“What do you want with me?” I squeaked as the burly guy hustled me inside my own apartment. He instinctively groped the wall and flicked upwards for the light switch, flooding the apartment with a fluorescent yellow glare. I blinked, letting my eyes adjust to the light.
“OhmyGod,” I said in a rush. “You’re that guy, from the club. The one who was staring at me.” I felt a wave of dizziness swoop over my head.
He glared at me. “It’s Zed,” he spat out. “Zed McIntyre.”
“Hi,” I said, immediately feeling stupid and scared. There was a lump in my throat, and I swallowed hard, frantically looking around the apartment. Even though Jackie had been begging me to get a gun, I didn’t even have a baseball bat lying around. I did have a crowbar, but that was on the floor of the back seat of my car. I always worried more about getting carjacked than I did about my apartment being broken into. I lived in such a shitty neighborhood that I didn’t even think it would be tempting.
“Sit,” Zed commanded. He pointed to one of my wicker chairs, hand-me-downs from my mom’s kitchen. I felt the way I had as a little kid when she sent me into time-out. Except this time, my feet could touch the ground from the chair. I backed over to the table and lowered myself down. “What did you see?” His words came out as a growl again.
I shook my head and stammered. “N-nothing.”
“Bullshit!” He slammed his fist down on the table, and a crack appeared in the old oak wood. I squealed and tried to curl up in the chair, but he grabbed my shoulder and held me firm. His touch was stronger than any I’d ever felt before, and I shivered thinking about his hands ripping off my clothes, exploring my body. It was a violent image, but it turned me on all the same.
“Really,” I tried again, in a calmer voice this time. “I didn’t see anything.”
Zed yanked the chair away from the table and sent me flying a few feet backward. I landed upright, on my hands and knees, and looked up at him fearfully. My mass of black hair fell in front of my face, and I pushed it aside with a trembling hand.
“Tell me,” he commanded. “Don’t fucking lie this time.”
I took a deep breath. “Promise you won’t hurt me?” I asked. It came out as a high-pitched squeal. “Promise me,” I said again, in a more normal voice this time.
Zed rubbed his chin with his hand, the skin covered in days and days of rough stubble. “Whatever,” he muttered. “You’re not going to be fucking safe if you don’t tell me, how about that?”
I heard the steel in his voice and shuddered. “Okay,” I whimpered. “I was walking, and I saw this other guy punch you, and then you attacked him, and he fell to the ground, and—”
“I didn’t fucking attack him!” He slammed his fist down on the table again, extending the crack from one end of the oak to the other. “I fucking stood up for myself—he would have fucking killed me!”
I held my hands up in the air and nodded furiously. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
“What else?” He leaned forward and glared at me, his beautiful green eyes flashing.
“Nothing,” I said truthfully. “I turned around and ran back to the club, and then walked around the block to get to my car. And you followed me home,” I pointed out. “What do you want with me?”
Zed leaned so close to my face that I could smell his beer breath. “I want you to fucking stay out of this. Pay attention to me, little girl, you’re going to be dead if you don’t listen.”
“My name is Lily,” I squeaked out. “Lily Sanders.” My back was aching from my position on the floor, and I crawled to my knees and then got to my feet. Even standing, Zed was still over a head taller than I was. If we were next to each other, the top of my head wouldn’t even come up to his shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter what your name is,” he snapped. “You’re going to be dead if you don’t pay attention to me.”
I frowned. “Just exactly what is going to happen to me? Some big guy comes in and threatens me in my own apartment?”
Zed snarled. “Fuck off. Don’t start being mouthy with me.”
“I mean it,” I said innocently. “What could happen to me?”
Zed glared at me. “You don’t want to wonder,” he said in a low voice. “You think I’m scary? Wait until five guys, like me only bigger, want to chase you down and gangbang you. Then you won’t be feeling so confident.”
I cringed at the image. He was right. I shouldn’t have even been flippant. “I’m sorry,” I said, my tone meeker. “I just don’t know what I have to be afraid of.”
“If you were smart, you’d listen to me,” Zed insisted.
I watched the muscles in his jaw and neck tense up, and again I was overcome with desire. I couldn’t explain it, and it felt like a betrayal by my own body, but it was definitely there. He trailed his eyes down my body, lingering on the faint traces of curves, and I felt his gaze leave a trail of fire in its wake.
I swallowed. Being around someone who I was both attracted to and afraid of was a new feeling, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Then again, he was the one completely in charge of the situation. He knew it, and I knew it. If he wanted to do anything to me, I wouldn’t be able to stop him. The sheer size of his body coupled with his obvious strength and speed were all enough to keep me from trying though.
“So don’t talk,” Zed repeated. “Don’t say one single fucking word about what you saw, little girl, or everything is going to be over for you.” He mimed slitting his throat. “And it’s going to be worse than that. A lot worse. So keep your mouth shut.”
I nodded. “I will.” Zed kept his gaze on me for a long time after my words had faded into silence. “I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” I said breezily. “I’m the most boring person on the planet.”
“Become even more boring. Don’t give anyone a fucking reason to look twice at you, you understand?”
I nodded again. “I will. I promise you won’t have to worry about me.”
“Good,” he said with a growl. “I don’t have time for some pretty thing like you.” I watched as he got to his feet and walked over to the door. “Remember what I said,” he warned me again as he opened the door. “Stay out of sight.”
I watched wordlessly as he slammed the door, and then listened to his heavy footsteps pound down the stairs of my apartment complex. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I looked down to see that my hands were shaking in my lap. I couldn’t believe what had just happened; it was like something out of a nightmare.
I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. My forehead felt sweaty. I heard a car door slam and the ignition roar to life; I imagined Zed hunkered down behind the wheel of some monster sports car.
He thinks I’m pretty, I thought even though it was dumb. It was like everything else that he’d said didn’t matter at all. It didn’t matter that my life was in danger, or that some hulking guy had just threatened me. At least he thought I was pretty.