Page 12 of A New Days Don

I kick away from the bed, my chest heaving as the room spins.

Where am I?

How did I get here?

I nearly fall off the bed, and I notice my belt, vest, and pants lying beside it.

My pants.

My heart thuds heavily against my chest as I slowly tear my gaze away from where my pants lay strewn on the floor to my bare legs. A knot forms in my throat as I hold back the whimper threatening to escape.

My scream rings in my mind, “Please! Don’t do this!”

My body trembles. My eyes feel like lead weights as I try to pull my gaze up my legs. Bare flesh on full display, contrasting with the dark, luxurious fabric beneath me. The first thing I notice is the cut on my leg, cleaned and freshly bandaged. It’s not big, maybe the size of a silver dollar. I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to go back to the dark bliss before all of this.

“Help!” It’s my voice crying out.

Gasping, I open my eyes as quickly as possible. I can’t fall into another panic episode right now. I need to figure out what happened and get out of here.

C’mon Mila! Woman up. You’ve been through hell and back before. Do it again.

My own voice snaps at me in my mind, and I let my eyes dart to my thighs. Clean and clear of blood. My white cotton panties are still intact. My body slumps against the satiny black headboard. The adrenaline seeping from my body in mere seconds and leaving me exhausted.

I’m safe. Wherever I am.

What happened last night? Where was… The house on Adelaide Street. Vicek. No backup. Going in blind.

Where is Vicek?

Is that who brought me here and took care of my calf?

That’s when I hear the water running. My eyes dart for the closed door across from the bed. Nausea churns in my stomach at the thought of Vicek on the other side. Nothing about Vicek screams the kind of man to take care of anyone, let alone his underling.

I scramble for the edge of the bed as the sound of the water running shuts off. A violent wave of panic rises inside of me, my skin itching and prickling as I reach for my belt. My gun is missing from its holster, making my hammering heart slow to an almost non-existent beat.

It’s not on the ground, the bedside table, or tangled in my pants, not that I was able to check very thoroughly before the door to the bathroom opens. Steam billows out around a much taller, broader figure than Vicek. My entire body stiffens, each muscle pulling tight as I stand from the bed.

Who the hell is this?

My eyes darken around the edges like a vignette on a picture. Instead of grabbing my taser, I leap for the lamp, pulling it from where it sits on its fancy glass-topped bedside table. I yank its plug from the wall and the table topples over, glass shatters around me, but my focus is on the threat ahead of me.

“Don’t move!” I shout, my voice wavering, but the man ahead of me listens, stilling his progress into the room and keeping his hands firmly clenched where they hold the towel around his waist. My heart skitters, a feeling much lighter than the heavy beats of panic I am used to, yet a million times more uncomfortable.

I shift, clutching the lamp and averting my gaze from his damp hips and alluring V-line.

Alluring? What the hell, brain! Nope. We are not considering any part of this man alluring.

Whoever this man is…

Dark eyes watching me intently, almost curiously, the muscle in his jaw flicks as if he’s clenching his teeth a little too hard. His hair is dark and damp, slicked against the tanned skin of his temples and forehead. I follow a water droplet as it travels slowly down his defined cheeks and jaw, through a light stubble, then down his neck. An artery thrums almost hypnotically under the small bead.

I don’t realize the lamp in my hand had lowered until the man across from me shifts, “I said don’t move.”

This time, my voice is firm, and the man nods, listening to my command.

My mind draws a blank as my hands begin to tremble. That seems to draw his attention, his dark brown eyes flickering down my body to my hands.

I clench the lamp, holding it firmly in an attempt to calm the sizzling electric current lashing in my veins, “Who are you, and why am I here?”