Page 36 of Ruin My Life
I go for him again, aiming for his throat.
But this time, he catches my arm.
His grip is strong—slick with blood but unrelenting. He rips the knife from my hand and throws it across the room.It clatters against the floor and skips out of reach, each bounce a beat of dread pounding in my chest.
I twist, slipping free of his grasp thanks to the blood slicking his hand. I take two steps back—
—and stumble.
My heel catches on the plush rug and I lose my footing, bracing for the cold smack of hardwood.
But it never comes.
Because I fall into someone else instead.
Warm. Solid. Huge.
Shit—
Thick, coiled arms snap around me like steel cables, locking me against a body even larger than the first. His chest rumbles against my back with the weight of his breath, and I barely manage to gasp before a rough hand slams over my mouth.
I thrash. I kick. Iscreaminto his palm—
But he doesn’t loosen his grip. Not an inch.
I twist my head and bite down on his hand.Hard.
I taste salt, sweat, skin—but no blood.
He grunts, but he doesn’t let go. My jaw throbs with the effort to tear through his flesh, but it’s not enough.
He adjusts his hold, one hand cupping my chin, forcing my head back, while the other—
No.
A sharp sting pierces my neck.
Cold floods my veins, spreading like frost. It moves too fast—shooting through my bloodstream like fire laced in ice.
I try to fight, but my arms betray me. My legs weaken.
A numbing sensation takes over, like my body’s fallen asleep all at once.
My fingers twitch uselessly at my sides. The room spins.
No—
Darkness licks at the edges of my vision.
I want to scream. I want to fight. I want tokill.
But I can’t even move.
I fall limp, crumpling backward into the same embrace I tried so desperately to escape.
The one I stabbed stands in front of me, just a few cautious steps out of reach. He’s yanked one of my kitchen towels from the drawer and wrapped it around his hand, but the white fabric is already soaked through with blood. Crimson seeps through his fingers, dripping in thick drops to the floor.
Their voices echo through the tunnel of my fading consciousness, warped and distant—like I’m underwater.
