Page 15 of Coast

And, perhaps most alarmingly, he smelled like beer.

“Someone after you?” he asked, and something about his voice loosened the vice around my neck.

But I was breathing too hard to speak.

So I gave him a nod, then turned to look, swearing I heard voices growing closer.

“Come here,” he said, reaching for my arm. I didn’t even try to pull away. I just let him remove my arm from my baby. His gaze slid down, spotting the carrier, the little head, arms, and legs sticking out. “Shit,” he mumbled, tugging me down the narrow alleyway that grew darker with each step.

I was still trying to even out my breathing when the voices grew closer, louder.

“Alright, work with me here,” the stranger said.

Then he was pushing me against the wall, his body half-blocking mine—and especially Lainey’s—from view.

He reached down, grabbing my thigh and yanking it up.

“Put it around me,” he said, his voice a little desperate for me to understand, to know what he was doing, what his plan was.

My mind was too overwhelmed with fear to think clearly, though.

So I just… did it.

I wrapped my leg around this strange man’s hip.

This was no time for my belly to swoop and my sex to clench.

So I was going to go ahead and pretend none of that happened as I reached to rub the restless Lainey’s back instead.

She was calmer now that I wasn’t running, wasn’t making her little body jolt and bounce, and was no longer clutching her so hard she was probably freaking out.

The man’s head ducked down near my neck.

I was suddenly acutely aware of the sweat dripping down my skin, of how I kind of always had that sour milk scent to mefrom burping Lainey, how my hair was unwashed and likely not smelling great either.

He didn’t seem to notice as his one hand went to my ass and the other reached back into his waistband for something.

I felt something cool press against me, but I was too busy panicking when I heard the voices draw closer.

Dangerously close.

“It’s okay,” the man whispered, his hot breath on my neck. “Just relax.”

“Hey,” a voice called, making me jump and press my lips together to keep a cry in.

“Fuck off,” the man said, his hand massaging my ass as his head moved a little, acting like he was kissing me or my neck or something.

“Have you seen—”

The man suddenly turned toward them.

“Do I fuckinglooklike I’ve seen anything?” he growled at them. “Fuck off so I can finish here.”

The snarl in his voice really sold the story. He was a man getting interrupted while trying to seal the deal with some random chick in the alley.

The man’s face turned back into my neck.

“Just give it a minute,” he murmured.

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