Page 73 of His Obsession
His leather jacket stopped my screw from advancing and only pissed him off. I wrapped my bound arms over his head and around his throat, trying to cut off his oxygen.
I dug the screw into his throat, feeling it give a little into his skin. With a roar of savage, blood-thirsty anger, he flipped my body over his head in one fell swoop—my back landing on the somewhat soft topper.
“And here I was, thinking I’d be nice and untie your hands while I fucked you.”
My back ached, and the stabbing in my ribs only increased. Now without the ebb and flow of pain, it was a constant.
He grabbed my ankle, spun me around, and pulled me beneath him faster than I could react. The ugly brute sat on top of my knees and pulled my hands above my head, locking me into place. No amount of struggling would get me free from his bulk.
“I like my women kicking and screaming, but this will have to do. I’m sure you’ll give me enough of a fight, just like this.” A wicked smile ripped across his face.
I screamed and spat in his face when two gunshots popped off from upstairs. Mr. Mohawk stilled above me, and more gunfire sounded off. I struggled to pull my arms from his grasp when he rose, and blood splattered all over my face and into my mouth.
The earth slowed down as I watched him plummet, the upper portion of his face missing, and he came to land on top of me with a crashing thud. The air rushed out of my lungs, and I felt my rib pop again, grinding against the others. I gulped in the air that couldn’t come in fast enough and let out a tortuous cry.
The man’s bloody hair tickled my face. Warm blood ran over my cheek and down my neck, coating me with sticky crimson goo.
Alek stood in the doorway, his gun still aimed, waiting for the man with the giant hole in his head to rise—the murderous expression painted on his face never wavered. I squeezed my eyes closed and sobbed as the dead two-hundred-fifty-pound man crushed my lungs and smothered me in blood.
He’d come just in time to save me. Relief flooded my body, and I couldn’t have been more overjoyed. Tears streamed through the blood that was coating my face, the salt stinging my cuts. More gunshots echoed in the house, jerking Alek from his stupor. The bangs from rifles sounded like a wild west shootout.
Alek ran over and shoved the gorilla-sized man off me. Air rushed into my lungs that quickly left me in ragged, uneven cries and sobs. He was here; I was safe; I didn’t have uncertainty in my future anymore.
Alek holstered his pistol and pulled out his knife. On instinct, I flinched, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Alek winced and leaned over me slowly. His knife swiped between my hands, cutting the ropes free from my wrists.
I rapidly covered my face and curled into a ball, sobbing, not wanting Alek to see me this way, not wanting him to witness my emotional break.
His powerful arms wrapped around me and pulled me from the floor to his Kevlar-clad chest. His familiar scent engulfed me. My sobs increased with absolute reassurance that he was here and I wasn’t dreaming. This wasn’t a hallucination.
This was real.
I spoke no words; we needed none. I curled into his lap and sobbed, not caring that another man’s blood and brains covered me.
“We need to get going,” Randall said. His voice startling, causing me to jolt in Alek’s arms as if someone had struck me. I was so strong and brave until I couldn’t be, and Alek was there to pick up the pieces and be my rock when I needed him the most. “We’ve got him, and the police will be here any moment.”
I kept my face buried in his chest, trembling and suddenly so cold. “Let’s get you home, baby girl.”
I nodded.
Alek gently removed me from his lap and stood, swooping me up in his arms. My broken rib rubbed against his vest, causing me to squirm and whimper. They placed a blanket over my bare skin, and he carried me out to the car.
The warmth of the sun on my skin was something so simple but now so rewarding. Alek placed me down gently on the vehicle seat, latched my seatbelt in place, and shut the door. My muscles convulsed, and my body was freezing. I felt like I was in the Arctic, with no clothes on, and mauled by a polar bear. My split, swollen lips quivered, and my teeth chattered, intensifying every bruise, cut, burn, and broken bone. I felt it increase the more I shook uncontrollably.
I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped the blanket firmly around my body, trying to quell the shakes. Jake and Randall climbed into the front seats, and Alek sat in the passenger next to me, worry coating his features.
The loud clicking of seat belts filled the hollow silence as I watched them. Randall put the car in drive, and we took off barreling down the road.
“Where… where is… h-he?” I asked Alek through chattering teeth. Did I need to worry about him anymore? Was that who Randall said they had?
“Don’t worry about him, baby. He’ll never hurt you again,” Alek said, his brows pinched together.
My head felt light and dizzy, maybe from all the shallow breaths my ribs forced me to take, or perhaps from the concussion I know I had. The edges of my vision turned blurry and gray, and it crept in closer. I shook my head, attempting to clear it away, but it only made it worse. Alarm seized my body. I didn’t want to close my eyes, I couldn’t. What if when I woke, I was back in that room or strapped to the chair? What if it was just a dream, and when I opened my eyes again, he’d be gone?
“D-don’t l-leave me, I… I’m so, so—”
“Shh,I’m not going anywhere.”
The tunnel closed in until barely a pinprick of light remained, and then there was nothing.