“If… if you think you’re going to rape me… think… again. Let me go, asshole.”
The hiccups between each word made my threat sound less…threatening. Humiliated and panicked, my eyes burned with unshed tears. The lump in my throat made it harder to speak.
My captor kept marching, my head and arms swinging back and forth as I laid heavily over his shoulder.
“Someone… is going… to come and find us.”
He laughed again, his hands clenching over my ass, his fingers digging in my flesh. That did it. I let out a shriek and started to struggle harder. My fists thumped on his back, but he barely even flinched.
Realizing my advantage in this position, I drew my knee back before slamming it forward between his thighs. I missed my target, but he hissed.
His hand came down on my ass, hard. He tsked, taunting me.
I was so close to bursting into tears, dread and horror filling every cell in my body. I continued to wrestle with him.
If I was going to die, I’d die fighting.
When my knee slammed forward again–missing its target once more–he finally relinquished his hold on me. My captor dumped me on the grass, without a care, like a sack of useless potatoes.
He had taken me away from the mausoleum and the haunted house and deposited me behind the school – where no one could see us, no one could come to my rescue.
I inched back, still on my ass. My whole body shook with tremors, and I finally faced him.
My chin wobbled at the sight of him, a deep sated fear instilled inside of me. I was going to die tonight. This man was going to hurt me. That’s it.
I survived on the operating table only to be left to die in the field behind Berkshire Academy.
His face was covered with a black purge mask, with glowing red LED lights. He had a dark hoodie on, with its hood over his head, and black ripped jeans.
The sight of him was right out of my nightmare.
He moved forward, and I put my hands out, as if to ward him away. “Don’t come near me. Don’t touch me.”
Please.
The pit of my stomach quaked, and I really thought I was going to piss myself in fear.
Purge mask man stalked me as I kept inching back. The cool wet grass soaked through my jeans, but I didn’t care.
He was having fun, feeding on my fear and silently taunting me.
He stopped a foot away and squatted down in front of me. His arm reached out as if to touch me, and I shrank away. “Touch me and I’ll break your dick. I’ll do it.”
He pulled his hand back, tsking again. He shook his head, as if he was disappointed in my threats. Slowly, he brought his hand to his face and pulled the purge mask off.
Uneasiness tickled down my spine, my body filled with apprehension.
The mask came off and dark blue eyes met mine.
Full smirking lips and a face I knew very well.
“Maddox,” I breathed.
“Boo,” he rumbled.
All the horror and confusion slipped away, replaced with anger. My jaw snapped together, and I clenched my teeth.
“Are you fucking serious?”
The previous chill running down my spine disappeared as my blood boiled.
"Why are you so set on terrorizing me?" I snarled. Jesus Christ, he almost gave me a heart attack. Fury rolled off in heated waves. Seething, I curled my legs from underneath me, sitting up. I still couldn’t stand up, since my legs were still shaky and weak.
He grinned, almost boyishly, except I saw the mischief in his eyes. I was dancing on the edge of danger with this boy. Against my better judgement, my gaze traveled the length of his body as he stayed squatting down in front of my kneeling form. He was hard and sculptured everywhere, in all the right places. Definitely not a boy. Man. Fuck. Whatever-he-is.
"It's fun," he finally said, snapping me out of my thoughts and forcing my eyes away from his body. I looked into his icy blue eyes instead.
I was stunned into silence for a second. "It's fun?" I sputtered. "It's fun to scare the shit out of people? Was that your friend who took Riley away, too? This is not funny!"
Maddox shrugged like it was no big deal. I could feel myself glaring at him, my eyes turning into slits as I regarded my nemesis with utter distaste. If I could breathe fire, I would have fumes coming out of my nose.
My jaw clenched at the way he kept grinning. It made me angrier. It unsettled me. "What are you? A fucking psychopath? Because that's the only explanation. No sane person thinks it's fun to scare someone else to the point they thought they were going to die!"
I fought the urge to punch him and claw his beautiful eyes out. What was it about him that make me lose all my control?