Page 6 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part One
This was fucking insanity. Absolute insanity. But when was the last time I’d felt anything at all, let alone the very real fear that had crawled through my veins when this dickhead dragged me out of bed?
Not in years.
The fact my heart was still racing was exhilarating. I felt alive. But I couldn’t let this pompous asshole know that I didn’t hate this at all. I crossed my arms over my chest, just so he couldn’t see my heart trying to beat out of my chest.
“Fine. Five minutes. Why is this so important to you? I’m pretty sure Nurse Flora would follow you out into the dark and happily have an orgy.”
He raised both eyebrows and grinned. “Who said anything about an orgy, Viva?”
I flipped him the bird. “Are we doing this or not? Because I’m tired and I want to go back to bed. Not all of us are insomniacs.”
He frowned. “What makes you think I’m an insomniac?”
I shrugged, embarrassed. “Lucky guess?” I’d actually watched him through a crack in the door as he paced up and down the hallways at night a few times.
Hendrick didn’t say anything, just herded me through the back door, the nurse behind the night desk purposefully not looking up as the door whooshed shut behind us.
The night was bright, and it made the darkness more magical than it had any right to be. Hendrick stepped up to the gate and held out his arms. “I’ll lift you over.”
I knew this was crazy. Knew that climbing into a fenced pen on the word of someone I didn’t know—and who I didn't particularly like—was lunacy. But I was in a center for the mentally unstable. And I was here for not giving a fuck about my personal safety, so that fit too. I shrugged, stepping toward him, and he grinned again.
“Otto!” he called, and someone appeared on the other side of the fence. I didn’t get much of a chance to see anything as Hendrick picked me up and physically tossed me over the fence like I weighed nothing.
Holy shit.
I let out a squeal as I flipped over the bars, but two arms grabbed me from the air like I was a football. I was deposited back onto my feet, and I fell into the chest of a huge guy. A huge guy with a bright smile and soft eyes.
Fuck, now a different part of me felt alive.
Hendrick took a run up and vaulted the fence easily. When he landed on the other side, he gave his friend a considering look.
“Oh, so me you hate, but this guy you stare up at like he’s the best thing since the clit? That would be right; middle class attracts middle class.”
“Fuck off, Drix,” the guy grumbled. He looked back down at me, a dimple flashing in one check. “Hi, I’m Otto. Do you need me to punch this asshole in the face?”
Well, swoon.
“No, it’s fine. I’ve already been there and done that tonight.” I stepped away from Otto before I did something embarrassing, such as climb him like a tree, and make myself look like an idiot. Especially considering I’d just spent ten minutes acting like a repressed virgin at the mention of an orgy.
On a chaise lounge on the other side of the pool was another guy, his face illuminated by his cellphone. He was swigging a beer as he scrolled, and I looked over my shoulder at Hendrick.
“Really? Beer in a rehab? That's a little insensitive, don’t you think?”
The guy looked up from his phone, and I swear his eyes were entirely black in the darkness. He looked like a demon from hell.
“Are you in here because you’re an alcoholic?”
I couldn’t look away from the guy’s eyes, like I was trapped. “No.”
The guy stood, tossing his phone down on the lounger. He sauntered toward me with that cocky rich boy swagger he seemed to have in common with Hendrick. “What are you in here for then?” He stopped a foot in front of me, close enough to tower over me. I lifted my chin and glared back, my eyes briefly dipping to the small scar that crept across his bottom lip.
Swallowing hard, I met his eyes again. This close, I could see they weren’t black pits, but they were still dark. I wished it was the middle of the day so I could see exactly what color they were. “That’s none of your fucking business.”
He didn’t move. “Not drugs. You don’t have that strung out look about you, like you’re coming down. Unless Mommy and Daddy were worried about you taking E at your sorority parties.”
“I’m not a drug addict. Or an alcoholic.”
He looked me up and down. “You still have tits and ass, so it isn’t an eating disorder. You try and kill yourself?”
