He was getting closer, she rose from her chair and moved to the wall that was the other side of the hallway that led to the back door. Hell, the asshole could have been waiting in her bedroom.
Icy fear slipped down her spine as the asshole moved closer. She hadn’t gotten this close to being attacked in months, so she knew she had to have slipped up somewhere. Right now, she had to concentrate on staying alive.
Should she run? Her grandmother had always taught her that it was best to retreat to fight another day. There was always a reason to take a stand against a bully, but at this moment, she felt she should get out of the house as fast as possible. She knew the trails in the forest behind the house would be hard to follow unless he knew the area. The fact that he was tromping down the hallway, there was a good chance the idiot didn’t know.
Thankfully, she had left her shoes on. As the man inched closer, she knew she was running out of time, so, with her gaze on the front door, she rushed forward.
“No you don’t, bitch,” a man growled, grabbing her by the hair. He yanked her back. Her scalp stung. Tears immediately filled her eyes. Fuck, that hurt.
Using all of her training she could, Lila stepped back into him, catching the bastard off balance. Shoving her elbow back, she hit him right in the gut.
“Fuck,” he said, loosening his grip on her for a second, long enough that she could get away from him.
“Oh, no you don’t.” He slipped one arm round her waist and pulled her back against him. She still hadn’t seen him, but she knew he was a few inches taller than her 5’ 8” frame and he weighed about two hundred pounds.
She wasn’t giving up. It wasn’t in her nature, so she struggled against his hold until she felt the cold steel against her throat. Fear had her stilling her movements. He pricked her tender skin, and she felt a small drop of blood drip down her neck. Anger had her planning her next move.
“Ah, now you see. I’m in charge. Fighting is useless.”
From his accent, he wasn’t local. The way he lengthened the “I” in fighting made her think he might be from the Philly area. One thing was sure; the asshat wasn’t from Hawai’i.
“This can be long and painful, or it can be quick.”
She knew he paused waiting for her to respond. Her grandmother had taught her too well.
Don’t offer information to your adversary, Delilah. Stillness and unspoken threats can give you the upper hand against a bigger adversary.
“Nothing to say?” he ground out. “Thought you were some kinda big spy person.”
Yeah, he wasn’t the brightest bulb. She knew he was bigger and stronger than she was, but he definitely wasn’t smarter.
“They didn’t say just now pretty you were, though.”
He leaned so close, she could feel his lips against her ear. Bile rose up in her throat as she fought the panic that hit her harder than she expected. The threat of sexual violence wasn’t unknown to her, but, dammit, she was refusing to allow this two-bit wannabe bad guy to play rapist.
Before she could formulate a way to get out of his hold, he was dragging her toward her bedroom. Great, he was definitely a rapist and a stupid one at that. If he wanted to rape her, why did they have to go to the bedroom? Rookie move.
She pretended to stumble and fall against him.
“Dammit, woman.”
His voice had filled with irritation. How rude of her not to want to be assaulted. She was going to cherish making this asshole pay. She stumbled again, this time having the desired effect. He lost his balance, both of them falling to the floor. As they did, she pushed away from him. She felt the sting of the knife slicing across her neck, but she knew it was superficial. At least, she hoped it was.
“Fucking hell,” he screamed, as he grabbed for her.
She fell to the floor again, her head banging hard against the Koa wood. Stars formed in front of her eyes, but she couldn’t let that slow her down. They rolled around on the floor. At some point, she felt the knife slice her stomach, but she pushed him to gain some distance. It was hopefully as superficial as the wound on her neck. Scrambling, she backed away from him, then rose to run to the door. She heard him clamoring behind her, so she grabbed the lamp and turned swinging it at his head. She saw his eyes widen right before she hit him in the face with it.
He fell back, hitting the heavy coffee table on the way down. He didn’t get back up.
Not knowing if he had anyone nearby, she didn’t even take time to pat him down. Instead, she grabbed her backpack and her phone and headed out the back door. She hoped he wasn’t dead, not because she didn’t want him to be dead. In her mind, the asshole was a predator who needed either being locked up or put down. She didn’t need the headache it would cause. Dead people brought cops.
As she walked down the quiet trail, she pulled out her first aid kit. Normally, she would wait to work on her wounds, putting as much room between her and the man who had attacked her, but she could also run into someone on the trail. She stepped off the trail, going a few feet into the vegetation before she stopped. Her stomach was definitely hurting and the cut on her neck was stinging. First thing, she grabbed the first aid kit. As fast she could, Lila cleaned the wound on her neck. After applying antibacterial cream, she put a bandage over it. It was as superficial as she thought.
Pulling in a deep breath she looked down at her shirt.
Fuck. Blood was covering it. Tugging it over her head, she dropped it in the backpack, then cringed. Dammit, that was a lot of blood, and it was oozing. Oozing was never good. Still, it probably wasn’t as bad as it looked.
She used water to clean it off as well as she could, then applied the cream and bandaged it. Grabbing another shirt out of the front pocked she slipped it on, then blinked. The scenery around her seemed to swirl in an unnatural way. Oh, damn, was that a dizzy spell? Why? She was bleeding but not that bad, right?
