Page 40 of Inception

The vampire straightened out instantly. His palms were turned out to Trace as he backed away, moving deeper into the dark alley and inching further and further away from me. He didn’t say a word as he retracted, though it seemed fairly obvious that he was afraid (or unwilling) to do this all over again with somebody else. Somebody his own size.

By the time Trace reached my side, the creature was already gone, having disappeared into the shadows from which he had come. Trace tried to take off after him, but stopped abruptly at the sound of my bloodcurdling scream that begged him not to leave me alone out there.

“Shit. Are you okay?” he asked, dropping the bat onto the ground as he crouched down beside me. The poignant sound of the wood clinking against the concrete echoed around us.

I sat up unsteadily, dazed, terrified, still shaking from the unquantifiable fear. I was fighting hard to hold back the geyser of tears that lurked just below the fragile surface.

“I’m fine,” I lied. I wassonot fine.

Trace clasped the top of my arm and helped me up to my feet. His warm hand lingered there, waiting to make sure I had my balance, and I let it, as I wasn’t even sure of it myself.

Everything felt unreal, like I was having an out of body experience, like I wasn’t even connected to myself anymore. Only to the memories of what happened, and to the part of me that was holding the visions together disjointedly. I stood there dumfounded, my mind racing as I looked around, canvassing the street, the wet concrete, replaying the scene in my mind—the attack—and how close I had just brushed up against death.

I looked up at Trace who was staring down at me silently, his arresting blue eyes painting tracks all over my face.

I needed to get away from this place.

“Where are you going?” he asked brashly, pulling me back by my elbow as I tried to take off for the door.

“I’m going inside.” My voice sounded hollow, distant.

“Inside?” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you want to talk about this? About what just happened?” He gestured towards the now-empty street. The one the vampire had disappeared into.

I wasn’t sure how much of my hooded attacker Trace had actually seen, but at this point, it didn’t even matter. The way I saw it, I had two options here: I could take the risk and find out—confide in him about what just happened to me, about what has been happening to me for months now. I could tell him all about the fang-bearing creature that just tried to kill me and all about the one before him, and maybe even about the sadistic fairytales my uncle’s been churning, and then sit back and hope to God that he believed me and didn’t think I was bat-shit crazy.

Or, I can skip that tired song and protect myself. Lie like my freedom depended on it.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said easily. “The guy was a freaking pervert. God only knows what he wanted to do to me. Honestly, I’d rather not talk about it.”

I tried to leave, but he caught my arm again. “Jemma—”

“Trace, please. Let me go,” I pleaded, trying to shake myself loose. “I don’t want to talk about it. Don’tmakeme talk about it.” I could feel the strain in my eyes as I struggled to hold back the waterfall that ached to break free, threatening to unleash with it all the secrets I’ve been carrying inside.

He pumped his jaw several times as he exhaled long and hard through his nose, searing me with those hypnotic eyes.

“Fine.” He let go of my arm.

I made it halfway to the door before stopping. When I spun back around, he was still standing there watching me, the wooden bat hanging loosely from his fingertips. His eyes were heavy with emotions I couldn’t quite put together.

I held onto his gaze as I walked back over to him, and without thinking twice of it, draped my arms around his neck, pinning him inside a hug. I felt him stiffen beneath my embrace as though I’d just crossed over some invisible line. A line that was meant to keep us safely apart. But I didn’t care. I had no intention of staying on my side anymore.

“Thank you,” I whispered into his neck, my voice working hard not to crack. “You saved my life.”

He seemed to hesitate at first, unsure of the connection, though after a few short beats, I felt his hand rise up along my side and gently glide across the small of my back until his arm was wrapped snugly around my waist. And he held me there against him, for a while, my skin humming under the warmth of his soothing touch.

After cleaning most of the dirt off myself, I swapped my ripped employee shirt for one of the clean spares in the office and returned to the main hall where Trace was waiting to take me home. On any other night, I would have vehemently refused his offer, especially with Nikki standing close enough to witness the gross-infraction, but tonight I didn’t give a damn about it. Tonight, I didn’t give a damn about her. I fearedthemmore than I did her and nothing was going to make me step foot outside this building by myself.

I sauntered towards Trace who was at the bar going over something with Zane when I caught sight of Dominic walking in at the front. All of the light seemed to rush over to him as though it ached to be beside him as much as I did, and before I knew it, my still-shaky legs were detouring straight for him.

“Jemma.” He said my name with all the right inflection as he took my hand into his and gently kissed the back of it.

My heart involuntarily thrummed twice its pace as a result of his lips making contact with my skin. For that small moment, I forgot everything else, and I liked him more because of it.

“H-Hey, hi,” I said gracelessly.

A slow moving smile appeared. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

“You were?” The words fell out of my mouth without any forethought. The kind of forethought that would tell you to stay calm and play it cool, like hot older guys werealwayshoping to run into you.

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