Chapter One
Greta
HAVE YOU EVER FELT like a punching bag? Or was it a paper bag? Wait, plastic bag. That’s what Katy Perry said. I think.
My head was a little foggy to suss out exactly what she had sung.
That was the least of my worries, but I, of course, needed to focus on that and not the psycho who was using my stomach as a punching bag.
He landed another kick to my mid-section, and I fought back, puking all over the floor and myself.
“Stop,” I wheezed. God, I needed him to stop kicking me or just put me out of my misery. I couldn’t take much more. “Please.”
Dr. Lu crouched down in front of me. “You think you can tell me what I can do?” he spat. “I’m the one who calls the shots.”
Luna was completely right when she called him Dr. Douchebag. Now he was Dr. Psycho Douchebag. I would never have thought Dr. Lu was the psycho killing club girls, but here I was on the floor of his office, with a stack of Popular Mechanics sitting on his desk.
I didn’t know what to do. For the first time in a long time, I was clueless. No smart-ass comment or joke was going to get me out of this.
If I could get out of this.
“You weren’t part of my plan, but you walked right into my office, and I can’t pass up the chance for redemption.” He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back. “I couldn’t get that bitch Luna, but you’ll do just fine, Greta.”
“I don’t understand,” I groaned.
“You don’t have to understand anything. Come morning, you’ll be dead, and the dumb fucking police will still be chasing their tails trying to find me.” Dr. Lu snickered. “I’m too smart and five steps ahead of them.”
“You’re not going to get away with this,” I gasped. Dr. Lu might kill me, but I wouldn’t die in vain. Dad and the club would turn the world upside down until they found him. “You kill me, and you’ll have the Devil’s Knights on your ass until they put you in the ground.”
Dr. Lu let out a bark of laughter. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
It should. That just went to show that Dr. Lu really was insane. “Yes.”
Dr. Lu released my hair, and my head smacked to the floor. “I’m not afraid,” he growled. “I never have been afraid of the Devil’s Knights. You’re all just a bunch of Neanderthals that share one brain cell. Been that way since I met him.”
I blinked rapidly and tried to clear the stars flashing before my eyes. “Him?” I wheezed.
Dr. Lu laughed. “Yes, him. Sophomore year when I–” A banging on the front door of the clinic cut him off. “Son of a bitch!” he spat. “Stay here, and don’t make a fucking sound,” he growled at me. He stomped out of his office and headed in the direction of the front door.
Thank God for whoever was banging on the door. I wasn’t going to make a sound, but I was going to get the hell out of here. I had listened to enough true crime podcasts to know that this was my chance to get away from Dr. Douchebag.
I sat up and ignored my rolling stomach. Before Dr. Lu started kicking the shit out of me, he had also used my head as a punching bag. I pressed my hand to my forehead and closed my eyes. “Breathe,” I whispered. I just needed to breathe and get moving. Once I got out of here, I would worry about my head and stomach.
Somehow, despite the pain and my foggy brain, I managed to get up on my hands and knees and crawl to the door. I glanced toward the front reception area but couldn’t see anything. It was probably a patient trying to pick up their dog after hours, and I knew I had only a minute before Dr. Lu would be back.
I was halfway to the backdoor when the glass shattered from the front, and Dr. Lu shouted, “Son of a bitch!”
Oh, God.
Whatever was happening was not just some customer trying to pick up their dog.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Dr. Lu barreling toward me. He was trying to get out of here, but I wasn’t going to let him leave without a fight.
He was five feet away from me when I jumped up and grabbed wildly. My hand managed to get a hold of his arm, and my other hand clawed at his face.
“You bitch!” Dr. Lu shouted. “I’ll be back for you, cunt.”
He swatted my hand away from his face and pushed me into the wall. My head snapped back and slammed into the rigid drywall.
He jumped over me and banged out the back door.
“Greta!”
I didn’t know who called my name.
I didn’t care. I slumped onto the floor and closed my eyes. The whole building could come crashing down around me right now, and I wouldn’t care.
“Greta, honey.” Footsteps moved closer to me, and I let out a grunt. “Tell me where you are hurt.”
Everywhere?
Ugh, Katy Perry really needed to change the lyrics of her song to punching bag. A plastic bag had nothing on the way I was feeling.
Gentle hands rolled me over until I was on my back.
“Greta,” the voice called sternly.
I cracked open one eye and looked up at Bear. “Lumberjack,” I whispered.
“What happened?” he asked softly.
I closed my eye and sighed. “Dr. Douche is a douche. You should go after him.”
“I need to know you’re okay before I do that, honey.”
“I’m fine,” I sighed. “Go, Bear. I’m not going anywhere.” The only way I was going anywhere was if someone carried me, and even then, that wasn’t going to be an easy feat with my big butt.
“Stay still, and I’ll be right back.” I felt him leave my side and his footsteps headed out the back.
I didn’t know if he was going to find Dr. Lu. He had to have hightailed it out of there lickety-split.
Except I knew who he was.
The psycho who had been killing the club girls.
I worked with him every day.
I groaned and lifted my arm to cover my eyes. My head was pounding, and I wanted to throw up.
Hello, concussion. Moving really was not an option unless I wanted to throw up everywhere.
Well, this was not how I thought my meeting with Dr. Lu was going to go, but that was life.
Sometimes, you have a productive meeting with your boss, and sometimes, he tries to kill you.
I focused on the mellow music playing through the speakers of the clinic and drifted off to sleep.
What a wild night.