“No, Willa, I’m just not being an ass. This is how it should be.”
She chewed on a bite, trying not to cry. This man was saving her. If she had money in the bank, she wouldn’t be trapped.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Move in here. We’ll find a way to make everything work.”
“If I don’t have to pay so much for rent, I could take a day shift. I might end up working a few nights, but I could be on day shift most of the time.”
When he smiled, it was like the sun shining directly on her. The warmth and goodness filling her made her insides tingle. This was more than she ever expected. She could do this, could move to his place, and everything would be good.
The fear of being trapped had weighed heavily on her mind. Now she felt free, like never before. If Cy was for real, this could be the best thing that ever happened to her.
30
After talking through everything with Cy, Willa felt much better. She decided to wait a week before telling work she wanted to switch to days.
She turned in her notice with the landlord where she rented, glad the woman put up no argument. She was probably happy because she could raise rent again.
Willa wrote a note to her housemates, telling them she was leaving. She didn’t say where she was going because she didn’t want Robert to find out, but she wanted to thank them for being so nice.
On Thursday night, the crowd at Aces was jovial, a little rambunctious, but not over the top. Willa found out that Cindy had been let go. The news shocked Willa, but she was busy enough that she didn’t have time to ask questions. She figured she would find out the reason if she needed to know. When she’d first started working here, she thought she would get along with everyone, but Cindy hadn’t been very nice to her. Willa had tried, but Cindy did not seem to like her.
About an hour before the end of her shift, they ran out of bubbly. To help out, she offered to head to the back storage room and get more.
The storage room was down a long hall, away from most of the merriment. At first, everything seemed normal, but midway down the hall, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
She wasn’t superstitious, but hair rising on her neck always made her feel like something was wrong.
Willa hesitated, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her. She laughed when she saw no one was behind her. She was being ridiculous. Relief flooded her as she moved farther down the hallway.
She took two more steps when someone stepped out into the hall. Her momentum carried her forward another step, but then she froze, almost stumbling.
The guy didn’t look like Robert, but who would be waiting for her? Whoever it was, she felt like she was in trouble and needed to get out of here.
There was one problem, her feet didn’t want to move. She tried to turn and race away, but it was like her shoes were glued to the spot. It took her way too long to turn her body around and start heading back to the main part of the bar.
In those few seconds that she’d hesitated, the guy caught up to her. His hand was on her shoulder, pulling her back.
She screamed, but the bar was rocking with multiple tables singing along to the songs. Then there was the normal noise of people talking and laughing, along with the noise of the workers serving drinks.
His arms wrapped around her, and she knew there was no way she would get out of this. Then his nose was on her neck, and then his tongue was on her, licking up the column of her neck. A shiver snaked through her, and she tried to pull away. The man’s hold wasn’t budging. He had her in his iron-like grasp, and she couldn’t get free.
“I told you she would be back here.”
That voice. Was that Cindy? What the hell? What was she doing back here, and why was this guy attacking her?
She struggled against his hold, trying to escape, but his grasp only grew tighter. His laughter sent chills through her.
“Do you remember me, honey? Where are your friends now?”
“Cindy? Why? Why would you do this?”
Cindy moved to stand in front of her, her lips curled in disgust. In the dim light, Willa could make out the anger in Cindy’s gaze. Then her eyes flicked to the guy holding her, and she blew him a kiss.
“You’re too smug. You need to be taken down a peg or two.”
Willa tried pulling away, but it was no use. “You won’t get away with this.”
Cindy threw back her head, laughter filling the hall. “You won’t be talking where you’re going.”
