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I went out to my car and almost changed my mind on going again when the stupid engine spluttered instead of turning over. But Peggy would be upset if I told her I’d spent my one child- and parent-free night eating leftover pizza by myself in my shitty apartment while police sirens wailed outside. So I caught an Uber, grabbing some Thai takeout on the way.
Kat’s place was a luxury I’d never known. Her carpets were white and so pristine that I was sure Amelia had never come here when they’d had custody of her. There wasn’t a spaghetti or Jell-O stain in sight, and everything was painfully clean and tidy. She must have had incense sticks somewhere because even with two cats in the house, it smelled lovely.
Said cats saw me coming and scurried beneath the couch. I peered under it, pretending that couch hadn’t seen things last night, and two sets of cat eyes shined back. “I’ve come here multiple times now, guys. I’m staying all night. Do we have to keep pretending you don’t love me? You know you’re both going to be all over me the minute I get the food out.”
Neither cat made a move. I’d had to pull the gunk-eyed one out by the scruff of his neck the last two days so I could insert his drops, but at least I wouldn’t have to do that today. Since I was hanging around all night, I had the luxury of waiting for him to decide to trust me.
So I got their food ready and put their bowls where they could reach them. Ate my own dinner in the kitchen where I couldn’t see the living room. I grabbed a duster and scurried around the place like a cleaning fairy. Took a bubble bath in Kat’s huge tub that had water jets. The gunk-eyed cat came searching for me once his belly was full, and I managed to get his eye drops in before he went feral again and tried to claw my eyes out.
I didn’t go downstairs again though. I got into bed in Kat’s room since her spare was set up as an office. There was a pull-out bed in the third bedroom, but I turned my nose up at that. I didn’t come over here to have a shitty sleep on a foldaway bed when Kat’s looked like an inviting mountain of marshmallow.
I’d wash the sheets and remake the bed before I left in the morning. It was early when I turned out all the lights and got into bed. I’d promised Peggy an orgasm, but if she knew what I’d done here last night, I was sure she’d give me an out on that. These walls had seen enough of my antics.
I watched some TV on my phone, snuggled into the heaven that was Kat’s bed. Her mattress was like lying on a cloud, and I spread out right across the middle of it, enjoying the space. It wasn’t long before the show couldn’t keep my interest and my eyes tried to close. I fought it for a little while, wanting to make the most of my responsibility-free night, but eventually gave in, with the thought that getting a decent night’s sleep would actually be pretty nice.
The house was still and silent as I drifted off. No neighbors having a domestic. No drunks out on the street talking shit at the tops of their lungs. No police sirens or lights.
So when I woke to noises downstairs, it took me a moment to work out what was going on. I blinked in the darkness, trying to make out the shape of the room while I listened again for whatever had woken me.
The cats’ food dish skittered along the floor making a scratching noise, and I settled back into the pillows, trying to get back to sleep.
The twisting of the bedroom door handle was most definitely not done by a cat though.
I froze, fear coursing through me.
Then pure fucking annoyance.
I’d lived in goddamn Saint View my entire life and had somehow managed to never have some asshole break into my place, at least not while I was in it. I come to Providence for one night, andthat’sthe night this asshole decides to break in?
I forced myself to breathe slowly and deeply, faking sleep while my brain whirred a million miles an hour, trying to come up with a way to get out of this so I could kill Kat and Lleyton later. First thought was that it would be easiest if the guy saw me sleeping and hightailed it out of the house. Presumably he thought the house was empty, and I silently cursed my stupid car for choosing tonight to break down again. If it had been parked in the driveway, this asshole might have thought twice about trying a break and enter.
Through my eyelashes, the man froze, his gaze on me. He glanced back toward the door, and I silently pleaded with him to just go. Because one look at him had tripled the fear I felt inside. He was huge. Broad-shouldered and dressed all in black. The thing that really freaked me out though, was the balaclava. There was something about not being able to see his face that made the entire thing so much worse. No matter how much I would fight, because I would, to the damn death if I had to, the strength in his body was clear. His hoodie clung to his solid chest, his pants hugging muscular thighs.
I just wanted him to leave. For him to decide that robbing a house with a sleeping woman inside was a really bad idea and for him to just turn around and walk out.
I really didn’t want to consider that he might have been pleased to find me here alone.
The man moved past me, toward the en suite, disappearing inside it, and I had to make a split-second decision. Stay and pretend to be sleeping only to potentially have him pin me to this bed and rape me?
Or make a freaking run for it.
I was no good at hanging around, waiting for things to happen to me. I liked to be the one in control of my own destiny.
As soon as I heard him rifling through Kat’s things in the bathroom, I soundlessly got off the bed, silently thanking her for buying a good quality frame that didn’t squeak, and inched toward the door.
I just needed to get outside the house. If I was outside, I could scream. In a neighborhood like this, where middle-of-the-night screams weren’t a standard evening event, people would notice. They’d call the cops.
I was halfway down the stairs and celebrating prematurely before his booted footsteps sounded heavy on the second-floor landing.
All pretenses of sneaking out were thrown out the window, and I let adrenaline take over. It crashed through my system like a bull in a china shop, breaking everything in its sight. I threw myself down the last three stairs and sprinted for the front door, knowing the damn locks I’d so cautiously set were now going to be the thing that slowed me down.
I hit the living area, running at full pace, bare feet sinking into Kat’s thick carpet, panicked sweat breaking out across my body. A scream ripped involuntarily from my lungs, but it was too soon for the neighbors to hear it, tucked safely in their warm beds on the other side of the large property. Too soon for it to do me any good because the man grabbed me at the door before my fingers even got to the locks.
His hand slapped over my mouth before I could scream again, and his big body pressed me into the wooden door face-first, his chest hard against my back, pinning me in place so I couldn’t move.
Fuck that.
There was no way I was giving in that easily. I bit his finger, and he let out a yelp of pain, yanking his hand back. I twisted against his hold, managing to get around to face him, then wishing I hadn’t because his eyes were so dark, they were terrifying.
