Page 14 of Filthy February

He keeps his hand covering my mouth as he tosses me inside while I try to punch him away from me. We wrestle for several minutes while I scream for help before he shuts the door, almost catching my fingers. Immediately, I push on it, but it doesn’t budge. Child lock…

Malik jumps into the driver’s side and I lunge at him, but he gains the upper hand and gathers both of mine up and zip ties them together while I kick at his chest. “You’re mine. And you better start acting like it. Or else.”

“I’m not acting like—” He slaps his hand over my mouth to stop me from talking, then follows it with a piece of duct tape. As I squirm in the seat, I swivel to place my bare feet on the window. Maybe I can try to bust out or stall long enough that Carson will find me.

“Fine. If you won’t cooperate, I’ll make you.”

When I lean back, however, a tiny prick hits my neck, and the world begins to blur before my eyes. The night sky darkens to pitch black until I’m out.

Who knows how long it is before I awaken again. My head pounds and my body aches, but as I try to move, I can’t. Everything feels so sluggish in my brain. Blinking rapidly, I can make out that I’m lying on a bed. Malik’s bed in his old place. You’d think he’d be smarter than to bring me back here, but no. Probably thinks he reclaimed his property or something.

With some effort, I twist my body to lie on my side, but ropes attached to my wrists and ankles prevent me from doing so. How am I going to get out of this?

“Lay still. Don’t try to fight this.” Malik’s dark eyes loom over me as he tightens one of the ropes holding my arm above my head. The tape is still firmly attached to my mouth, and I mumble a reply around it.

He reaches down and rips it off, the glue almost tearing my skin off. With a deep breath, I yell, “Fuck you!”

Instead of malice, his expression turns to joy as he belts out a loud laugh. “I will. You want it now? Fine…”

Squirming, I try to buck him off as he leaps on top of me and begins tearing at Carson’s T-shirt I managed to slip on before going downstairs for a snack last night. I feel so dumb for thinking I’d be safe in my own house with this psycho out there looking for me. Now, it feels like I’ll never escape him.

Even if I get out of this bed, if I get out of this apartment, he’ll come for me.

Malik digs his fingers into my hips and lifts them as he fumbles with the buttons on his jeans. Tears heat my eyes and fall over my cheeks as I look at the ceiling to avoid seeing what is about to happen. He grips my chin and forces me to look into his seething face. “No looking away from this. You’re mine. Always have been.”

His jaw drops in shock just as he says the words, and he rears back.

A deep voice cuts through the air just behind him. “You’re wrong. She’s mine.”

I gasp at the sight of Carson standing over my ex-boyfriend with a baseball bat. He lifts it to take another swing as Malik lunges at him while pulling out a gun. I scream while Jules stands in the doorway on her phone, muttering something into it in hurried whispers.

“He’s got a gun!” Jules yells.

Carson chops with his bat toward Malik’s head until he slumps to the ground and drops his weapon. Malik struggles to get up, and his hand reaches for the firearm. As if deciding if he should continue, Carson pauses. He gives another swing with the bat, and another, and another. Finally, he stands over the body, heaving deep breaths, and spits on him. Once he drops the bat, he rushes over to me and hurriedly unties my wrists. “Sweetheart, did he hurt you?”

A sob wails from my chest as he frees me and then gathers me into his formidable arms. “No. No, he didn’t. You came for me.”

His lips press to my forehead, my neck, as his fingers scan my body, searching for anything amiss.

“They’re here!” Jules yells from the living room. “The police are here!”

Jules hurries to my ankles and unbinds them as the police enter and begin scanning the room.

“This man’s dead,” one of the officers says as he crouches next to Malik’s slumped figure.

Jules snaps out. “Don’t speak. Carl will be here to represent you shortly, Carson.”

Carson presses his lips to mine as I lace my fingers through his hair. “Thank you for saving me. I love you.”

“Sweetheart, you and Jules mean the world to me. I’d find you anywhere.”

“We’re going to need you to come in for questioning,” an officer says to Carson. “With your lawyer.”

Carson straightens up as Jules grips my hand and we embrace one another. “Yes, sir.” He leans forward and gives each of us a quick kiss, then follows them out of the door.

Over the next few hours, I have to give my statement several times. Once we are allowed to go home, it’s almost dawn, and Juliet and I are exhausted. Both of us huddle on the sofa in warm robes, awaiting word from Carson or Carl to know what’s going on.

Gripping my hot tea, I bite my lower lip and tell her, “I can’t take this waiting, and I feel like this is my fault.”

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