list. I had just pushed the key in the lock and was getting ready to turn the deadbolt when a deep voice said my name from over my shoulder. For a split second I was excited. Unbridled relief flooded through me, because the only guy who would be waiting for me at my apartment was Rule. Before I could turn around and throw my arms around him, hard hands grabbed me by the back of the neck and shoved me face-first into the door. I gasped in shock, some part of my brain flashing that I should be screaming for help right now, but the door swung open with the flick of a wrist decked out in an all-too-familiar Tag Heuer watch, and I went stumbling forward as rough hands pushed me inside.
My purse went flying and I was stunned to see Gabe standing before me. He looked as pressed and polished as usual, except his eyes were crazy and he had a demented grin on his face that terrified me. I couldn’t move.
“How did you get in here?” I knew this wasn’t good. I wasn’t safe with him, didn’t want to be alone with him at all, but the apartment was tiny and there wasn’t anywhere to run. My mace was in my purse on the floor, and the Taser that Rule had bought for me was resting uselessly in my new car. I was really regretting not letting Rule leave his gun over here all the times he had asked when we were seeing each other.
Gabe ran obviously agitated hands through his dark hair and watched me like any other predator watched its intended prey. “I told your mother that we were working toward reconciliation and wanted to surprise you. She gave me the code. I followed you home from work since the freak is obviously out of the picture and the military monkey hasn’t been around. I figured now was as good a time as any for us to get on the same page.”
He was so cold, so matter-of-fact, that I didn’t even think he understood he had just forced his way into my apartment and that I was trembling in fear. I crossed my arms over my chest to try to bluff away some of the terror I was feeling but he just continued to watch me like he was mentally taking me apart.
“We aren’t even reading from the same book, Gabe. You need to go because in like two seconds I’m about to start screaming my damn head off.”
He shook his head and made a tsk-tsk sound. “Well, you see, Shaw, things have really gone to shit for me. Ever since your thug of a boyfriend made me look like a pansy and my dad pulled the plug on my credit cards because of that little stunt you pulled with the restraining order, things have been going downhill. I’m failing my political theory class, my fraternity wants me out because apparently it’s not okay to let some guy with the IQ of a sewer rat make you look like a sucker on your own campus, my parents are furious with me over the restraining order, and the internship I wanted with your mother’s campaign fell through because she simply didn’t have time to get it together. So you see, Shaw, ever since you decided to be a selfish whore and turn your back on all the great things we could have had, I’ve been having to work double time to get what I deserve.”
He was crazy, flat-out off his freaking rocker. I was trying to edge away from him because I knew if he moved close enough to get his hands on me things were going to go from terrifying to unimaginably horrible.
“I’m sorry you’re having a hard time with things, Gabe, but you shouldn’t have messed with my car. It pushed Rule over the edge. I told you to leave me alone or you wouldn’t like what he was going to do.”
I shrieked because apparently bringing up Rule was the wrong thing to do. Gabe moved faster than I would have thought he was able to. He chased me as I pedaled backward, keeping as much space between us as I could. Unfortunately, he caught me in the living room, and even though I fought, he was just bigger and stronger. He grabbed me by the throat and we struggled all the way to the floor. I kicked an end table over, which made a huge racket and earned me a backhand across the cheek that split the side of my lip open. He sat all the way across my middle, pinning my arms to my sides and wrapped a hand around my throat. My eyes were watering from the tears of fear and the struggle to breathe. I clawed at his squeezing hands and flailed my legs but he just bent over me and continued to tighten his hands around my neck.
“You think I care what that loser thinks? You think I give a single fuck what that degenerate wants to do to me? He’s nothing. I told you all along that he wouldn’t stick around. Now look at you—all alone and finally doing things my way. I told you I would get my way. I always do.”
I needed to get away from Gabe. He was going to kill me, seriously kill me. My vision was starting to blur in and out and my lungs were on fire. He kept squeezing and sitting on me while telling me all about how we were getting back together and how I was going to call my mother and have her reconsider her actions about his internship now that we were a couple. I shook my head back and forth, gasping for any air, and managed to get my hands between us enough that I jabbed my nails hard into the underside of his biceps, making him wince and reel up enough that I could crawl a little bit away from him. I sliced my hand open on a piece of the broken lamp as I scrambled to get my feet under me only to be dragged back down by a cruel hand in my hair. I grunted as his weight landed squarely on my back and had to blink away a steady flow of blood as the side of my head made contact with the leg of the overturned table.
“Ayden is going to be home any minute.” My voice was thready and thin from the pressure he had put on my neck, but it didn’t matter anyway; he simply jerked me back to my feet and pressed me so that I was folded in half over the back of the couch. I was trying desperately not to think about how little of a barrier my work uniform offered in the way of deterring him but he bent his face low to mine, not seeming to mind in the slightest that blood was getting everywhere.
“Who cares? You’re my girlfriend, Shaw. You belong to me. If your roommate comes home you’re just going to tell her things got out of hand while we were making up.”
He’d put so much of his weight on my back that the way he had my hand wrenched up behind me couldn’t take the torque and with a sickening pop that made both of us jerk my shoulder found its way out of its socket. I screeched in pain and went limp on that side. Fear and panic rose up hard and fast in my throat as I struggled. I knew that I had to get to my purse for the mace or to the kitchen for some kind of weapon to use against him. He let go of my hands now that one was totally useless and put one of his on the back of my neck to keep me bent over the couch while he used the other to start tugging and pulling at the bottom half of my uniform. He was muttering all kinds of broken sentences and talking about how he was going to make sure that I understood we were a couple. He was rambling about getting married and making our families one. I started to cry in earnest because I didn’t know how to stop him from violating me this way. Fortunately, part of the lamp I had kicked over landed close to the couch and a piece was imbedded in one of the cushions. While Gabe was busy tugging and pulling at my clothes I wrapped the fingers of my good hand around it. I could feel the little ruffly shorts I wore under the uniform start to rip, and that was enough to spur me into action. The only thing I could reach from my prone position was the meaty part of his thigh and I wasn’t sure that I had enough strength to do any real damage, but I swung the glass shard as hard as I could and heard him swear as he suddenly jerked back. I slumped to my hands and knees and screamed bloody murder as my weight landed on my injured arm. I crawled across the floor while he struggled to get the glass out and managed to get to my purse. I was just struggling back to my feet as he was thundering toward me, but I got the mace out and the nozzle turned toward him and gave him a full dose right in the face while he bellowed like an injured bear. I squeezed the canister in my good hand and bolted out the door. I was sure I looked like an escapee from an insane asylum. I was crying hysterically, had blood all over my face, and could barely talk because of the damage to my throat. I raced to the security door and I ran smack into Ayden as she was coming in. I collapsed into a blubbering mess as she caught me.
She was screaming my name, demanding to know what happened and I heard her dialing 911 on the phone, but between the shock and pain I just shut down. I blinked up at her through the blood trailing down over my face and was aware dimly of a crowd coming
