That was when she’d moved to her current apartment and invested in an expensive deadbolt.
Were those footsteps behind her? Was someone following her? Was it—him?
Ashley didn’t dare turn around to look.
“God, no,” she scolded herself, her breath a frozen stream of vapor that shone white against the dark night. The vapor seemed to glow tonight, probably because she was sweating and scared. “I’m not scared,” she lied to herself. Why admit it and make matters worse? Denial could be a darned strong friend to have in your corner when memories of past attacks whispered too close for comfort.
Ashley threw her heart into making it the last two blocks to her apartment. All she had to do was get inside the lobby, and she’d be safe.
Run, run, run, her paranoia prompted.
“I am,” she answered back, her elbows cocked at her sides, her feet pounding the wet, treacherous sidewalk like machined pistons. Home. She was going home where she could lock her door and turn on her music and drown herself in a big mug of hot chocolate. Where she’d be safe. While she shivered and shook until every last wave of panic subsided. Until she knew for certain her trustworthy deadbolt was latched, her windows were blocked and locked, and that she could keep everyone out!
“I can make it,” she promised as the deadly chill of the latest attempt on her life invaded her lungs with terror. Her sudden burst of frantic energy attacked her side with sharp clenching pain. Copper lifted up the back of her throat. But that was what running for your life did to a person. These pains were nothing compared to—
Run!
In panic, she turned her thighs into pumping machines of speed and fury and pounded the wet pavement home. After Friday night, she’d sworn she’d never be vulnerable again. Yet, here she was. Alone. At night. In the rain. Without her phone or her mace. She should’ve stayed at Tripp’s office like he’d asked. She wished she had.
The oddest sensation that someone was watching her, shivered up her spine like an icky, sticky spider. There was no way she could run faster. She’d already given her all. All she could do was endure to the end of this miserable rainy night, hit that lobby door, and get inside!
At last. Ashley turned the corner. Her apartment was just three blocks away. But she was out of air, could barely suck in a breath. And she was dizzy. She ground to a cold, sweaty stop at the corner, put her palms to her knees, and risked a quick glance behind her.
A dark vehicle with its headlights off was inching along the curb on her side of the street. A stocky man in a long gray trench coat was walking on the other side. Both were heading in her direction. That was all she needed to see.
Ashley sprang headlong into the hardest run of her life. Only three blocks left. She could do it. Why had she ever thought she was brave enough to walk home alone? Never again!
Chapter Twenty
Ah, look at her run. Good form. Long legs. Great stamina. She must’ve taken track sometime during her miserably short life. Well, good for her. This one was already wet. She was going to be so much fun. And to think he’d followed that other skank when he should’ve stayed the course and tracked this one.
Lesson learned. Let Ashley Cox think she was safely home. That’s when he’d strike and strike hard. Wouldn’t she be surprised to see him again? Might do things to her he hadn’t done with the others. Might let her linger while he… played.
Tonight had been unusually full of coincidences. First, running into that other slut. Then, discovering the slut’s brother was the same hero who’d captured Ashley’s attention Friday night. There was a certain pleasure in knowing he’d hurt that alleged hero as deeply as he had. Then… making it back to that cruel, cold bench just in time to see Ashley Cox venture into the dark all by herself. That had been the biggest coincidence of the night. He’d had to drive like a bat out of Hell to get back to King Street in time, but he’d made it. Which told him that destiny ruled nights like this one, else the stars wouldn’t have lined up as precisely as they had.
It wouldn’t take long now.
While he followed his panicked prey, he ran his tongue over his bottom lip in anticipation, imagining all the ways he would make her scream. Mmmm, mmmm, yes. He adored the way she’d cried and whimpered the last time. She’d been shocked when he’d cut her. But pitiful noises were not what he needed. He was more into the scorching adrenaline rush coursing through his blood when a woman screamed. After all the trouble this woman had caused him, he was due the small satisfaction of playing outside the box, so to speak. He could keep her for days. Maybe even make her come while he bled her dry. Yes, that’s precisely what he would do.
But for now…
He needed somewhere to accommodate the noise this sneaky bitch would make. The blood. Because there would be screaming and bleeding. Crying. Pleading. Some place nearby, close and convenient, would be perfect. Something close to the river would be better. Rivers made body disposal so much easier.
Look at that. She was headed to the multi-unit apartment complex ahead, the one surrounded with pine trees. Thousands of tiny white lights decorated those trees, but there were also shadows where a man
