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Memories start pouring in, faster than I can explain them and tears burn my eyes, the fear just as real now as it was in that moment.

“I fell back into the room… I was on the floor and a person came into the room…”

Dalton’s grip on my hand tightens. His head is still down and his knee bouncing like a jackhammer.

“They kicked me in the ribs,” I whisper, the first few tears falling as my heart hammers in my chest. “I curled into a ball to protect myself and they hit my back with something… a bat, I think?”

“Fuck,” he hisses, his back heaving as he struggles to catch his breath. I want to reach out and offer him some comfort but I can’t.

“Man, maybe you should step out for this part,” Jumper says, reaching forward to lay his hand on Dalton’s shoulder and Dalton’s head whips in his direction. Jumper jerks to a stop and takes a step back, holding his hands up. “Nevermind.”

“Keep going,” Storm says, nodding to me as he keeps his gaze on Dalton’s back.

Wary.

Ready to jump in if he needs to.

I suck in a breath.

“I knew I needed to try and get away…” I say, right back in the memory. My hands shake and my heart is thrashing in my ears. “They were blocking the door and I just kicked at them… I think I hit their knee…”

They screamed when I did that.

I remember the sound of the bat clattering on the floor as they dropped next to me.

“It gave me time,” I whisper, my voice shaking and more tears trailing down my face. I swipe them away. “I ran out to the living room… trying to get to the door… but they came after me.”

I almost made it.

The door was right there.

All I had to do was reach out and grab the knob.

“I got hit again,” I force out, remembering the pain that exploded from my back when they hit me again. A sob bubbles out of me. The chair next to my bed scrapes against the floor and then Dalton is climbing in the bed next to me as slowly and gently as possible. Every time he jostles me, pain reverberates through my body.

But I don’t care.

I need him.

Once he’s situated next to me, he cradles my head against his chest and presses his lips to the top of my head.

“Keep going.” His voice is rough, like he’s barely holding it together and I don’t want to put him through this but I know I have to.

More tears drip down my cheeks, dropping onto his shirt.

“I fell into the table by the door,” I whisper, focusing on Dalton’s hands on my body and the warm, spicy scent of him that I love so much. “Something shattered… and I hit my face on the ledge. There were more hits and kicks…”

I shake my head.

“They all started blurring together, though. There was a sharp piece of something on the floor… I grabbed it and swiped at them… I think I cut them.”

Dalton’s head snaps to Mobley, who nods.

“We collected blood samples from the scene.”

“That gave me another moment to try and get away… I realized I needed to get to the bakery door.” I suck in a stuttered breath, my bottom lip wobbling. “I don’t remember how I got to the hallway… But then they were behind me.”

I shudder as the memory from the hallway flashes through my mind.