Page 25 of Lose Me In The Shadows

She shut her eyes. The easy image of her fictional basset hound and her quiet—lonely—life in Chicago came to her, only to immediately slip away… in place of a mountain cabin surrounded by forest with three, large, intractable men standing in front of it.

And holy fucking shit, she knew.

Sheknew.

You want us,Luke said.And you’re angry because you’re afraid we only want you for your body, and we’ll abandon you once we’ve gotten our fill—just like everyone else abandoned you. You want love to be about respect, and we haven’t respected you, have we, sweetheart?

Before Kara could respond—to herself—the music stopped, and the door opened. She looked up. Chris stood there, flanked by the Tweedles, an ugly smirk on his objectively-not-ugly face.

“Oh, you.” Kara managed to sound blasé.

Good girl,Imaginary Conor said.

She was, wasn’t she? She was his good girl, but she’d be damned if she’d ever be Chris Jonathan’s. Once, maybe. Not again. Never again.

“Kara,” he began. “How are you finding your accom—”

She interrupted.

“Why don’t you cut the bullshit and tell me what you want from me, Chris? I know how much you love an audience—are you having a hard time finding one, so you had to resort to trapping one? Did I ‘destroy’ your life and since you’re such a pathetic nothing of a man, instead of growing up and rebuilding it on your own—like I did, by the way—you have to take it out on me?” She sneered at him. “Yeah, that’s right, I called you pathetic. What are you going to do about it?” He didn’t speak, face a deep burgundy and eyes squinted as he tried to get ahold of his anger. “That’s what I thought.”

“You’re right, Ms. Blum,” he said, resorting to treating her the way he did in the classroom while they were carrying on their affair. Back then, the subtext had been sexy. Now, she just wanted to spit on him. “I’mnot going to do anything.Them,on the other hand…” he nodded his head toward his GI Joe minions… “They’re going to make you hurt. But then you like hurting, don’t you? We know what your little friend Luke James is into. You like pain, you stupid bitch? My men will dole it out. And…” he stroked his dick through his pants, which, to Kara’s horror, had hardened, “…I’m going to watch.”

Chris moved out of the way, and the Tweedles—who were also hard—entered the cell.

She was so fucked.

So, so fucked.

But she was going down fighting.

“I’ve had enough, you know,” she told Chris, staring him down. “I’m tired of men like you thinking you can throw your weight around. You might win this battle, but you better watch your back, asshole. I’m coming for you, and I know my way around a gun.”

It was incredibly satisfying when he flinched.

He recovered quickly.

“Be that as it may, you’re going to have a hard time killing me after they’re done with you. I told them you like being spit roasted, and it inspired someexcitingplans.”

Tweedle Dumb chuckled.

“You’re going to regret this,” Kara told her former professor and lover, desperate but sure. “I will make it out of here alive. I will be rescued, andthey’llbe angry—even angrier than when they find out why you set them up in Frankfurt. One day, you’ll be on the receiving end of their torture, and I’m going to look at you and laugh. Promise.”

“Thought Jews weren’t supposed to make promises they know they can’t keep,” Chris taunted, but his voice wobbled. And it must have worked, because he turned to leave the cell.

“Have fun,” he sing-songed as the door swung shut.

This was still horrible, but at least she didn’t have to deal with the sickness of him watching her get raped.

Unless she could stop it.

“You really don’t want to do this,” Kara said to the Tweedles. “I can tell you there are some people who will not be pleased if you touch me.”

Tweedle Dumbest rolled his eyes. “Those dishonorably discharged SEAL fucks? They don’t scare me. Babies fell apart over killing someone.”

Kara felt her breathing speed up. Air wasn’t traveling to her lungs, and her arms tingled. A panic attack threatened.

Keep it at bay, sweetheart,Imaginary Luke coaxed.Deep breaths. You’re okay.

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