Page 9 of Piece By Piece

“That’s Aliena. You know, the best friend I never stop talking about? The one I grew up with?” Lily pipes up and I can hear her irritation. No matter how shy she is, she’s never too shy to try to stand up for me. I shoot her a quick smile and she replies with a quick nod.

The short moment of triumph is broken by Sebastian’s unimpressed voice. “Huh, doesn’t ring a bell. Do you go to our school?” he asks lazily, leaning back further into his seat. Really now? He’s going to pretend not to know me? I’m sure he remembers how I told him that I didn’t go to university or college, but worked instead. He met me there, for Christ’s sake.

But fine, if he wants to play this game, I can too. This isn’t the guy I met at the nursing home anyway. “No,” I reply, my voice dry, before taking a seat on the couch next to Lily, who leans closer to whisper something in my ear.

“I’m sorry for him. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s usually not half bad,” she says. I just brush her off. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what’s gotten into him. He doesn’t like the fact that I saw him vulnerable and human when he visited his sick grandma, and now, he’s trying to make up for it by being twice the “man”. Aka, being a jerk.

I really misjudged him.

And as if my mood hadn’t soured enough, a beautiful, tall, slim woman appears next to the couch in the next moment and conveniently falls onto the host’s lap. She giggles, throws an arm over his shoulder to play with his hair, and whispers something in his ear, all the while shuffling around on his lap.

The man’s icy expression thaws and he gives her a small smirk, touching her thigh briefly. The similarity of the touch to how he flirted with me those weeks ago only makes memadder and I can feel my face burn up. Great, so this is just a regular thing for him, picking up women wherever he goes. God, I’m an idiot. I wish I hadn’t spent all that time daydreaming about him.

Suddenly, his eyes leave the pretty girl’s face and lock straight onto mine. His grin widens. And I’ve had enough. I get to my feet, smile at Mattheo, and hold out my hand to him, making sure my movements are extra sensual. If there’s something I know, it’s seducing and appealing to men. Better use that talent now.

My new friend doesn’t need more encouragement and gets to his feet, grinning like a Cheshire cat. As we walk away, there’s a new swing to my hips.

So what if the guy I had a silly little schoolyard crush on for a few days turns out to be an idiot player? I look great tonight and the party downstairs is awesome. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.

Plus, I know I didn’t imagine the host’s clenched jaw as I walked off with his friend. What can I say, I couldn’t help a small glance back at Lily. Since Sebastian was right next to her, I saw him by default.

I look up at Mattheo as we walk towards the stairs, past all the doors on the left and right. “I hope you’re ready to dance, big guy. Try to keep up.”

Chapter 5

Aliena

It seems that during the time Mattheo and I were in my room, the party ended and most people have left by now. Some are already cleaning up, although I’m sure they aren’t the ones that made the mess but hired people instead.

I make my way through the big apartment without interactions and head straight for the elevator. Maybe I should check if Lily is still here, but she’ll probably go home with Andrew anyway and I really want to get out of here before I run into the owner of the place again. No, one argument is enough for tonight.

I throw my black coat over my shoulders, grab my purse, and leave. A shudder wrecks my body as soon as the November chill surrounds me, making me draw the fabric closer around me. Yeah, it’s definitely time for a new coat. At the very least it’s not raining like it was when we arrived.

I walk for twenty minutes until I see a familiar, tall shadow in the distance that always makes my strides lengthen. Another shiver goes down my spine, this time not from the cold. The old phone booth standing at the corner of this mostly deserted street is way too creepy. It’s old and I doubt it even works anymore. The only reason it still standsis that only three houses are around, and even they look like they are empty so it’s simply not worth the trouble to remove it.

I’d like to sign a petition to get that away from my way home. In the dark and with the lack of street lights, I mistake it for a giant person every time I see it in the corner of my eye. That damn thing.

I quicken my pace and draw my coat around myself more tightly while my eyes flick around my surroundings. Hell, but I feel unsafe right now. I should have accepted Mattheo’s offer to give me a ride home. At the time, I just wanted to be alone and not mix things up further. I can deal with one-night stands just fine but part of that is being gone before the other person realizes it.

I never spend the night and I never take people to my place. Anything to avoid rejection and seeing the regret on someone’s face in the morning. No, I’ll pass. No one has to awkwardly tell me to leave. I never stick around that long.

But Mattheo is different anyway. He’s my friend and has given me rides home several times. I’m an idiot and now I have another twenty minutes of freezing my ass off ahead of me.

I turn the corner and finally get to put some distance between me and the horror cabin when I hear footsteps behind me. I don’t pretend not to hear it, not with the fast, urgent pace I can make out from the person behind me. Instead, I whirl around and come face to face with a hooded figure. A shriek claws its way out of my throat. Where the hell did this person just come from? Whatever they want, it can’t be good seeing as they are heading right for me.

I don’t try to run. Not with my heels on. There would be no use. Instead, I walk backward to keep an eye on theadvancing stranger while searching my purse for my pepper spray or my phone. Whatever my fingers might grasp first.

The person starts running and my fingers are still searching. More panic borrows itself inside my stomach and I feel sick as I scramble back. “Stop!” I finally yell in a pathetic attempt to change their mind. They’re only mere feet away now. I scream again, this time for help.

Where’s my phone? Where’s my pepper spray?My numb fingers shake too much to identify the objects in my overstuffed handbag, and I curse myself for not having taken just a clutch with my essentials tonight.

I resort to clutching my bag’s handle with both hands and ready myself to swing it at the stranger. My heart is racing painfully in my chest and my hands are clammy around the handle. I’ve had more than enough violence tonight as it is. Why the hell is this happening now?

The person lunches for me and I yank the purse forward. Before it can make contact with my attacker, they have their hands on the item and pull at it instead. I stumble a step forward and try to hold my own, but with the strength behind my attacker’s yank, I’m guessing it’s a man.

A fresh wave of panic fills my veins.Why a man? Why is it always a man?More fears of possible outcomes of tonight flood my system, making my shrieking turn broken. It’s all I can do to hold on to my bag, the one thing between me and my attacker as if that might protect me. As if it could work as a shield.

Something dark flashes in the corner of my eye, but the danger doesn’t register until the fist collides with my jaw, making my head snap to the side. The taste of blood invades my mouth as my lip splits, and as I stumble, I fall back. My tailbone hits the pavement with so much force I see stars and thepalms of my hands scrape over the tiny rocks on the ground as I move away from the attacker.Don’t focus on the pain. Get away.

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