Page 132 of Moth to a Flame

But I can’t afford to wait for him.

Jigsaw. My gun is in the first drawer of the bedside table.

Out of my reach.

Foolish. It wassofoolish of me to feel safe here.

Shut up, Regan.This is Landon inside my head, thundering and frightening as Lester pulls and pulls and pulls me toward him.Shut up. None of this is your fault. You’re strong. You’re strong. You’re strong. Fight him.

His faith in me snaps me out of my wallowing. Frantically, I kick the space behind me, feeling the contact with Lester’s thigh. His stomach.

“Bitch.”

Clawing at his forearms that wrap around my stomach, I draw blood.

“You fucking cunt.”

I am. I’m the cunt who’s going to kill you.

When I start screaming into his palm, he hauls me off the bed for good. I’m on my feet, pinned to his front. His belly presses to my back. His legs to mine.

His dick is nowhere to be found.

Landon took care of that for me. A maniacal laughter bleeds into my screams. I should be scared. I should be terrified.

Nothing protects me against this monster other than my panties, leggings and Landon’s T-shirt. Nothing.

He won’t let me go. I won’t get to my gun.

I still laugh. And I don’t stop clawing at him.

“You got older,” he snarls as he drags me out of my bedroom. “An older, spoiled, psycho bitch. That’s what you are.”

His blood trickles on my fingertips, his grip on me tightening.

We’re in the hallway. The one Landon has carried me through when I dozed off in the den, watching him work. The one I ran across when he chased me into our bedroom.

Every square inch of the long hallway has love and passion embedded into it.

Instead of succumbing to fear, I draw strength from our memories.

“Your little stunt failed.”

Thump, thump, thump,Lester forces me down the stairwell. I make him work for it. Plant my feet wherever I can. Scratch and pinch and pull at the hair of his forearm.

Other than the random curse, he doesn’t budge.

“Telling your boyfriend to send someone from the inside to get to me. To have my cock chopped off.”

The main floor. It’s now or never if I’m going to save myself from being kidnapped. While I laugh like a crazy person and scream at the same time, I step on Lester’s foot. I give it everything.

Unfortunately, he’s wearing the leather boots he wore to court ten years ago. I’m barefoot and half his size.

Again. Again. Again.

“In fact, it backfired on your dumb ass.” We’re moving toward the front door. Theopenfront door, I realize as the temperature drops the closer we get there.

Faintly, I remember Landon turning on the furnace when he saw me shivering last week. He said it was the first time he’d ever done it.

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