Page 99 of A Perfect World
He snorted like a bull, puffing up. “And yet, I haven’t seen you do shit. They told us you’re some powerful weapon, some big threat, but all I see is a pretty face with some fancy tricks.”
“Ollie,” Courtney warned, but her voice was already fading into the background. The bastard had just tossed a match into an entire warehouse of dynamite.
I lurched out of the pool.
“Fancy tricks?” I hissed. “Come find out what those fancy tricks can do.”
“Ollie, don’t,” Courtney demanded.
But I was already moving towards the preserve with a meat-head hot on my heels. Better to get him away from the crowd- away from Courtney. If only I wasn’t so sloshed. Numbness crawled up my fingers and toes. I shoved out the back gate, trying to pick up the pace, but it was like running on thick sand. Maybe the edibles had been laced with something?
Once I hit the path leading into the preserve, my center of gravity swayed. I stumbled-
Spinning and spinning and spinning-
Pain exploded in my hands, barely saving my face from a tree trunk.
“Not feeling so great, are you?” Tyler chided, his voice much closer than anticipated. I shoved up. A fist collided with my gut. I bent in half. The world swam in streaks and blurs.
I reached out-
Another explosion of pain knocked me on my ass. A thick hand clutched my throat, shoving me flat on my back as a heavy weight dropped on my hips- straddling me.
He wasstraddlingme.
I struggled, but it was like trying to move through tar.
“Off,” I gasped.
That’s when I felt it.
Vomit surged up my throat.
He was aroused by me powerless beneath him. My eyes refused to focus. His dark shape loomed. I squinted, channeling every ounce of power into shoving him off.
He lifted enough for me to gulp down air.
“Looks like the boss was right. You’renotinfallible.”
His weight threatened to drop down on me again.
I grunted in effort.
“Not so powerful now, huh? A little tranquilizer and you’re as vulnerable as the rest of us,” he crooned.
Tranquilizer.
How had he managed to drug me without anyone noticing? They were pre-made jello shots. Unless…
Someone made them for this reason. Someone drugged meforhim. Meaning someone else I hadn’t suspected was in on it.
Fucked- sofucked.
Sharp shooting pain in my lungs, my throat, my eyes-
Then his mouth crushed mine. Beer and chlorine and stubble and body spray. A violent rip current of power surged to my aching eyes.
But it wasn’t enough.
