Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Sure thing, Doc,” he says with a curt nod, back to business as usual. “Same time tomorrow.”
Tony turns on his heel and starts stalking away, and as I settle into my car, I find myself truly appreciating his gesture to walk me out. Seeing as though I’m not bleeding out on the dirty ground, it clearly wasn’t needed, but it’s nice to know that there are still some decent men left in the world. Tony is a little awkward, but I’m sure one day he’ll find a nice girl who’s just as awkward as he is, and together they’ll share the most romantic type of awkward love, making each other the happiest people on earth. Right after me and Knight, of course.
Getting comfortable in the car, I lock the doors just to be on the safe side, and as I jam the key into the ignition, I toss my bag and the unused scalpel onto my passenger seat. My car gives an almost-screech as it purrs to life, and I can’t help but wonder how many days I have left with my little beast. It’s definitely old, but I wouldn’t consider it ancient. I always thought we’d have a million more happy years together, but I’m starting to wonder if perhaps I’d been grossly misled.
As I put the Honda into reverse, my foot hovers over the gas pedal, ready to back out, but as my gaze lifts to the rearview mirror, I find a pair of dark, deadly eyes staring back at me.
Before a squeal tears from deep within my chest, the man lunges forward, bracing his arm around my throat as he hovers at my ear, his terrifying gaze still locked on mine through the small mirror.
“I’ve been waiting for you, kitten,” the masked man in the back of my car rumbles, his tone sending a vile wave of goose bumps soaring across my skin.
My airway is completely blocked off, and I gasp for air, my eyes widening as my heart races with fear. I frantically claw at his arm, desperate to get free, but the black material covering every inch of his skin is too thick. There’s no breaking through this barrier.
Remembering the scalpel sitting on my bag, I scramble for it, trying to reach as far as I can as he keeps me pinned against the driver’s seat by nothing more than my throat, and just as I feel the sharp edge of the scalpel slice across my fingertip, he yanks my hand away.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk,” he says, that tone making my stomach knot with fear. “Don’t be naughty, kitten. Because I’m going to have to punish you, and I can guarantee you’re not going to like it.”
He eases up on my throat just an inch, but that inch allows me just a brief moment to gasp for air as his haunting stare remains locked on mine through the mirror. “Now, be a good girl and tell me why you’ve not been at your apartment.”
I clench my jaw, refusing to give him anything, and the way his eyes flare through the mirror is the single most terrifying thing I have ever seen, and I realize that this man, whoever he might be, is nothing at all like the vile monster I’d concocted in my head. He simply wanted to play a game, but this man . . . He’s not here to play. He’s the fucking devil, and he won’t stop until every piece of me has been destroyed.
Realizing I’m not about to give him what he wants, his hold immediately tightens on my throat again. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Harper-Rayn,” he rumbles, purring my name like a sick vow as darkness begins dancing in his stare, my lungs screaming for sweet oxygen. “You can run from me all you want, but you can’t hide. There’s nowhere you can go where I won’t find you. No barrier will stop me, no man I won’t slaughter to get to you. Hear me, kitten. You belong to me.”
Something darkens in his stare, and he pulls even tighter against my throat, suffocating me as my body quickly begins to shut down. I gasp for air, frantically trying to pull in a breath, but none ever comes. I cough and sputter, desperately gripping his arm as I grow weaker, my vision blurring.
Then just as his lethal stare seems to sparkle with a wicked enjoyment, my world turns black.
8
HARPER-RAYN
Asoft knock has my eyes springing open, and I madly grasp at my throat, realizing that there’s nothing there, no arm around my throat, no masked stalker whispering in my ear about slaughtering the men in my life, and no chilling stare watching me through my rearview mirror.
“Whoa. Dr. Madden?” a voice calls from outside my car window. “Are you alright?”
My heart races, and I take a few calming breaths as I try to find my bearings before turning and glancing out the window to find Vincent, the night janitor, staring in at me, his face pressed up against the window.