Page 35 of Better Hide

Cole laughs softly. He herds me toward the bathrooms and showers. “Liar.”

Cole opens the shower door with the code on our receipt. I step in, curious. There’s a toilet against one wall and a shower beside it.

The door clicks shut behind us.

“Wait.” I turn. “There’s no stall. Get out.”

Cole crosses his arms. “No way.”

“Cole!” Seeing the toilet makes me need to go really bad. “I need to go!”

“Then go.”

Anger fills me, and I turn and shove him. “There’s nowhere for me to go. You have the code. Give me two minutes.”

He stares at me.

“Please,” I plead, hesitating. My face burns. “I have to take a shit.” I want to keep this one piece of me to myself.

Cole’s gaze softens. “Okay. Two minutes.” He drops the groceries and steps out.

I bolt over in relief and relieve myself.

Once I’m done, I wash my hands and rip into the snacks. Cole steps back into the room. I groan, popping peanuts into my mouth.

Cole strips off his shirt and turns on the water. The sound of it hitting the ground in a wet stream makes me jump.

Water.

Can’t breathe.

I suck in a breath. What the fuck is wrong with me? My stomach sours immediately.

Grow up, Jo. It’s just a shower.

I glance at the shower. Cole is checking the temp, his upper body completely bare and rippling with muscles. He looks like he did when he hunted me down—dangerous and powerful.

Cole glances at me. “Those good?”

“Fine.” I drop the peanuts back into the bag. I can’t eat anything else. Cole hums and turns back to the shower, kicking off his shoes.

I won’t be able to breathe in there.

My throat tightens at the thought, and panic slams into me. I won’t be able to breathe. Pain tightens in my chest. I try to take a deep breath in, but I can’t take a full breath.

This is all in my head. It’s just a shower. I’ve showered before.

“Jesus, that’s hot.” Cole hisses, yanking his hand back out.

I blink slowly, gaze fixed on him.

He did this to me. They did this to me.

Suddenly, I have the urge to run as fast and as far as I can. To get away from the person who’s trying to drown me with him.

And he will. I have no doubt he will. It won’t be much longer before I’m fully under their control. For fucks sake, they’ve done all kinds of horrible things to me, and somehow I’m still here?

I take a single step back.

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