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I shift my body, pushing up from the palm of my hands, and use the momentum to kick the motherfucker off me. I scramble to my feet, slipping once before catching myself on a wall. He recovers fast and rises with the kind of predatory ease that says he enjoys the hunt far more than the kill.

I back down the hall, chest heaving, eyes darting for the exit. The masked man stays suspended in the hallway, almost relaxed as I slam into the glass doors.

“Would you look at that…” his voice purrs from the distance. “The stray’s got teeth.”

I shove through the door, crash into the cold night air, and veer toward my bike. My hands are trembling so hard I almost drop my helmet. I jam it on, fingers fumbling with the strap, whilst swinging my body onto the seat.

The engine roars to life. Gravel spits from beneath the tires as I tear away, the bike skidding before I wrench it straight.

I don’t look back.

I don’t fucking dare to.

Chapter 3

Adrian

A ribbon of red snakes toward the metal grate as scalding hot water beats down on my shoulders.

The drain gulps it down like wine, and only when the water runs clear do my lungs finally expand. I drag both hands over my face, over my scalp, slicking my hair back until it plasters to my skull. The water suddenly feels deafening, so I reach out and shut it off.

I grab a towel as I step out of the shower for the second time tonight, just moving through motions my body remembers. The mirror is a white fog, and I swipe a line through it with my palm, meeting myself on the other side.

Jade-green eyes stare back at me from the mirror, hollow despite the frantic buzzing in my chest. I study my reflection, trying to make sense of what just happened, of why my fucking bones won't stop trembling.

My fingers dig into the sink until my knuckles blanch. Before I can spiral, I push away and head into the bedroom, dragging on clothes without thinking. It does little to settle the feeling crawling beneath my skin, so I start pacing.

Back and forth.

Back again.

My phone lies on the bed where I dropped it earlier. The screen is cracked in the corner in a star-shaped fracture that must’ve happened when I hit the floor. When the masked man pinned me effortlessly.

Shit, was he on drugs? How the fuck is he that strong?

I continue pacing because stopping means thinking, and thinking means drowning in that situation again. My hand shoots up to my neck, to a habit I never seem to shake.

I moved to this city to start over. Everything was perfect. I made normal friends, I attended a normal university, building a normal career in photography in a normal fucking neighborhood.

Ok sure, I slipped up about a year ago, but that was due to outside influence that caught me in a vulnerable moment... but I bounced back, and no one knows about it, but now this?

It’s the same as before. Well, not completely. I didn’t kill Xavier... back then I—

My phone lights up with Amani’s name, and I stop my pacing.

The ringtone slices through the room, cutting straight into my skull. It feels like she’s standing right behind me, shouting my name into my ear. I flinch, actually fucking flinch, and stare at the phone.

I don’t answer.

The ringing keeps going.

My nerves are already flayed raw, so I kill the phone and let it drop onto the bed. The room falls silent as I sit on the edge, knee bouncing despite the pressure of my palm against it. My fingers tap restlessly against my thigh while I draw in a breath that does nothing to loosen the vice around my chest.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

Call someone?

Tell someone?