Why am I like this?
With the humiliating prospect of giving a whole new meaning to the termrigor mortis,I found a second wind.
My mind went blank, and I unleashed a relentless stream of jabs that took my attacker by surprise. He tried the same combo that had taken me out before, but I saw it coming this time and blocked him with an effortlessness that surprised me.
His eyes flashed in what looked strangely like amusement, and he barked out a laugh as my next right hook connected with his cheekbone.
“Why are you laughing?” I snarled. “You like to fucking lose?”
“I just wasn’t expecting you to be this much fun, ginger snap,” he commented, leaning back to dodge another hook.
“You think this is fun?!” I snarled, and my attacker laughed again. The sound was deep and guttural.
“The most fun I’ve had all week, actually,” he replied mildly. Fucker didn’t even sound winded.
Suddenly, he ducked under my assault and snatched me up in a front chokehold.
He forced me back against the wall, squeezing my throat so hard I saw stars. My traitorous dick hardened even more as I clawed at his wrists.
Terror was rushing through me. I was fucked if I couldn’t get out of this. I tried to remember what Theo had taught me about getting out of chokeholds.
Stay calm. Breathe.
Create space.
I stopped struggling and focused on the man’s body.
I tucked my chin and forced it between his hands and my throat, giving myself room to breathe. He growled in frustration and pressed against me more firmly. His groin rubbed against mine, and we both froze as it suddenly became painfully obvious that I was nursing a raging hard-on.
Time seemed to stop.
As if he wanted to check to make sure he wasn’t imagining it, he ground his pelvis into my erection, and a choked groan escaped my lips.
His fingers spasmed around my throat, and he leaned forward, his bandana tickling my ear.
“Hard for me, ginger snap?” he purred. My entire face flushed red with humiliation as he tightened his grip on my neck. “Too bad I don’t fuck child abusers. I hope you carry those blue balls all the way to hell.”
Of everything this asshole could have said to me, that was the wrong thing. I had come down here absolutelytorturedover what had been done to Caleb. To be accused of being the one to hurt him?
Fuck that.
I wasn’t dying withanyonebelieving that. Especially not this asshole.
I brought my knee up and clipped him in the groin. He roared in rage and reared back, but his bandana slipped down, exposing his face to me.
Fuck.
If I thought he was going to kill me before, there was no chance I was surviving now. I had seen his face!
Fuck fuck fuck!
His full lips pressed into a firm, angry line, his brown eyes boiling with liquid fire.
“You keep saying that! I didn’t hurt Caleb! His asshole family hits him. This is a safe space. I would never hurt a child,” I snapped.
I wound up, getting ready to deliver a lead uppercut that would have put fucking Tyson on his ass, when my attacker suddenly pulled a goddamn handgun out of his sweater and pointed it at my forehead.
I froze, holding my hands up in immediate surrender. That’s when it occurred to me that while I had thought I was fighting for my life, this had always just been a game to him.
