Page 574 of Rage

You’re being stupid.

Alice

He seems fine. I’ll be fine.

Shauna

Make sure you text me later to make sure you are fine.

Kevin slipped into the jeep, and we drove to my apartment. “Did you like the movie?” he asked as we walked to the door. I tossed the pizza box on my coffee table and sat down.

“The movie was okay. I was kinda distracted,” I mumbled.

He sat beside me. “I was too. You’re extremely beautiful.”

My stomach lurched again, and I tucked another hair behind my ear. “Thanks.” I leaned forward and grabbed a piece of pizza. “I hate first dates. Don’t you?”

He nodded as he grabbed his slice. “Yeah, they suck. Hopefully, this will be the last first date after a while.”

A flutter erupted in my stomach. “Yeah, hopefully.” But as much as I said the words, I didn’t believe it. Some people had that instant connection and spark. This wasn’t us. I already knew. His hand touched my thigh, but I didn’t move it yet. Maybe it was time to see if feelings would blossom. But nothing was happening, no matter how long he touched me.

This was a dud of a date.

Oh well.

I wiped my mouth with my napkin and wiped the grease off my hands as he launched himself at me. His tongue pushed into my mouth as I tried to push him off of me. He was much stronger than I thought. I bit his tongue, and he lurched back.

“What the fuck?!” he screamed.

“I don’t want to kiss you right now!” I screamed.

“You shouldn’t have invited me back if you didn’t want to fuck!”

“It’s not like that!” I screamed as I tried to push him away again.

Kevin slammed me on the edge of the hard couch, and stars dotted my vision. His hands reached around my throat and everything spun as the air left my lungs. I thrashed and reached behind the arm of the couch for my knitting needles. I grabbed one and stabbed at his throat and face wildly. His hands fell off me and I rolled out from under him. I stumbled to my feet and grabbed a knife from the kitchen.

Was he screaming? Was I screaming? Someone was. I couldn’t hear it over the thudding of my heart and the fear inside my soul. The needle stuck out of the side of his throatas blood poured everywhere. He lurched for me and I stabbed him in the gut. He dropped to the ground, and I pulled the knife out and stabbed again. In a trance, it was like every creepy guy interacting with me passed through my mind. I wasn’t just stabbing my date, but every damn asshole in the world. It took a few more minutes before I stopped. My biceps screamed in exhaustion as I realized I was covered in blood. My eyes widened as I scooted backwards.

There was a dead body in my kitchen.

What was I going to do now?

Chapter Three

Declan

Ishould be grateful for a quiet night, but I wasn’t. I was itching to dosomething.Or it was the feeling that something was about to happen. I flipped through my texts, seeing if there was anything I would need to handle. Next was my emails. Nothing. As I stared at my computer screen begging something to happen, my phone rang.

A name didn’t flash with the number. I slid the icon over and said, “Hello?”

“Hi. Hello? Is this Declan?” a familiar voice said.

My eyes narrowed. There was no way she was calling me, was there? “Alice?” I asked.

“You said I could call you if I needed anything, right?”

“Yes. What do you need?” I asked.

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