Page 69 of Howl for Me
I run.
As fast as my legs will carry me, I bolt through the front door and out into the street. The place is way too far from anything. There are no cabs and no subway. The damn bus stop is blocks away. I had to walk forever just to get here. What the hell did I walk into?
Monster porn. What the actual fuck even is that?
My legs pump harder, my lungs burning, but I don’t look back. I can’t. Not when my brain’s screaming and my heart’s slamming against my ribs, like it wants out. I’m too trusting and way too naïve. A small-town idiot dropped into a fast, freak-show city. Panic claws its way up my throat, squeezing tight, tighter, until it’s hard to breathe and harder to keep running. I hear the door slam open behind me.
Shit. Shit. SHIT.
Footsteps. Fast ones.
I stumble to a stop, chest heaving. My lungs feel like they’re on fire. Fumbling with my bag, I dig around until my fingers wrap around the pepper spray. I have no idea how this thing works, but I rip it out, spin around, and hold it up like a weapon.
He’s already close. Too close.
“Stay the fuck away from me or I’ll use this!”
Johnny freezes, one hand flying to his chest. His eyes flash gold again, just like before.
“Don’t,” he says, voice low and strained.
I back up a step, still pointing the spray at him. “I will if you come any closer.”
His chest rises and falls, and he rubs his nose like he’s trying to scrub something out of it. “Your smell—just… don’t fucking run.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I snap.
I glance down at myself. I don’t smell anything. Okay, yeah, maybe I should’ve showered this morning, but it’s not that bad.
“My smell?” I scoff. “Gods, you’re an asshole.”
He moves toward me again, slow this time, careful, and I raise the spray higher.
“I mean it. Leave me the hell alone.”
He growls low in his throat, a sound that vibrates through the air. “Trust me, doll. I can be a lot worse if you run. Your scent is choking me. Your fear, its thick and strong, and if you run again, I won’t be able to stop myself from chasing you. And if I catch you…”
He cuts himself off, shaking his head like he’s trying to snap out of a trance. His golden eyes stay locked on me.
“Just calm down,” he says. “Let me talk to you.”
One more step and he’ll be close enough. Close enough for me to spray him and bolt.
He takes that step.
I press the button.
Except… instead of him screaming and clutching his face, it’s me who goes blind.
I sprayed myself right in the fucking face.
“GOD DAMN IT!”
It burns. Oh hell, it burns.
I drop the canister and clutch at my eyes, blinking against the fire spreading across my face.
“Oh shit,” Johnny mutters, and then I hear it; his shocked little chuckle. The asshole’s laughing.
