Page 46 of Keeping Ava

I’m dreaming, floating through an abyss of nothing as a giant screen in front of me plays out a movie reel of that night. I can hear his laugh. His promise to come back for me.

No one will save you. You’re mine, Ava. Always have been.

There’s a sensation over my right arm. I can’t quite make out what it is, but it feels wrong. Makes my stomach turn as the invisible grip tightens. It’s painful and I whimper out, tears running down my cheek as the helplessness settles in. Even in my dreams I can’t escape him.

Feels so real. Even his breath on my skin is the same—produces the same taste of bile in the back of my throat.

You’ll pay for your betrayal, pet. Bathing in his blood will be your penance.

Images flip through my subconscious, each more grotesque than the last, and as one of a dead Elijah takes the forefront, I awake, sweaty, panting, aware that something isn’t right.

Throwing my legs over the side of the couch, I begin to stand. “It’s just a dream,” I say, my voice low and shaky. My eyes shift over to the sliding glass doors, and I take in just how dark it is already. I must’ve been asleep for a while.

Still, there is an unsettling feeling that runs down my spine, and I shiver. And it’s in my mild panic that I notice that lights that were on are now off. Nothing except for the television remains on, and I need to remind myself all over again of Elijah’s words.

“I’m safe here.”

“Are you?” As the last word slips past his lips, the small lamp beside him flips on, illuminating his rough features. He’s angry. A bit dirty. He’s holding a large blade in his hands that he flips between his fingers without a care, not paying a lick of attention to the blood coating his skin that appears to have a dozen tiny cuts. “Who’s going to protect you, sweetheart? That pussy detective?”

“How did...?” The words get stuck in my throat. Fear—fight or flight—sits heavy on my chest, and I take a step back. Thinking...begging silently for a way out.

All I need is a chance.

“You shouldn’t wander the halls alone, love. Not even to throw away the garbage,” he drawled, eyes hungrily wandering over my exposed skin. “Never know who’s lurking.”

“That’s a lie. The corridor was—”

“My naive little Ava...” he tsks, thumbs running across the steel edge of the knife “...so lost in your emotions that you never looked toward the small alcove on your left. Not even a flicker of awareness as you blindly gave yourself an adorable, yet useless pep talk, and then put the garbage inside the chute.”

“Christ.” Another step back that he mimics with one forward. “You’ve been here this entire time? The lights—”

“Me. I’ve enjoyed watching you again after all this time.”

“Again?” I ask, just as his head turns toward the balcony and the night’s sky. Either he doesn’t care or is extremely sure of himself, because he doesn’t so much as move a muscle as I rush toward the room’s entrance.

“Are you looking to play a game?” That question makes me pause as I place my foot in the hallway, mind working quickly. “Perhaps hide-and-seek?”

“Answer the question, Jason.” I see my room door is closed and so is the office and curse my idiocy. Head for Elijah’s room. His closet has a gun and emergency phone.

It’s a somewhat safe room; the door is heavy, thick, and in reinforced steel, as is the surrounding structure. Elijah told me bullets wouldn’t get through, and that if the worst came to be, to make it inside and hide near the far back so I’d be out of the line of fire.

It should hold him back long enough for me to call for help. All I need to do is make it to the other side before...

“You first.” Two large hands wrap around my waist, and I freeze. They pull me against a hard body, and there’s no mistaking his hard cock as it presses against my ass. There’s a second or two of shock and disgust and so much sudden adrenaline that I begin to shake uncontrollably.

My vision becomes hazy, and all I see around me is that woman inside his house. Her body. Her eyes as they lock with mine.

Blood. Red. It’s everywhere.

A loud wail rents the air then, and it’s full of this haunting terror that hurts my head.

“Just like that, Miss Ava. Scream for me.” His breath is hot against my neck, and it’s enough to silence the scream. To silence me. “Awww, baby. Don’t stop. I rather enjoy you like this.”

“Please.” It’s all I manage to get past the lump in my throat.

“Please what?” Jason’s taunting me. Rubbing himself against me. “Tell me. Use your words.”

Swallowing hard, I take a second to focus. To breathe in and out. “Leave, and don’t come back.”

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