Chapter6
Deena awoke with a start, the dark bedroom ice cold, a noise coming from the bathroom. She was already reaching for the backpack by the bed when she heard a muffled scream, then a thud as something heavy fell to the ground.
She heard the voice of the murdered man in her head, the same, desperate message screaming inside her as she watched the shadows moving in the gap between the floor and the bathroom door.
Run!
It was in her head, but as loud as anything in real life. She grabbed the backpack and threw it over one shoulder, running out the door, down the hall and out the emergency exit as fast as she could, too afraid to look back.
The streets were empty, and everything was unfamiliar. She cursed herself for not paying better attention, but it was too late now. She took off, running as fast as she could and wishing that she’d thought to grab her shoes.
She ran up a grassy hill to the road, then turned a hard right, heading downhill as fast as her legs could carry her. It was the obvious direction, but Deena wanted to put distance between herself and the murderer, and downhill was the fastest.
The exit door slammed shut in the distance, amplified by the heavy fog that had settled over the city but wasn’t quite touching the ground. He was on the street now, and it wouldn’t take long for him to figure out which way she’d gone. She needed to find somewhere to hide and fast.
Deena ran for what felt like an eternity, her bare feet slapping the sidewalk, her breath loud as she ran down the deserted street in the darkness. He was gaining on her no matter how fast she ran, and she knew that he knew just where she was. His laughter echoed off the empty buildings as he called out to her.
“Deena,” he said in a singsong voice. “I’m going to find you.”
“No,” she cried, hot tears running down her face. “Please, no.”
“Don’t cry, darling,” he said. “This will only hurt a lot.”
He was laughing again, the sound bouncing off the building around her so that she couldn’t tell which direction the sound was coming from. She was sobbing now, too terrified to stay quiet, and sure that this was the end of her. There was no one to save her, and she had no idea where she was.
When she turned a corner and suddenly recognized where she was, she froze. She was back where it all started, on Cedar Springs. The empty shopping center was on her left this time, and she was alone on the street, running for her life.
A figure turned the corner ahead, and she stopped, then ran toward the figure, filled with hope.
“Help!” she yelled, but no sound came from her lips. She tried again, waving frantically at the figure in the darkness, trying to get their attention. “Help!” she yelled once more, but there was only silence.
She felt the knife plunge into her back, and she gasped. Struggling to breathe, she ran, still trying to get the person’s attention. They were looking at their phone, too engrossed in whatever they were doing to see what was going on right before their eyes. Deena dragged in a deep breath, finally filling her lungs enough to shout.
“Run!” she yelled.
That wasn’t what she meant to say, she realized, but she’d said it nonetheless. The figure stopped, looking up from the cell phone and into Deena’s eyes. When their eyes met, Deena gasped.
This can’t be happening, she thought as she looked into her own startled face. The other Deena looked up, then dropped her phone and ran, leaving Deena alone as the murderer caught her, pulling her back and holding her with one arm around her throat.
She could feel his breath on her face when he spoke, his voice low and as terrifying as any movie demon, but this demon was real.
“You could have helped him,” he hissed into her ear. “But you ran, like a coward.”
“He told me to run,” she cried, sobbing as she spoke, the cool knife against her throat. “He told me to.”
“You could have tried.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t good enough.”
She held her breath, tensing up and ready for the death blow, but he started shaking her instead. As she flopped in his arms, he yelled her name over and over, shaking her so violently that she felt her bones breaking and crumbling beneath his fingers.
“Deena! Deena!” he shouted, then the buildings began to crumble around them, and Deena looked up at the light that blinded her from above just as a hand covered her mouth and quieted her scream.
Deena sat straight up, looking around the hotel room, propelling herself backward against the wall and away from the hand that held her mouth.
“Don’t scream, don’t scream,” Jake said frantically. “It’s alright, Deena. It was just a dream.”
She heard his words, but she struggled to make sense of what was happening. Where was Cedar Springs? Where was the shopping mall? How was it daylight when she’d been running in the darkness just moments before?
When the truth hit her, she burst into tears.
“It was a dream,” she said, relieved.
His arms were around her then, his voice calm and soothing. She didn’t fight him when he pulled her into his lap and against his bare chest.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “It’s going to be okay. I’ve got you. It was only a dream.”
“Why didn’t I help him?” she asked.
“Help who?”
“The man he stabbed. I just ran. I saved myself and didn’t even try.”
“Try what? What were you going to do? That man is a cold-blooded murderer.”
“I should have done something.”
