Page 72 of The Masks She Wore

?My head rang, but that command was clear, the word running through me with a soul of its own.

?I shoved him back with all that I was, giving me enough space to bring my foot up and slam it into his chest.

?I didn’t wait to see how far back he had stumbled, I was already running. Sprinting through the shipping yard, using the shipping containers to keep me from falling.

?“Make it sporadic,” he ordered. “Don’t look back.”

?I knew that. I already knew that. I had been trained thoroughly enough.

?Trained?

?I shook my head, trying to gather my unsteady and chaotic thoughts. I hadn’t been trained in shit. Viv was right, maybe I should lay off my movies for a while.

?Not even a minute later and I was already struggling to breathe. I needed to start running in the mornings, this was embarrassing.

?Another minute or two and I couldn’t do it anymore. I was out of breath, suffocating, my mind spinning, the world tilting. Too much shit was in my system for the adrenaline to add anything useful.

?I stumbled to a halt, catching myself on another container.

?I looked back, unable to catch my breath.

?“Rae, keep going.”

?I fell back against it, my heart seconds from exploding. “I’m…gonna…die,” I panted, my mouth watering profusely, nearly choking me.

?“If you die, I’ll bring you back to life and fuck you until your heart stops again. Keep running,” he growled.

?It didn’t seem like such a horrible threat.

?I swallowed the extra saliva and shook my head, the world spinning. “I…can’t.”

?“If you can still talk, you can still run.Go.”

?I leaned over, grabbing a knee, trying to force the breathing to slow. “Pathetic,” I panted.

?“What?” he asked through his teeth.

?“That you…claimed…me and you…didn’t even…fuck me… before I…died.”

?“I’m fucking you no matter what state you’re in, Princess, that’s a promise. So, either keep running or give up. Make a choice.”

?I sneered. I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at his number before I put it back. “That’s what you…do then? Malachi trains you…to fuck corpses?” Is that the only threat he had too? What happened when he faced someone he actually had to kill? Did he threaten to fuck them too? That couldn’t be right.

?Maybe he was just pent up. I knew I was.

?“Run!”

?I straightened, glaring, my breathing finally slowing just a bit.

?He growled when I didn’t respond. “No, I don’tfuck corpses, Rae.” He lowered his voice to a feral hum. “Now be a good girl for me and run before I treat you like the misbehaving bitch you are.”

?Yeah, the Molly was still at work.

?I glanced back towards the end I had come from, took a deep breath, and started running again.

?My heart was hammering out of my chest, my lungs threatened to stop working all together. My mind spun with the high of the drugs and the fear.

?It was thrilling.

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