Page 79 of Moth to a Flame

Not this time. Not again.

No. No. No.

“Better think again, motherfucker.”

Lester’s weight is lifted off me in a heartbeat. He’s being thrown in the air by this man—no, this God—and lands on the grass a few feet away from me. My savior spares a dark glance at me. At my bare body. At my rumpled and discarded clothes.

He doesn’t say a word. Instead, he sneers and twists to Lester, who scrambles to his feet. I’m quick to pull on my jeans and wipe the tears off my cheeks. Nothing to do about the panties, sadly.

Or not. They don’t matter.

He’s saving me. Someone’s actually here to save me.

I blink over and over, refusing to believe this is real. This giant man with shoulder-length platinum-blond hair has found me.

He’s found me, and he’s beating the shit out of Lester. Kick by kick. Punch by punch as he goes down to his knees. He doesn’t even stop to catch his breath, just keeps throwing his fists at Lester’s face and ears and chest. The God,my God, grabs Lester’s baton.

Cracking sounds ensue. Bones and ribs break. Blood splatters, and this time, it isn’t mine.

He’s found me. I have to repeat it because none of this feels real.

Landon, my twenty-five-year-old self whispers.It’s Landon.

It’s him, and he’sgotten to mebefore.

Before the real torture began.

Before this sick fuck defiled me.

Before he managed to cause permanent damage.

“Regan.”

Landon’s hushed voice feels close by. It can’t be. He’s destroying Lester over there. At least six feet separate us.

“Regan.”

Louder this time. His hands are on me.

How?

A new wave of tears streams down my cheeks. The horror doesn’t go away because Landon is here now. Because he’s finally saving me.

“Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”

“Regan!”

A thunder.

I snap my eyes open. Landon’s here. On top of me, his forearms bracketing my face, his hair a curtain around his face. And he’s blurry.

The world is just as blurry, and my chest is burning, and I’m…

I’m sobbing. I’m bawling my eyes out.

Landon is here. He’s here.

His large palms cradle my cheeks, and he’s under the blankets with me.

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