Page 354 of Evil Hearts

It just wasn’t my day, though, and the bad fucking luck continued to rain down about as literally as the storm outside. Without looking up, I could feel them all press in closer to me, and my guts tightened, a nauseating dread crawling up my spine.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be shy. We just want to play,” another commented as he stood above me.

One knocked me off my knees, kicking my things out of reach. My pulse skyrocketed. This was precisely what I always feared. This is what every woman feared. I didn’t want to get raped, and I didn’t want to let any of this happen in some futile hope that they’d take it easier on me.

I just wanted to go home.

“Please, guys. Go have your fun somewhere else. I’m covered in dirty rainwater, I don’t have any cash, I’m not some hot piece of ass, and I’m 35. You don’t want this.”

Scrambling for the mace I knew had to be in that pile of shit that had spilled all over the platform, I came up empty. Panic swept over me like fog, and a burn crept up in my eyes. I couldn’t fucking cry right now. God knew that would only egg them all on, but I was…terrified.

“We like experience.” I couldn’t see the speaker this time, but suddenly, I was being hauled off my feet and surrounded.

They reeked like cheap beer and Axe body spray. Somebody held my arms behind my back, and the frat-hole in front of me just sneered, a sick grin lifting the corner of his mouth. He was young, blond, probably early twenties, going off what I knew, and he was wearing a letterman jacket—blue and white from the local university.

“Stop. Stop!”

I didn’t know why I bothered yelling. These guys weren’t going to listen. All I could hear around me was laughter, and several sets of hands pulled at my clothes and legs.

Everything blurred around me and became too fast and too much for my brain to process. I fought as hard as I could against their hold, receiving a blow to my head for the effort.

Blood dripped down my forehead—warm and running over my brow—and then I suddenly had more space. Something rippedaway the guy who held my arms behind my back. The blond jock in front of me disappeared in a whoosh, and the remaining few began to panic, cursing and stumbling over themselves.

The group of would-be rapists was gone. I was alright, but why?

I tried to look around, but my vision was starting to fail me as the blood from my wound oozed into my eyes, and the pain picked up to extreme levels. And fuck, I was real damn dizzy all of a sudden. I was definitely about to fall over.

Flailing my arms out in front of me, I tried to catch myself, knowing I was probably going to meet the concrete hard. But then it was lights out as I involuntarily closed my eyes. I expected the firm slap of platform tiles on my face as I pummeled the ground with my skull.

But it never came.

There was something hard yet soft under my ribs and pulling my shoulders back. The movement sent the world spinning, and then I was being carried like a child, held in someone’s arms that felt far too large to be a normal person. I was clearly concussed, and just as I tried to wonder at what exactly was carrying me like a damn baby, I passed out.

Pain lanced through my temples enough to rouse me. It was pitch black—maybe in the middle of the night? A conversation was loud around me. I couldn’t process the words or who they were coming from; it sounded like the adults in the Peanuts. All I could tell was that I was in my bed, and the deep voices did not sound happy.

“...intervening in human affairs..”

Damn, he sounds pissy.

“You think with your dick too much.”

“At least I still know how to use mine.”

I tried my best to open my eyes more and focus on whoever was in my house with me, but the effort was too much, and I fell right back into the less painful realm of unconsciousness.

Chapter Two

Akirako

When the morninglight streaked through my window, I sat up with a start, sitting in my bed and very much alone. I still wore the clothes from last night, but as I touched my head, I couldn’t feel the grime clinging to it or dried blood, for that matter.

I was clean.

“But I…”

The words drifted away. Everything ached, and I knew that something had happened to me, but my mind was uncooperative at best. I’d been hurt, though. I knew I was. Still, there was no sign of an injury at all.

The fuck? No, that’s not…I was…

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