“Did you have a weapon on you?”
“No.”
“Are you a trained fighter?”
“No.”
“Then, what were you going to do except add to the body count? He told you to run, right?”
“He did.”
“Don’t you think he would have asked for help if he thought you had a chance in hell of saving him?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do. Deena, he told you to run because there was no saving him. There was nothing you could have done except become another victim. And then what? Then, his death would have been for nothing, and using his last moment of life trying to save yours would have been wasted.
You did what he told you to, and you lived. It’s not much, but it’s something. When this is over and done with, we can make sure the person who killed him is brought to justice. It’s nothing compared to saving his life, but that man probably has a family somewhere that would like to know that his killer is behind bars. We can’t do that for him if we’re dead, right?”
She nodded, leaning against his chest and shuddering as she slowly got herself under control. She closed her eyes, then opened them. The dream was too fresh, and the images were still there when she closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep anymore, and it would probably be a lifetime before she cleansed her mind of everything she’d witnessed, both in the dream and in reality. It was all too much, and she needed a distraction.
She knew the instant her focus changed, and she knew he felt it too.
This is crazy, she thought, but she didn’t care. She looked up at him, putting her hand on his cheek and looking into his eyes.
“We may die tomorrow,” she said softly.
“We’re not going to die.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t, but I’m going to do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“I can’t die like this.”
“Like what?”
“Scared, with the last images in my head of last night.”
“What do you have in mind?”
She leaned in, slowly at first, her lips parting as she waited for him to get the hint and meet her halfway. He sucked in a breath the instant before their lips met, and his body stirred beneath the thin shorts he’d put on to sleep in.
“You’re scared,” he said softly. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“Who says you’re taking advantage of me?”
She laughed, then grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him hungrily. He didn’t pull away, didn’t argue anymore. Whatever hesitation he’d been holding was gone in an instant. She felt him lean in, instinctively deepening the kiss, his hands pulling her closer.
She was still on his lap, his erection pressing on her leg.
They were both breathing hard when they finally pulled away. Deena looked into his blue eyes and smiled, biting her lip and moving against him. A soft, crooked smile tugged at his lips as he watched her.
She took his hand, placing it up her shirt and on her breast. When he squeezed almost roughly, she moaned, then kissed him passionately. He opened his mouth to her, and she deepened the kiss. Wrapping her arms around him, she held onto him, rubbing his cock through his clothes and working him into a frenzy.
Still moving against him, she took her shirt off and turned so she was straddling him.
“That feels good,” he moaned, scooping her off his lap and lowering her onto the bed beneath him.
He slid his hand down her soft body, slipping her shorts off and smiling when he saw she wasn’t wearing any panties.
“Bold choice,” he said, dipping his hand between her legs and smiling when she sucked in a quick breath. “You’re hot.”
“I want you,” she said.
She tugged at his shorts, pushing them down and exposing the rigid length of him. He kicked his shorts off, still stroking her with one hand. Her body moved against his hand, silently begging for more. Their eyes locked, and she lost herself in their depths. The only thing that mattered was this moment with this man. Everything else was just noise.
“You’re perfect,” he said.
He leaned down, capturing one taut nipple in his mouth and sucking hard. He tugged, and she moaned, drawing a laugh from him. The vibration of his laughter while he still held her flesh between his lips was almost too much, and she felt an orgasm already looming.
“I want you inside me,” she panted, hands in his hair, thoughts scattering.
He ignored her and took her other nipple in his mouth, treating it to the same, sweet torture and nipping gently with his teeth. His free hand was still between her legs, teasing her until the heat inside her was almost too much.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Not yet.”
His patience was maddening, but he showed no signs of giving in. He moved so he was on his knees beside her, one hand between her legs, the other cupping one breast while his mouth tormented the other.
Deena grabbed his shoulders, holding on as the orgasm ripped through her. She bit her lip, trembling beneath him and struggling to catch her breath.
“Don’t fight it,” he said, then pulled her nipple into his mouth again, hard.
It was the sensation that threw her over the edge, ripping a strangled cry from her throat and sending her into convulsions as the most powerful orgasm she’d ever experienced overtook her.
He didn’t let up, stroking the flesh between her folds relentlessly as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her. When she finally fell back against the bed, he cupped her sex in his hand, sitting up and smiling down at her.
Her heart was pounding in her ears. She laughed, pulling him down for a kiss, then reached down to wrap her hand around his cock.
He was still hard.
“Your turn,” she said, but he pushed her hand away.
“Not yet,” he said.