Page 59 of Crossover

But the man’s sweaty hand grabbed my ankle, sending me crashing to the ground again.

Once more, my nostrils flooded with the scent of rotting piss and assaulting women.

“Ivy!” Grayson pounded on the door.

Sausage fingers covered my mouth again while my assailant’s other fist grabbed my hair so hard, it pricked off my scalp.

Tossing my head back, I missed a headbutt, but opened my mouth wide enough to chomp down on his finger, the taste of motor oil and fried fish making me gag.

The guy groaned, and a blinding pain exploded at the base of my neck with a fresh punch.

“Ivy?” The door jerked, like Grayson had rammed his shoulder into it.

Still seeing fresh stars, I dug my elbows into the gritty floor, pulling myself forward in a frantic army crawl, but the guy stopped me.

Rolling onto my back, I shoved my heel into his nose with a satisfying crunch.

My God, the blood spray was equal parts revolting and delightful. As I shot up, the dim lighting flashed across his eyes as a demonic rage performed a takeover of the guy’s body.

The man launched himself to his feet and lunged for me with hands outstretched like claws.

This time, I slammed my heel into the guy’s shin. The sound of his bone snapping in half was beyond satisfying. So was his growl when he slumped to the ground like the sack of shit he was. But none of that was as sweet as the high-pitched whimpers he let out when I kicked his broken rapist shin for a second and third time.

You know, during a moment like this, I suppose most women would be scared—and I had been for a hot second. This motherfucker was a predator, lying in wait, like a spider waiting for a woman to walk into his web.

But scorching fury and bitterness over everything going on in my life had been coursing through my veins with nowhere to direct it, and then boom! The universe handed me a douchebag rapist, wrapped in the bow of a secluded bathroom.

The disgruntled rapist grabbed my calf and bared his rotting teeth in his own fit of rage.

“I thought you said you like it when we fight back,” I snarled.

I yanked myself from his grip and stomped on his broken shin again.

Who knew a man this big screamed like a woman?

I stomped on his other shin, too, snapping it like a twig beneath my heel, before kicking him in the mouth and the side of his head.

Lost in a frenzy of rage, I was just getting started when, suddenly, a high-pitched clank of metal echoed in the space.

A draft of cold night air rushed in as a silhouette emerged, pointing a barrel at the man’s skull.

Vsoot.

33

IVY

“I can explain,” I said.

As Grayson surveyed the man’s battered and bloodied form, his expression gradually shifted from one of initial shock and fury to a more subdued look. When his eyes finally locked with mine, I could have sworn I detected a flicker of pride in their depths.

“Can’t even go to the restroom without someone trying to kill you, Kitten?” The corner of his lips curled up slightly, and he arched a brow.

I straightened my shoulders. “I had it covered.”At least, I hope I did.

“I know.” Grayson glanced down at the man, his expression hardening. “But you would’ve left him with a pulse.”

“I thought you only killed mass murderers.”Or people you thought were mass murderers, at least.

---