Page 158 of Arran's Obsession

My heart lurched, and I set the drink down on the counter and gave mirror-me one final check. This was it. The second siren to release the men, or single man, in this case, was moments away. I had to get into position.

Leaving the sanctuary of the locker room, I entered the main basement floor and waited in the centre of the space, balanced on the balls of my feet. It felt exposing to be here.

Thrilling, too. Any second now, I’d see him.

With a whomp of reducing power, the lights went out. I was plunged into darkness, startling and fast. Entirely unexpected.

I was afraid of the dark.

My lips parted, and a rush of breath left me. “Arran?” I said. My voice came out as a plaintive little sound, barely louder than the beat of my heart in my ears.

The intercom crackled, but no reply came.

Then the siren poured through the pitch-black, cage locks slid with mechanical groans, and all the hair on my arms rose. I knew how this would go, we’d talked through it, how the basement was locked up—no one could come in if Arran didn’t want them—but my belly still tightened at his shocking doubling down.

And I hadn’t moved an inch.

A thud came from further down the wide space, and I trained my senses on it, splaying out my hands to touch the doorframe at my back. I needed to move, but running flat out would lead me to hit something.

I’d wanted to send Arran as crazy as he made me. I wasn’t planning to go down easy, not at first anyway, but he’d upped the ante, and it sparked alarm that heated me all the more.

Damn him. For all his twisted darkness and for knowing exactly which of my buttons to push.

Open-mouthed and panting, I shut my eyes and let the panic rinse over me then dissipate. I let it become energy instead.

A smile curved my lips.

“Bring it, Daniels,” I whispered.

Another thud from further down the warehouse made me jump. In my mind’s eye, I created a picture of the space. The main wide room. The corridor behind me and to the right that led to locked side rooms then looped back around to the top of the space. The metal gantry that climbed the walls to a suspended walkway over my head.

Extending a hand, I paced on silent feet until I found the wall. The touch startled me, though I’d expected it. All I needed now was to follow it into the corridor, and I’d walk the length of the warehouse in the opposite direction to him.

That was my plan, at least.

A clunk of metal came from directly overhead. I started and crammed a hand to my mouth. There was no way he could be so close. No way he could have climbed up there without me hearing. My breathing deafened my ears, so I held it, focusing hard.

A dragging, rattling sound followed. Some object hitting the metal railing like a kid with a stick at the school gates. Except a thousand times more menacing.

I needed to move.

With a small, shocked inhale, I turned and bolted, both hands out and the picture of the basement in my head. If I reached the wall, I could follow it to the corridor.

Two thuds dead ahead of me pulled me up short. He’d jumped down. In the pitch-black? He could have broken his legs.

I wasn’t waiting to find out if he was hurt.

Swinging around, I skittered away in the opposite direction. Awareness crawled up my spine, anticipation of a hand grabbing me at any second.

“You fear the dark,” a voice chased me.

Was it him? In my fright, I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t stop my footsteps.

“Yet you torment yourself with it,” he continued.

Fuck. It sounded like he was dead ahead of me. How?

I stalled, the cold concrete rough under my bare feet.

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