Page 27 of In Knots

Chapter 8

Closing my eyes, I count to ten.

The numbers crash through my mind as my heart hammers in my chest and I struggle to regain my breath. I want to sit down, but I’m in the middle of a street, the shops all closed up and lying in darkness and traffic thundering along the road.

Clutching my bag towards me, I fumble through the contents, searching for my phone. My hands shake and my fingers seem incapable of anything. I don’t know where I am. It’s dark and I’m alone. Yet, it feels a million times safer than being in that car with that wanker.

I don’t know what I’m going to tell my parents. They’re going to be furious with that alpha and disappointed that another prospect has turned out to be a dud. Plus, who knows what this is going to mean for my father’s relationship with the alpha’s family.

Finally, I fish my phone from my bag and stare down at the screen.

Who should I call? I’m back here again. My parents? Jonathan?

But there’s only one person I want to speak to right now.

And the last person I should.

My thumbs hover on indecision and my phone chirps in my hand, making me jump so hard I nearly drop the thing.

A message from my mother.

Hope you’re having fun, darling. Off to bed now. Look forward to hearing all about it in the morning.

And my fate is sealed.

I make the call.

“Princess?” His voice is like a soothing balm in my ear, making me feel safer, calmer, steady.

“Come get me,” I say.

Silence.

I grip the phone so hard; I’m shocked it doesn’t crack in my hand.

“I’m on my way. Where are you?”

I let out a long sigh of relief and my voice breaks as I speak, tears swimming across my vision, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. He … he dropped me somewhere. I don’t know where I am.”

A huff of air blasts down the earpiece, followed by a long inhale. “Your date?” I don’t answer. “Look around, can you see a street sign?”

I peer through the darkness, but don’t see anything.

“No.”

“What do you see?”

“Traffic, shops.”

“What shops? What shops do you see?”

“A tattoo shop, a bookie, a newsagent–”

“What’s the name of the tattoo shop?”

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