Page 62 of The Woman in the Garage

My hands closed around cold metal, and I lifted them, then hauled toward the shadow rushing toward me.

I’d never had great aim.

I missed twice.

But the third wrench managed to ding off the top of his head, getting a grunt of pain out of him that shouldn’t have been as satisfying as it was.

Grabbing more tools, I turned and ran.

The glowing red exit sign was beckoning me.

So close.

Until a shadow caught up with me, rushed in front of me, blocked my exit.

A pathetic little whimper escaped me as I pulled to a stop.

I had two options.

Back to my office. With its locked door. But glass walls that could easily be broken.

Or I could head to the waiting room.

There was a front door.

If I couldn’t get to that in time, there was the bathroom. A locked door. Solid walls. A window to escape from if I climbed on top of the toilet.

There was really no choice at all.

Changing directions, I flew across the garage.

But it was further.

He was faster.

The second my hand closed around the knob, he was behind me, slamming me forward. My face crushed into the door as a forearm pressed into the back of my neck, crushing me harder against the wood.

My cheekbone screamed in pain, and the pressure had my nose throbbing once again, more blood slipping down and sliding into my mouth.

I was momentarily too stunned to move, too panicked to think straight.

But when the man’s free hand started to slide up the back of my thigh, lifting the hem of my skirt, it was like an electrical current shot through my body, shocking me back to the present.

A sound I’d never made before escaped me—half human scream, half wild animal snarl.

My whole body jerked, writhed, fought.

But our bodies were too close to give me much space to get away.

The only way out was… forward.

I forced my arm up between myself and the door. Closing my hand around the knob, I turned it.

Then we both fell forward.

I was quick enough to bring my arms up to brace my fall. But when a full-grown man crashed down on top of you, apparently, your braced forearms flew outward like wings. My head whacked off the floor. Again.

There was no time to wallow in the pain, though, not now that I found myself in an even more precarious position.

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