Page 17 of Destined By Dragonblood
Someone stood near the corner of Walnut and Deerfield Avenue but back enough out of the way that the streetlight didn’t offer me a good look at their face.
They stared my way, keeping me frozen like a deer in headlights.
Hairs rose all over my body, and I squeezed my core’s muscles to keep from peeing myself.
He took a step toward me, and I stumbled backward over the threshold, slamming the door as I went.
A sob ripped from me as I attempted to lock up with shaking hands. A frigid chill settled into my bones, and for the first time in years, I wished I didn’t live alone, that I had a companion to help calm my rising panic.
The lock finally slid into place, and I ran on weak legs from window to window, making sure they were locked, curtains closed, flicking off lights as I went deeper into my condo.
This was real, definitely not a figment of my imagination.
I pushed into my closet, knees drawn up to my chest, my eyes clenched shut while rocking back and forth.
Visions of the past crystalized like jagged ice pelting the inside of my head.
Burning rope wrapped around my wrists and ankles. Aching throat from having been gagged over and over again with a rigid piece of flesh that had violated my other private areas as well. I was sore between my thighs and in a hole I hadn’t known until that night could be utilized for anything other than an exit.
My stomach heaved, and I tore from the tiny space, barely making it to the bathroom in time.
Vomit erupted up my esophagus, burning and choking, and I sobbed once finished, flushing the dinner I’d eaten while attempting to distract my mind with what tomorrow held in wait.
Master.
The echo in my head gave me strength and courage to crawl into the living room, my wary gaze flitting from covered window to still-locked door.
Silence rang in my ears, and tears dripped down my face as I fumbled on the coffee table for my cell phone.
He answered after the first ring.
“Help me,” I managed to whisper before breaking down into sobs again.
Chapter 5
Vanni
I’d been daydreaming about Dolyn and Ashley both on their knees for me while caressing over the hard-on inside my sweats when she called.
Two whispered words set off my protective instincts and deflated my dick in a heartbeat. “Where are you? What’s wrong?” I hopped off my couch and strode toward my front door, stomping into my workout sneakers on the way as she quietly cried and attempted to answer my questions between hitched breaths. I grabbed my keys and wallet from the table in my entryway before hurrying into the private elevator that would rush me to the ground floor.
Ashley continued to whimper but finally managed to whisper something about a stalker outside her home.
Rage erupted in my guts, causing my jaw to clench and my eyesight to go red. I smashed the first-floor button, swallowing down a curse, thankful as fuck I’d insisted she take my cell number in the event she ever needed me outside the club.
“Are you alone in the house, Ashley?” I asked, my calm tone far from matching the fire stirring inside me.
“Yes.” She fumbled with her cell.
“Did you call the police?”
“I—I’m p-probably overreacting. What would I t-tell them?” She let out an unsteady exhale in an attempt to control her emotions. “That I’ve been feeling t-two sets of eyes on me? That one arouses me and one t-turns my b-bowels to liquid?”
I rubbed a hand over my face, cursing beneath my breath. Was there more to her trauma than the physical? Did mental instability cause this? She’d shown no signs of such an illness, and surely, she would have informed me of something that serious when we’d sat down and negotiated moving forward with sceneing together.
“Trust your instincts and stay put,” I ordered. Ashley was always a good girl for me and would do what I said. “It’s going to be a little before I get to you, but I’m on my way.”
“Okay.” She sounded broken, and my heart ached to hold her tight, wrap her up in my arms to make that feeling of a boogeyman disappear from her conscience.
