Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
SERENITY
As much as I loved my new heels, and I seriously loved them, I was ready to kick them off and store them in my closet for at least three months. I hoped the feeling in my toes would return. As beautiful as they were, they were like torture devices when worn for more than a couple hours.
As soon as I was parked in front of my apartment building, I threw my door open and twisted in my seat so I could bend forward and slide my feet free of their prison. With heels in hand, I started up the sidewalk, barefooted.
The night had been more fun than I’d expected.
Not only did we get to watch the Whiskey Dolls perform, but Gypsy also pulled strings so we could go backstage and meet the dancers.
For being somewhat of local celebrities, the girls were all cool as hell.
Sage had been right, I liked Charlotte instantly.
Hell, I liked all of them, including the owner, a beautiful, bubbly, talented woman by the name of McKenna.
By the time we called it a night, my phone had been full of brand-new numbers, and I had several plans to meet up for coffee or drinks or dinner.
It was in that thought that I shoved my key into the deadbolt to unlock my door, only for it to swing open before I could react. A hand lashed out, grabbing a fistful of my hair and using it to yank me through the door.
Pain lanced through my scalp, making me cry out as the door was thrown shut and I was slammed back into it so hard my head thumped violently against the solid wood.
I opened my mouth to scream when the figure placed a hand at my throat and began to squeeze, cutting the sound off, along with my air.
Panic shredded my insides to ribbons as I struggled and clawed at the hand squeezing my throat in a bruising grip, but the thick work gloves prevented me from breaking skin. I kicked and thrashed, trying to break free, but it was no use.
The person holding me captive leaned in closer, and for the first time, I paused long enough to take him in.
The apartment was pitch black, with the curtains drawn and the lights off, but he brought his face close enough for me to make his features out in the darkness, and when I did, icy fear reached into my chest and clutched my heart.
“This is what happens to little whores who don’t mind their own business.”
The rank smell of cigarettes came off his breath as he hissed in my face, making my stomach roil.
“Please,” I wheezed, my voice a panful rasp.
“That’s right, bitch. Let me hear you beg. Told you someone would teach you a lesson, didn’t I?”
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been more scared. Even the asshole who’d kidnapped Stella and me hadn’t elicited this kind of fear. But that was because it had only taken a matter of seconds to realize he was a brainless shithead.
This man, on the other hand, was a different story. He’d scared me from our first encounter.
Icy hands gripped my insides, but I refused to let them freeze me in place. I was a wildcat, damn it. I fought. And I wasn’t going to let this asshole make me cower or beg.
Since clawing at his hand at my throat wasn’t doing anything, I decided to change tactics and went for his face, digging my nails into his cheeks as deep as I could get them.
He reared back on a pained holler but didn’t release his grip on my throat.
My ears started to ring and the edges of my vision began to grow dark. If I didn’t break his hold soon, I was going to pass out . . . or worse.
I curled my lips back, baring my teeth, and shoved my thumbs into his eye sockets.
He reared back on a shout, but his grip finally loosened.
I wanted to keel over, brace my hands on my knees and suck in all the air I’d so desperately been lacking a moment ago, but there wasn’t time.
As he stumbled back, I spun around, scrambling for the doorknob.
I felt the gust of wind that came with his hand waving past, trying to grab hold of me.
But I was already running, screaming as loud as my bruised, gravelly voice would allow.
I had the headache to end all headaches, and the flashing blue and white lights filling the parking lot weren’t helping. Neither was that stupid penlight the paramedic was currently shining in my eyes as she instructed me to follow it.
It wasn’t her fault, she was only doing her job, but that light was having the same effect as nails on a chalkboard.
I was exhausted, experiencing an adrenaline crash stronger than I’d experienced before, but something told me my night wasn’t close to being over. Especially since Cyrus Whitlock had taken off while I was inside my neighbor’s apartment, calling 911.
He was in the wind, as they say.
I knew I was right when I heard my sister’s voice through the din of noise all around me.
“Where is she? Where’s my sister? Serenity—” she started to shout, then made her way through the sea of police cars and spotted me from the back of the ambulance I was currently sitting in, being checked over.
