Page 54 of Malice and Surrender
“Of course, why would anything want to go right?”
I stomped down the hallway toward the kitchen to grab a flashlight, so I didn’t get my phone all wet. I glanced back at the wet prints and trail of water I’d left and groaned. I would clean that up after. The stupid fuse box was outside, and if my night hadn’t been bad enough, I wouldn’t be surprised to come face-to-face with a gator in my backyard.
“Fucking shit luck today. My stars must be out of alignment,” I mumbled, holding up the phone as my guide. The lightning flashed outside, making me shudder a moment before the thunder boomed so loudly that I jumped and then ducked, covering my head. It sounded like it was right above my house as the walls shook. I didn’t see myself getting any sleep tonight.
My luck, the house would catch fire. Seriously, could anything else go wrong?
Another shiver ran up my spine when I marched past the closet. My foot faulted as the little light on my phone reflected off the glass of the kitchen window. It wasn’t my reflection that made me pause, my mind slowing to a crawl. It was the closet door opening silently behind me. As if I were dumped into the middle of a horror movie, I was suddenly staring at the monster I’d been hiding from all these years. I blinked, not sure this was real or if I was conjuring it in my terror-riddled mind. Goosebumps rose on my body, and my pulse tripled as my adrenaline soared through the roof.
Run.
My feet didn’t listen to what my mind screamed to do. They seemed to be rooted to the spot.
Run.
Something large stepped out of the closet and turned in my direction. It was a man. My breath caught in my throat as the shock transformed into dread.
Thump, thump, thump. My heart pounded viciously behind my ribcage.
Run.
I couldn’t breathe as the lightning flashed again and illuminated a pair of blue eyes I would never forget. Those eyes were burned into the deepest recesses of my brain like they’d been branded. Forever marked.
“Hey there, Tink,” Kai said. His voice was much deeper and rough, but everything that I remembered. The same shot of excitement punched me in the stomach that I always had whenever I saw him. But this time, the thrill was quickly followed by terror.
My feet finally listened to the warning, and I lunged toward the kitchen. I barely made it a stride before I screamed. Hands much larger than I remembered grabbed me by the back of my neck and my sopping-wet sweatshirt. It didn’t even register that I’d been jerked off my feet until I sailed through the air and crashed into the coffee table.
The sharp pain was instant as my elbow and shoulder slammed into the hard edge, before sliding across the top and landing on my shoulder hard. My phone was knocked from my hand and slid under the recliner.
“No, no, no,” I whispered.
Fear roared through my body. I thought I knew what it was to be scared, but I was wrong. I clawed at the ground, trying to get my feet under me, but my wet sneakers slipped on the laminate floor. A massive boot slammed down in the center of the coffee table. I cried out with the loud crack that mirrored the echo of thunder, announcing that the table had snapped in two. I was being pursued by a monster and not a man.
“Kai, no,” I cried out and scrambled to get away and reach my phone. Glancing over my shoulder, I couldn’t see him clearly in the dark, but I felt his eyes boring into me with so much hate and anger. I knew he would come. I had always known he would come for me.
This was the nightmare that played on a loop in my mind.
Gripping the arm of the chair, I stuck my hand under to try to grab my phone, which softly glowed like my only beacon for help. My fingers grazed the edge when those strong hands yanked me back by my hoodie and choked off my air supply. A scream ripped from my throat as he picked me up like I weighed nothing, and once more, I was thrown through the air.
“Ah!” I cried out, my ribs taking the impact as I hit the partially open closet door and slammed it closed. “Get off me,” I yelled as he grabbed me again.
Words I’d said so many times before and it hadn’t worked then. I don’t know why I thought they might work now. Tears burned my eyes as I battled my panic to think straight.
The fight was slowly returning to my brain. If I didn’t fight, he was going to kill me. Fight, damn you, fight.
When he pulled me to my feet, I used all my strength and brought my elbow up like I was trying to perform a finishing move in a video game. The blow wasn’t true and glanced off the side of his chin, but it was enough that he swore and stepped back.
Only a tiny bit of space separated us, but I let my right fist fly and caught him squarely across the cheek. The crack of my knuckles told me I definitely made good contact, but I’d hit him all wrong, and I cried out with the pain in my wrist. His head snapped to the side, a small cut opening up on his cheek from the little silver band on my middle finger. Ironically, it was the ring he’d given me the night before he attacked me. I didn’t know why I kept it, why I couldn’t throw it away, or why I wore it, but it never left my finger.
My victory was short-lived as his head slowly turned toward me. Blue eyes burning with malice glared into my soul, and I shuddered in his hold.
Not wasting a second, I grabbed the front of the leather jacket he was wearing in my fists and pulled in while I brought my knee up, but I only hit his hands. He shoved me hard, and I winced as the back of my head cracked off the hollow wooden door with a thud.
“Kai, stop, please,” I cried out as he reached for me again, but he didn’t stop.
His fist curled around the front of my sweatshirt, and I struck out with my left hand, smacking him as hard as I could from the awkward angle. The sting in my hand burned like it was on fire, but he didn’t even flinch. My mind was unraveling, and instead of precise movements with strategic hits, I began lashing out like I was feral. I knew what I needed to do. I knew I couldn’t act like I had last time, but I realized now the pathetic amount of training I’d done was nothing more than a mental bandage.
Kai was far stronger than I remembered, and it was like he was made of stone and didn’t feel anything as my fists, feet, and knees struck out at him. I was nothing more than a tiny kitten in the jaws of a giant predator. I was the tiny Tink he called me.
