the fuck do you have to be angry about?
I have to bite down hard on my lower lip to stop from screaming, and he doesn’t let up the pressure. He tilts his own fingers back to bring my wrists at an upward angle, then he keeps going. With the gun between my fingers, it’s hard to wiggle them at all and that means I’m unable to fight against the pressure he’s exuding on my bones.
Tears sting my eyes and I’m back in a locked room with my uncle before he drops me off at my private school and sweat drips down my spine and blood is on the corner of my mouth but he looks at me with so much pride and I think I could kill someone with all the rage in my teenage body.
“Tell me to stop and I will,” Storm whispers in my ear, dragging me back to this moment. “So long as you drop the gun when I do.”
Being stubborn is a fault of mine, but I won’t be able to fight him if I have broken bones.
I know what those feel like. In my wrist, it would make getting away nearly impossible.
“All you have to do is say stop.” His cold words are like a caress. But I’ve been caressed this way. I know how men taunt.
He won’t stop until I humiliate myself. And we both know I have to if I want to survive this night.
“Stop.” I clip the word out. I don’t dare let him know how much pain I’m actually in.
He loosens his hold on my wrists but doesn’t let go completely.
Without waiting for him to tell me to do so because I don’t want another fucking command, I drop the gun. It thuds in the grass and doesn’t discharge, and I’m grateful. But when hereleases my hands and eases up on the pressure of his forearm against the back of my neck, I don’t wait around to see what happens next.
I’m not a victim in the woods.
I’m Lydia Flynn, and I’ve survived worse monsters than him.
I duck down low so it’s harder for him to grab me again, then I dart away, and by the time he scrambles for my arms, I’m already running.
I dive through the dark woods. If I go down the path toward my car, the person who is driving his will be there waiting for us and even if they’re not, I’m exposed from the path, and with the light of the warehouse.
The air seems colder as I run deeper into the forest, crisper as my lungs gasp for air.
I try to think through everything as I duck under branches and keep my eyes scanning every square inch I can see in front of me.
How did he know I was following him? Did he lead me here intentionally? And who is driving his car? Fox told me his housemates are together, and they have a baby. I guess either the mom or dad could’ve left in the night to help him out here, but that seems unlikely if they thought someone was following them. Wouldn’t both parents want to protect the child?
But maybe he didn’t know until I turned right after him and he took off. That’s highly possible. Which means it could be one of the people he lives with driving the car.
Why did they come here in the first place? I followed the Subaru from his street because I’d been watching for movement, although I didn’t see two people get into the car. It was an advantage for me; I was more than careful, hidden far enough away they couldn’t see me even if I couldn’t exactly see them either. But they wouldn’t lead me right to a warehouse that’s inuse. Maybe it’s not though. My bet is they didn’t know, and it is in use, and it’s got product in it.
That means they aren’t prepared to kill anyone tonight. They’re just dealing.
But I shake out my wrists and I have to admit he would’ve broken them if I didn’t give in. So he’s dangerous, and not just for the shitty drugs he has his chemist make.
And if he’s working with a chemist, he’s not a low level dealer, is he? It costs money to make product, and it’s a risk to do something new. But he could have family money, from his mercenary parents.
If Lynx had told me all of this shit before, I wouldn’t have so many fucking questions.
But I remember how he made me pay after he saw us walk out of a private room at the funeral home, my hair a mess, a bruise forming on my throat, Storm’s veins stark against his skin.
I wonder if Storm even got a warning afterward about me. Does he know about the truce?Does he know more than I do?
I glance over my shoulder once I’m sure I won’t hit a tree.
I don’t see him, and over the sounds of my own sharp breathing, I don’t hear him.
