She’s a challenge. My cock thickens under my jeans. I’m going to prove to her that I’m stronger and faster and more determined to have her than she is to get away.
“If I catch you, I own you. Nowrun.”
9
TESS
That black mask with glowing pink crossed out eyes and grinning mouth makes my heart vibrate, and for a second I’m rooted to the spot.
“Run, lapochka,” he repeats, low and taunting.
I take off, my muscles exploding into motion. Immediately I’m crashing through the forest. I follow the path, but even so, the undergrowth tugs at me as I whip through it.
I have to get away. This is my chance. He doesn’t expect me to beat him, he’s given me this opportunity.
Running blindly, I just try to put as much distance between us as possible. The path curves around and back, and despite him showing me the map, quickly I’m unsure of what direction I’m headed.
The path splits and I take the left one, not pausing to think which is the correct choice.
“I’m coming for you,” his call rumbles through me, and forces me to run faster, a surge of adrenaline giving me even more speed. Then I can hear him behind me. His boots, the whip of branches that catch his bigger body.
My blood pumps, and my head goes very clear. Almost meditative, or how I imagine that might be. There’s just meand the woods, and my pursuer. Only the distance between us matters.
Not my mother and her new husband who makes his dislike of me very evident. Not my father and his current wife who looks straight through me. Not the work I find hard at university, since I’m not book-smart, or the fact the girls I live with are a clique who needed another person to pay rent, not a friend.
There’s a freedom in this I didn’t expect.
Ivy winds around some of the tree trunks, and the sun spills through the leaves above, making the light flicker as I run. The ground is hard beneath my feet, the grass thin from regular use and the shading of the trees.
I keep running, choosing the paths almost randomly as they fork in different directions. I take smaller paths and hope that slows up the big man who is chasing me. Birds chirp in the branches above, and a breeze caresses my thighs and ruffles my hair.
Dense trees with needles give way to towering trees with pale-green leaves and smooth bark. This would be a pretty wood to walk through and admire nature, but there’s no time for that.
My throat burns.
The initial surge of fear that drove me is wearing off, and with it comes fatigue. My legs scream at me, begging me to slow, and the path being twisty and having stones at the side nearly trips me a couple of times.
But the energy to keep running bubbles from nowhere and I don’t stop. I think I could run forever, like I’m fuelled from the crisp woodland air made by the trees.
I’m doing it. I’m keeping ahead of him.
I’ll be free, back in my old life with the grey concrete city and study then working late at the noisy pub.
But then, I can hear him behind me, heavy footed. Just like before, but this time, there’s an edge of exhilaration to the chase.I need to get away, but the fear isn’t sharp edged as it was last night.
I can do it.
He hasn’t hurt me, and this almost feels like a game. So I keep running, the forest a blur, concentrating on keeping moving, and the man chasing me.
“Little Tess,” he rasps, and he’s far closer than I expected. Right on my tail.
There’s a flash of rusty red through the trees. The brick wall he said surrounded his property. It’s not far. I can get to it. I just need to get there.
A branch snaps to the side, and I’m distracted for a second. My head has turned before I can stop the instinct.
Nothing there, and what? But what about…? I glance over my shoulder, and the glow of his neon mask is as eerie in the woodland as it was in the city streets.
He’s close.