West stopped at her back, his expression looking downright murderous.
“Oh my God.” Her hands came up to cover her mouth and tears instantly filled her eyes.
“I’m okay,” I said, only I sounded like someone had taken sandpaper to my vocal cords, and if I were being honest, it kind of felt that way too. Who knew being choked could cause so much lasting pain?
I lowered the icepack I’d been holding against the knot on the back of my head and attempted to stand, only to have the paramedic and Stella rush to prevent me from moving.
“Just stay sitting,” Stella ordered, her features growing fierce despite the tears leaving tracks down her face.
Like me, she was still in the cute, trendy dress she’d worn at the club, only, where I was barefooted, having lost my gorgeous stilettos in the chaos of the past half hour, she was still wearing her heels.
A breeze blew in just then, sending a shiver skating down my back.
Before I could nestle deeper into the itchy blanket the paramedic had draped over my shoulders, Stella pulled it tighter and began rubbing up and down my arms in an attempt to warm me up.
Whether it was the temperature outside or everything that had happened, I wasn’t sure if it was possible for me to feel warm.
“What the hell happened?” Stella finally asked.
“Took the question right out of my mouth.” My sister and I both turned at the same time as two men sauntered up to my ambulance. At their presence, the paramedic took off.
The one who had just spoken gave me a kind smile. “Ms. Ryan. I’m detective Leo Drake, and this is my partner, Micah Langford. We understand you’ve had a hell of a night. We have a few questions, but we promise we’ll try to make this as quick as possible.”
So these were the men who put rings on Danika’s and Hayden’s fingers. Good for them, because dayum.
“Call me Serenity,” I rasped. “After all, your wives have become two of my favorite people.”
My initial reaction was to get my hackles up.
To make some sort of excuse and bail before the police could do any digging into me.
But then I remembered I wasn’t the one in trouble.
These detectives were here to help me. Because I hadn’t done anything wrong.
I was the one who was attacked and assaulted.
They were here because they were going to catch the asshole who’d done it.
I started to recall what happened as soon as I got home, but given how much it hurt to speak, it was taking twice as long.
As I told the officers everything, the crowd around us had steadily grown.
Most of the women I’d spent the better part of the evening with had shown up, their men in tow.
Somehow, Rory had gotten word about what happened, and she and Cord came flying into the parking lot only about a minute or two after my own parents had shown up.
With a small child and a pregnant wife at home, Spencer hadn’t been able to pick up and make the middle of the night drive to me, but he was currently on FaceTime with my father, getting the whole scoop, and cussing a blue streak.
With each ticking second, more and more of those ridiculously hot Alpha Omega guys had arrived on the scene, each of them looking pissed as hell as their wives coddled me the best they could.
But it wasn’t until I’d nearly finished recounting the night that the atmosphere suddenly grew charged, the air all around crackling menacingly. I didn’t have to look to see what had caused the change.
A break formed in the crowd of people around me, and Hunter suddenly appeared. As if reading the situation, everyone either scattered like roaches after a light had been turned on, or they hung back, close enough to watch the drama play out from the safety of the sidelines.
Well, everyone except my family, that was. And the two detectives, of course.
His blue eyes were so cold, I worried I might get frostbite from a single look. The biting, chilling rage radiating off him had me cocooning even deeper into the blanket in the hopes of disappearing.
“Who?” One word had never been so shiver-inducing.
Lincoln stepped in, apparently not afraid to wade into whatever was about to unfold here. “Hunter, man, why don’t we go talk over here—?”
I couldn’t say the same for myself. As drawn to him as I was, and as much as I usually wanted to be around him, I had to admit that Hunter was kind of scaring me just then.
“Not moving from this fucking spot until I get a goddamn name.”
“I get it man,” Leo started. “You want to make this guy pay. We all do. But you need to stay cool. We can’t have you doing something that’ll screw with our investigation.”
Hunter slowly turned his head and regarded Leo in a way that would have had me peeing my pants in fear. I had to hand it to the other man, he withstood the scrutiny surprisingly well.