Page 21 of Wrecked By a Devil

“I will, mom,” I roll my eyes even though he can’t see me.

“It’s not funny, Zeke?—”

“Gotta go!” I interrupt him the moment I see Riley walk outside. She’s wearing her normal clothes and I glance at the time, realizing that her shift is probably over.

I expect her to take the bus or call a cab, but instead she walks all the way to the other side of the parking lot and then crosses the main street. For a moment I stop and consider whether or not to follow her. A part of me is still hoping she will hop on the bus at the next station, but when she almost disappears into the dark alley, I let my instinct take over and walk after her.

If we need proof of how dangerous this neighborhood is, we have my stitches. And I’m a grown, adult man, skilled at combat, so if someone can so easily jump me, how easy of a target does that make Riley?

The thought of someone else putting their hands on her turns my blood to ice. She is my responsibility now. My asset. And nobody touches what is under the protection of Ezekiel Kavanagh.

Riley takes another turn down the alley and while I’m still keeping my distance and making sure she doesn’t notice me, I make the same turn. Even the street light in this area seems to be broken, with three out of five street lamps flickering while the other two don’t even work.

This place looks like hell.

She arrives at a building at the end of the street.

She lives here.

Just as I’m about to turn around and leave, assuming she’ll be okay now that she’s home, a figure appears and starts tugging at her arm. I lose it.

CHAPTER NINE

Riley

A sudden noise just as I’m turning the corner a few steps from my building, makes me shiver. Ever since I left the parking lot, I’ve been having a strange feeling. Almost as if I can feel someone is following me, but every time I turn around to check, no one is there.

When I look up, I see a bird going to perch on one of the balconies. I laugh, relieved that it was the animal that made the mysterious sound and there is indeed no psychotic killer on my heel.

I need to stop watching true crime documentaries with Elena.

“Hey mamasita…”

Realizing it wasn’t the bird after all, I speed up. I ignore Noah, hoping to get inside before he catches up to me. But before I reach the entrance, he grabs my arm firmly pulling me back.

“Leave me alone, Noah,” I slide out of his grip easily, having done this dance before. If I wanted to, I could easily kick his ass. And I intend to do so if he doesn’t leave me alone.

“Why do you always tell me that?” He whines, clearly intoxicated. “Don’t you realize how great we could be together? I can take you to the stars, mama.”

“I don’t want that, and neither do you,” I try to remain calm as he keeps blocking my way into the building. “You don’t want to do this, Noah.”

“Says who?” This time, he takes me by surprise and he suddenly pushes me, pressing my body to the cold, stone wall.

Before I can draw a breath to punch him, his hand shoves up under the hem of my shirt. Rough, calloused skin scratches against my ribs and the world goes dead silent.

Suddenly I’m not 25-year old Riley anymore. I’m taken back in time to when I was only ten and my dad would get physical with both my mom and me. Mom was too drunk in the corner to even care, but I still can’t shake how powerless it made me feel.

Just… move.

All the self-defense classes, all the training, and all the healing I’ve done over the years, don’t matter anymore. I can’t move my body. I can’t even yell at him.

A tear slides down my cheek and I close my eyes shut, frozen to the spot.

And then, I hear a loud, heavy thud and I open my eyes to see another figure tackling him. I blink a few times, thinking my mind is playing tricks on me.

Ezekiel has pinned Noah to the ground and one fist after the other keeps finding its way to Noah’s face. For a heartbeat I just stand there, watching him beat the guy up.

He had that coming.