‘I won’t tell. You need someone to walk you out? I can call security.’
I shake my head and then wave him off. ‘I’m fine. I’ll be fine.’
He doesn’t look so sure. I don’t feel so sure, but this damn stalker I’ve had has interrupted far too many of my shows. They’ve interfered with my life in more ways than one. It doesn’t need to interfere with this.
‘Okay, text me when you’re home.’ Rene leans down and brushes a kiss across my now bare cheek. I still have the smudges of mascara around my eyes, but that can wait to be taken off when I get home.
I shrug on my shirt and grab my satchel. I walk to the back door, take a deep breath, and then push it open.
My gaze peers back and forth. I don’t see anyone waiting for me. There are no suspicious figures lurking in the shadows, and several yards to my left is a busy street. People are walking by, and I know if I can just get to them, then I can get to my car and make it home.
I steel myself and then step out, a light rain coating my exposed skin. I tuck the hat I’m wearing a little lower on my head and hunch my shoulders. Maybe if I act less like Glimmer Dear, they won’t know who’s sneaking out the back.
If anyone is watching at all.
My fingers clench tightly against my palm, and I know they won’t loosen until I’m safe in my house.
My feet pick up the pace, one of them landing in a puddle, but there’s no time to lament that. I just want to get out of this damn alley safely to a place I can breathe.
Suddenly, I see it, a flash of light behind me. Purposeful. Loud. Blinding.
I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t help but turn around. What if it was Rene trying to get my attention? What if someone needs me?
As my neck cranes over my shoulder, my heart thumps in my chest, a tingling sensation moving up my back.
And then I’m knocked sideways, my body falling into the brick wall at my side.
I let out a small wheeze as the air rushes out of my lungs, and when I blink, there’s a hooded figure standing there, watching me, just a few feet away.
My vision goes white, pure terror pulsing through me. I don’t recognize him, and yet I do. My stalker.
He’s back.
I should run, should scream, but I’m unable to do anything except stand there.
The hooded figure takes a step toward me. And another, and then they rush forward. My mouth opens in a desperate shout, but I don’t know if it’s even loud. It could be nothing more than a wisp of air exhaling from my lungs.
Hands move around my neck, squeezing until the edges of my vision start to go black.
My hands grapple into my satchel for the glitter-pepper spray gun Thorne got me, but there’s nothing except my tablet, phone, and keys. Fuck, I can’t believe I left it in my other bag!
Fingers scrambling against the wall for purchase, I can’t seem to get a grip as the world around me continues to darken. I can’t do anything but slump forward, my vision going in and out. This is it.
I should have known. Like I said, my gut is never wrong. Ishould have gone home sooner, but I didn’t, and now I’m being strangled in an alleyway.
Will they find my body in the morning?
What will I look like when they do?
I feel myself start to give in, to make peace with death, when something warm and wet hits my face. It takes me a second to realize I’m gasping for breath, and as my vision begins to clear, I see the man who was trying to kill me slump to the side and hit the ground.
I blink up at a stranger looming just in front of me. Big, tall, muscular, a scar on his jaw. He has very, very pretty eyes, and they’re locked on me.
I hold up a shaking hand to my throat as he steps closer to me, but I don’t feel the same urge to run. He has blood on his neck, dribbling down to stain his white T-shirt, but I don’t think it’s his. He licks his lips, then parts them on something I think might be a sigh.
He’s still for only a moment more, and then he reaches behind him and pulls his shirt off, exposing his ripped chest. I want to touch him, but I can’t bring myself to move, and his lips twitch into something that might be a smile.
He gently reaches out with his shirt, and I don’t even flinch as he gently wipes off whatever landed on my face.
