Page 25 of Beastly Mr. Buchanan
No matter what.
Chapter 9
Karey Justice
Even though the apartment appears empty,the hairs on my nape stand on end as Declan steps inside.He pulls me over the threshold and shuts the door with a loud thump.The lock slides home in the silence.
This was a horrible idea.Now I’m either locked in my apartment alone with the only man who’s ever turned me on or I’m locked in with him and another asshole who tried to rape me.
I question all my life choices as I follow him through the main living area.He even checks behind the curtains before heading down the hall.
I swallow as he opens my bedroom door.
Everything is how it was before Brad attacked me, but I know I knocked over the corner lamp and pulled the comforter halfway off the bed in my struggle for freedom.Even my laptop sits exactly where it was when I woke up to him looming over me.
I shudder.
Declan squeezes my hand before motioning for me to stay in the hall as he enters.I grab his arm and shake my head with a glance toward Brad’s closed bedroom door.Declan nods in understanding and tugs me close before brushing my hand off him.
Despite wanting to appear self-assured and unbothered, I fight against the urge to cling to the back of his shirt.He needs both hands free to fight, and having me too close would restrict his movements.
After checking under the bed, Declan opens my closet.
Brad stands inside like a nightmare in the flesh.Disbelief spears through me.
Declan moves before I can process the situation.
Apparently, Brad can’t either.Declan yanks him out of the closet, throws him onto the floor, and beats him half to death before the creep even has a chance to lift his arms to defend himself.
I watch in horrified delight as my middle school savior demolishes my ex-new roommate in the same spot where he molested me less than twenty-four hours ago.
When Declan lifts his arm and crimson drips from his knuckles, my stupor breaks.I jump into action.I asked for his help, but that doesn’t mean I want him to spend the rest of his life in jail for murdering someone on my behalf.
I lunge forward and call his name.He doesn’t hear me.My voice cracks as I try again, to no avail.
I grab his elbow and his ear.I don’t know why.Both are within easy reach and adrenaline demands I do something before he kills the man he’s straddling, so that’s where I grab.
He snarls and whips toward me with his other arm raised.Unadulterated fear clenches my stomach at the manic intensity in his unseeing eyes.
I pinch his ear.Hard.
Humanity seeps into his gaze.
He drops his fist.I tug him off his prey.Like a puppet on a string, he follows my silent instructions.
Brad gurgles.Declan stiffens and turns.
I dig my nails into his arm and twist his ear.
“No, don’t hit him again.Roll him onto his side.Don’t let him die,” I hiss.
The next few minutes blur around me.
“Miss?”
I pull my attention to the officer in front of me.The EMTs wheel Brad’s bloody body down the hall on a stretcher.
“I’m sorry.What did you ask?”
