Axton looked at me, his eyes wide. “You aren’t just a hero, Rosie. You’re like She-Ra and Wonder Woman all rolled into one. I love you.”
I stared into those blue eyes I’d missed so much. “I love you, too.”
Steve cleared his throat. “I’m glad it’s over. For your sake, Rose. You’ll never have to see Sullivan again.”
I glanced up at him and shrugged, thinking about Sullivan’s parting shot. “I guess we’ll see. I think I need to go home and get some sleep.” I stood up and hoisted my purse on my shoulder.
“Sure you don’t want to go celebrate, Rose? Let’s go to The Carp,” Axton said, “and I’ll ply you with margaritas.”
“How about Friday?”
“You are so on,” he said.
Chapter 34
If I could bottle the dull personality that is Assistant Professor Carter and sell him to insomniacs, I’d be a millionaire. And perhaps win some kind of medical award. Sadly, I couldn’t do that, so instead I doodled in my notebook during accounting class, in an effort not to die of boredom.
During the break, Janelle filled me in on her kids, Asshat, and his skanky new girlfriend, Flat Ass. Chicken Licker was history.
Same shit, different day. And I loved every normal, routine, ordinary minute of it.
I drove home feeling lighter than I had in days, maybe even months. With Axton, Pack, and Sullivan out of the way, I could concentrate on what I’d been avoiding. My own future.
The last two weeks proved to me how much I can accomplish when I’m proactive. I’d been sleepwalking through the last few years of my life. A big part of it was a screw you to my parents, but it was time to grow up and move on. Time to pick a major and go for it. Get a degree, maybe even a job with a nice perk package, although I didn’t want to think about leaving Ma and Roxy. But a bigger apartment with a separate bed and sofa would be nice.
I pulled into my parking lot and automatically scanned for any wayward underlings. All clear on that front. It might be weeks before I dropped that habit.
As I approached the entrance, a man stepped out of the shadows. “Hey, Rose.”
I froze for a second, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Steve, what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you.” He pushed at his glasses, the parking lot lights reflecting off the lenses. “I thought you might like to grab a cup of coffee.” He walked toward me with a crooked smile.
“It’s really late.”
Disappointment and anger clouded his features. “You’ll never have time for me, will you? Not like Axton or that lawyer or Sullivan. What more do I need to do to get your attention?”
Awareness hit me and in a flash I knew. God, had I been stupid. Steve broke my car window. Steve trashed my apartment. “It was you,” I said.
The look on his face scared the crap out of me.
I turned to run, but he jerked me back by my ponytail. “Why not me?” He rubbed his cheek against mine.
I screamed and he slapped a hand over my mouth. “Shhh, be still,” he whispered. He let go of my ponytail and snaked his arm around my still bruised ribs and squeezed. He began pulling me away from the building.
I kicked at him with my heels, tried to pry his hand off my mouth, tried to bite his palm. It didn’t matter. He was much stronger than he looked. He carried me to his car as if I was no more than a toddler throwing a tantrum. He’d parked around the back of the building where the dumpsters were.
His arm still around my waist, he released my mouth and I screamed. When he slapped his hand over my mouth this time, he wasn’t as gentle. “Shut up, Rose,” he said, calmly. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.”
Steve-freaking-Gunderson was kidnapping me.
He removed his hand and opened the trunk to grab a bungee cord lying on the floor of the cargo area.
I screamed again.
Then I lost consciousness.
The left side of my face throbbed. I’d never felt pain like that before, and if I had my way, I never would again. He clocked me so hard, I was afraid my jaw was broken.
I slowly opened my eyes. I was bound in a fetal position on a concrete floor. A basement, maybe. My hands, tied tight in front of me, were tingling. My feet were also tied together.
I tried to pry my wrists apart, but the knots held firm.
I struggled to sit up and the pain was blinding. Bile rose up, but I choked it back, trying not to pass out. Gray concrete walls and floor surrounded me. There was a cheap wooden door on the wall in front of me and a bare half window to my left. A furnace and hot water tank sat in one corner. The only light in the room came from a single old fashioned bulb dangling above my head. The basement was completely bare of furniture, appliances, boxes, or tools.
I didn’t see my bag anywhere, either. So no pepper spray or stun gun to subdue Steve.
The floorboards above me squeaked. A minute later the door in front of me opened and Steve stepped into the room with a plastic container in his hands. He walked gingerly, so as not to upset whatever was in the bowl.
He squatted before me, setting the bowl down next to him. It contained water and a washcloth. He squeezed water out of the rag and brought it toward my face.
I flinched and backed away. Then I steeled myself, vowing I wouldn’t show my fear again.
“I just want to put this on your jaw, Rose. I’m so sorry I had to hit you.” He applied the cool cloth to my face.
“You didn’t have to,” I said. My jaw ached with every word.
“You didn’t leave me any choice. I couldn’t let you scream, now could I?” He sounded so calm and reasonable. He wasn’t hiding anger the way Sullivan had. Steve was perfectly pleasant — it wasn’t an act. Chills crept up my spine.
“Why am I here, Steve?” I had nothing to fight him with, not even my body at this point. The only thing I could do was keep reminding him that I was Rose, a person, someone he knew and kind of liked.
“Because this is the only way I can get your attention. With Axton back, I knew I wouldn’t see you anymore.” He wet the rag, wrung it out, and reapplied it to my bruised, swollen skin.
“You could have gotten it another way, Steve.”
He pulled the rag away and gave me a cold look. “Don’t pull that bullshit, Rose. I asked you out and you kept turning me down.”
“So you kidnapped me instead?”
He brought the cloth back to my jaw. “I tried to get your attention other ways. But you always ignored me.” He used a little more force when he said the words, causing me to groan and pull back.
“Sorry.” He immediately regulated the pressure.
“What ways?”
“I saw Sullivan come out of your apartment. Be honest, Rose, you had more of a relationship with him than you let on. And that lawyer was up in your apartment for a long time. That’s the night I broke your car window. I didn’t want to, but knowing he’d touched you made me so angry.”
“We just talked. And I’ve never had a relationship with Sullivan.”
“I won’t tolerate lying. Be honest with me.”
“I’m serious, Steve. I never even kissed Sullivan.”
He continued to stare at me before smiling once again. “Okay then, but you let the lawyer fuck you, right?” He dipped the rag and brought it back to my jaw.
Oh my dear Lord, I was dealing with a psycho. How could I have not seen that he was crazy pants? He’d
