“I—”
My mouth snaps shut before I can blurt that I’ve never done this before.
My first time can’t be this way—chased by a masked madman through a freaking graveyard, in the shadow of a haunted house.
“We both know you’re a virgin, Evelina.”
The color drains from my face.
“N-no, I?—”
“And here I thought you were going to try to use that virginity as a shield, thinking it might stop me tonight. Spoiler: it won’t. But go ahead,” he murmurs, his eyes glinting. “Lie to me. It’ll just make me even harder when those lies bleed all over my cock. And youwillbleed for me, princess.”
My eyes go wide in the gloom.
“Nowwould be a good time to use that word,” he rasps darkly. “And yet,” he continues, “you’re still not saying it. You’re also notrunning,” he snarls quietly. “On one. Three…”
“Vaughn,” I choke. “Wait?—”
“Two…”
“WAIT!” I scream shrilly, holding my hands up, likethatis going to stop him. “Hang on, I?—”
“One.”
There’s no pause. Not one last second to think about the madness I’ve stumbled into. The word has barely left his mouth before his huge body lurches into action, bolting toward me.
I scream and turn to run. But before I can take a single step, pain explodes through my scalp as I’m yanked backby myhair. A cry erupts from my mouth as I’m wrenched off my feet, landing hard on the ground. The breath leaves my body in a whoosh, and stars blink in front of my eyes as a roaring fills my ears.
Vaughn's shadow looms over me, surrounded by the crumbling gravestones and mausoleums. I whimper as I look up into the menacing, masked face of a man I’m quickly realizing might be a fuckingmonster.
A predator.
Which makesmethe prey.
With a cry, I roll away from him, scuffing my elbows on the ground and wincing in pain as I try to scramble to my feet and run away.
But I already know that this isn’t a chase at all. I’ve already been caught.
I was caught the second I set foot in this nightmarish house. No, before that. I was caught as soon as I got into Andrés’ car the other night.
This isn’t a chase.
It’s an inevitability.
I scream when his big hand grabs my ankle, yanking hard. Another cry flies from my terrified lips as I go slamming back to the ground. I kick out, scissoring my legs and thrashing my feet in a blind panic. Before I can even land a single blow, he grabs both my ankles and violently drags me across the ground.
“STOP! Stop it!!”
I scream and choke into the dirt and leaves, clawing at them with torn fingernails. My pulse jangles as I kick back again, screaming into the crushed leaves beneath me, even as I realize how futile those screams are.
I expected to be out of my element when I came here tonight.
But I never in a thousand years expectedthis.
No one is coming to save me.
Nothing will stop him, except the one word I can’t bring myself to say.
