Kelsey swallowed her outrage and forced herself to kneel in front of her captor. This was her chance. Get him going, get him distracted and then she’d make her move. Trying to hide her revulsion, she reached for James’ sizable cock with one hand and cupped his heavy balls with the other.
His semi-erect shaft hardened immediately, distending like a clown balloon at her touch. She looked up at his face, trying to appear as if she enjoyed what she was doing. His eyes burning into hers, James groaned, “Yeah, baby. Kelsey. Kelsey, darling, yes!”
He reached for her shoulders to steady himself as she jerked at his hard, thick shaft, while cradling his balls with her other hand. He was panting. His eyelids fluttered closed, his head falling back.
Now! Do it now!
Her heart racing, Kelsey rocked over into the stall door, pushing it open with her shoulder. Dropping the man’s genitals, she rolled out of the shower stall and scrambled to her feet. She hurtled toward the counter, her hand extended. Grabbing the small, heavy weapon, she whirled to face James. Triumph soared through her as she pointed the gun at him with shaking hands.
“What the hell!” the naked man roared, his eyes now wide open. He lunged out of the shower toward her.
Kelsey jumped back. “Don’t move, asshole,” she cried. “I’ll shoot you. I’ll fucking shoot you!” Her voice was shaking as much as her hands. She curled her trembling finger around the trigger, keeping the gun pointed in his direction. Water was dripping from her hair into her face and she shook her head, trying to see.
James halted just outside the shower stall. “Kelsey. Put that thing down. It’s loaded. You’ll hurt yourself.” He started to walk toward her.
“I said don’t move!” Kelsey blew out a breath and aimed the gun directly at James’ heart, desperately trying to gird herself for what she knew she had to do. Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely keep hold of the gun.
She lowered the weapon slightly. If he made a move, any move, she’d shoot him. Slowly, her eyes fixed on him, Kelsey began to edge backward toward the door. Just a few more seconds and—
“No,” James shouted. In spite of the gun pointing at him, he lunged toward her. Before she could react, he was on her. They fell to the floor, their wet bodies skidding slickly along the tile as they grappled. Kelsey heard herself wailing with fear and fury, and James’ answering grunts as he tried to wrest the gun from her.
Kelsey pushed desperately against James, somehow managing to keep hold of the gun. She tried to pull her legs up to kick him away, but he was too strong for her. She felt his hands closing around her throat. This couldn’t be happening. She had to shoot him. She had to do it! She had no choice.
She squeezed the trigger.
A sharp, deafening crack split the air and James fell away from her. In the sudden stillness that followed, a red-hot burning pain ripped through Kelsey’s leg. Time seemed to slip from its moorings, dragging Kelsey along with it.
Stunned and confused, she somehow managed to pull herself up on her elbows, the gun still dangling from her right hand. James was staring at her, his eyes wide with horror. His lips were moving but she couldn’t hear any sound, save for the echo of the gun’s report ringing in her ears.
James wasn’t dead. He didn’t even appear hurt.
Still not grasping what was happening, Kelsey followed his horrified gaze toward her leg, which throbbed with stinging pain. Bright red blood was pooling beneath her calf on the white tile floor. The room began to spin as a loud, rushing sound filled her head. The back of her head hit the floor and then she knew no more.
~*~
“Holy fuck. Holy shit,” James cried. The sound of the gunshot still rang in his ears. “Kelsey. My darling, my baby…” Shaking, he crouched beside Kelsey. Her face was white as death. But she was breathing, he saw to his relief. It was just her leg. He let out a long, tremulous sigh of relief.
As he stared at the wound, James’ training in emergency medicine from his brief stint as a volunteer firefighter kicked into gear. He checked her pulse, which was steady and strong. Though there was a lot of blood, it appeared the bullet had only grazed the skin rather than penetrating the muscle. She had probably just passed out from the shock.
He applied direct pressure until the bleeding slowed. Grabbing a T-shirt from the hamper, he ripped it into strips and tied a makeshift tourniquet around her leg. As he worked, he kept glancing at Kelsey’s face. She would probably come to in a few seconds.
As he was working, the realization that someone might have heard the shot gave him pause. Though his neighbors kept pretty much to themselves, would the sound of a gun firing spur someone into calling 9-1-1?