Page 134 of Reckless

It’s just a kitchen knife.

Eight inches of stainless steel with a black plastic handle.

The same knife Piper used two nights ago while arguing that pineapple absolutely belonged on pizza.

A laugh almost escapes me.

Not because anything is funny, but because the absurdity of it crashes into me all at once.

This is supposed to protect me?

This ordinary little knife somehow stands between me and whoever is outside my back door?

My grip tightens until the handle bites into my palm.

It isn’t enough.

I know it isn’t.

But it’s more than empty hands.

God, what have they done to Liam?

Another sound drifts through the apartment.

Not the handle this time.

A scrape.

Metal brushing against metal.

Whoever is out there hasn’t left, and they are still trying.

The tiny thread of control I’d been clinging to snaps.

Ghost would have told me to breathe.

Ghost would have told me to think.

Ghost… isn’t here.

The realization hits so hard my chest physically aches.

I don’t think anymore.

I run.

Knife clutched so tightly my fingers are beginning to cramp, I race back toward the stairs, every shadow stretching into something threatening, every creak of the old apartment making my heart leap into my throat. By the time I reach the upstairs closet, tears are blurring my vision badly enough that I can barely see the screen of my phone.

My hands shake so violently I miss Ghost’s name twice before finally managing to press it. The phone barely reaches my ear before he answers, “Hey baby?”

I don’t even realize I’m crying until I hear the tremor in my own voice. “G-Ghost,” I whisper, struggling to force enough air into my lungs. “S-someone’s trying to get into my a-apartment.”

Silence. Not long, less than a heartbeat, but long enough for me to hear a sharp inhale on the other end of the line.

Then everything changes.

“Sage.” His voice drops into something I’ve never heard before, low and frighteningly controlled. “Tell me exactly what you can hear.”