Page 32 of Crave: A Reverse Harem Romance

Liza would tell me I was keeping walls up, but was that so wrong? I believed I was playing things smart. Life is tough, the world is cruel, and you have to protect yourself.

That was all I was doing by keeping my distance—protecting myself.

I was walking on air after my time with Ryker. It was weird, I would have thought that I’d have had some second-thoughts about the whole situation.

But I didn’t. And why should I? It was just sex.

I was an adult woman with desires. It wasn’t like I was two-timing anyone. I was having my fun, and so were they. It all felt really harmless… and really enjoyable.

Not to mention it had been great for my writing. I’d written more in the last week than I had in months. And to think, it all happened because I went to a sex club with my best friend.

But Liza had been right. To write, I needed to go out and live my life. They say ‘write what you know,’ and lately, it felt like I didn’t know much. After my last breakup, I had retreated into myself and had spent my time alone, just me and my work.

I thought I was happy for a while. At least, that was what I told Liza. Hell, it was what I told myself. But I wasn’t happy. I was just… bored.

I couldn’t say that about my life now.

There was a spark inside me that hadn’t been lit in a long time. I felt like a whole new woman.

Sure, I supposed I had the same fears as before. My last relationship ended badly, and I didn’t really want another one. At least, I didn’t want to be hurt from another one.

But that didn’t matter, because none of that was going to happen. This was all fun. Sex wasn’t going to get me hurt as long as I remained emotionally unattached.

I could do that, right? My heart wasn’t connected to my vagina.

I was making my way back downstairs, about to rejoin Liza on the dance floor. I was actually in the mood to dance, for a change.

But when I saw Liza on the dance floor, I could see she was practically dry humping some dude I didn’t recognize. Ah, well, probably best to leave her to it, then. I had just gotten mine, I didn’t want to rain on her parade.

I was just about to turn away when I felt someone coming up beside me. My heart raced.

It must be Axel.

I turned around slowly and a little flirtatiously as I tossed my hair to the side, but when I saw who it was, my jaw dropped a bit.

I did not know this man.

And whoever this stranger was, he looked slimy as hell. He just had that look. It was a woman’s intuition… I always knew when I was dealing with a creepy-ass man.

My smile faded, and he noticed immediately. “Aw, come on, baby, don’t be like that,” he said as he put his arm around mine.

I attempted to pull it away, but he grabbed ahold of it tight. “Hey, let go of me!” I snapped at him.

He wasn’t having it. He started dragging me into a dark corner of the club, and I began to panic. I was trying to wrestle my way out of his grip, but he was way bigger than me and clearly much stronger. I didn’t have a chance.

Dammit.

I started yelling, but we were far away now. Nobody was going to hear me over the loud music, nobody was going to see me in the dark. I was completely fucked.

But I did not stop fighting this guy.

To my horror, he didn’t stop when we reached the corner of the club. I assumed he was gonna push me up against the wall or something, but instead he kept on pulling me toward an exit.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Where could he take me if he got me outside? What if he was able to drag me into his car? I could not overpower this man! I was filled with anxiety like I’d never felt it before. I was in fight or flight mode, and I couldn’t successfully do either.

“Please, just let me go!” I started to plead with him. But he didn’t listen. He opened the door and I began to kick at him, one of my heels flying off in the process. It didn’t have much of an effect.

We were outside now, but I had gripped the door of the exit. He was doing his best to keep pulling me away from it, but I was dead set on getting back inside.

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