Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Regi
I turned onto my side and forced my eyelids open a slit to glare at the old clock radio on the night stand. The illuminated red numbers showed it was nearly six a.m. I wasn’t going back to sleep, and even if I wanted to, my walnut-sized bladder insisted it was time to go to the bathroom.
The problem was, I didn’t want to get up. I was too exhausted from that nightmarish dream—it clung to me like sticky sweat on my skin.
After another twinge of my bladder, I got up and padded down the hall to the shared bathroom. Surprisingly, Maya wasn’t awake. She was the early riser between the two of us and usually monopolized the bathroom at this time of the morning. Luckily, she was still sleeping.
I sat there, peeing, but my eyes studied the bandage on my thigh. That was a reckless thing to do. I needed to keep myself in check, because I wasn’t going down that dark rabbit hole again.
Since Maya still wasn’t up, I took the advantage and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I’d shower later—after I worked out. I made a mental checklist of things I needed to do today. Since I had the day off, I’d do my errands this morning and then do the laundry this afternoon.
As I stepped out of the bathroom, I decided to check in on Maya since she had to be at work at ten. Her shift was only for a few hours, so maybe—when she was done, we could do laundry and mani-pedis.
I tapped on her door, and it opened a crack. To my surprise, the room was empty and her bed was made, like she’d never slept in it.
That’s strange. Maya never makes her bed.
I stepped away from her door and took a sniff. If she’d already left, I’d smell the lingering aromas of toast and coffee. Two pieces of buttered toast and a cup of coffee was her usual morning breakfast. Hmm. I don’t smell anything .
I entered the living room and froze. The apartment door was wide open, and Maya was gone. “What the hell?” I panicked, and quickly closed and locked the door.
My breaths sawed in and out of my lungs as I scanned the area, including the small kitchen, and found nothing out of place. I checked for a note on the fridge—our usual place to leave things for each other, but there wasn’t one.
I pivoted back to Maya’s room and checked her night stand for a clue about why she left without closing the door.
She knew safety was the number one priority if she was going to live with me.
I could only guess that Maya had left the apartment abruptly.
But it wasn’t like her to leave the apartment door open.
Baffled and slightly worried, I closed her bedroom door, went back to the living room and dropped onto the sofa.
Should I call the cops? —no. Maybe she forgot to leave me a note before she left. She could, at times, be clueless, but not about our safety—never our safety. Not after what had happened to me.
Lately though, Maya hadn’t been herself, not since she started dating Jess. She’d been more distant, and we hadn’t hung out for a while—other than last night.
We’d been close once, as two friends who grew up together in a small town often were. She knew my secrets and I knew hers… or so I’d thought.
“Where did you go, Maya?” I uttered to no one. I let out a breath, surrendering to the notion that this was just a fluke mishap. I’d talk to her later about it.
I got up from the sofa and made coffee. Then I whipped up some scrambled eggs, cut up an avocado, and made toast.
I’d taken a sip of my coffee and a bite of my breakfast, when a jiggling sound came from the apartment door. I paused, glanced at the clock on the wall, and assumed it was Maya.
What the… I thought Maya forgot her key. I took two steps toward the door, ready to give her hell, when it slowly opened and a meaty arm—holding a gun—extended past the threshold.
I froze for a moment, before my survival instincts kicked in and I silently flattened myself against a wall that would hide me from the intruder. I frantically looked around for a weapon, but I wasn’t fast enough. The owner of that arm crept inside the apartment. The guy was massive.
Jesus. It would take a bulldozer to knock him out.
Instead of trying to find a weapon, I dropped to the floor, crawled to the pantry and crammed myself inside.
Thankfully, I’d left the bifold doors open after getting out the loaf of bread.
Maya had pulled apart the lower metal shelving the other day and hadn’t put it back together yet.
Her laziness had inadvertently created a good hiding place.
I crammed myself into the tight space. With luck on my side, the trespasser wouldn’t see me.
The meathead left the front door open and I heard him stalk off toward the bedrooms. Now was my chance to close the door to the pantry. At the last second, I decided to leave it open a crack in case I could get a better look at the intruder’s face, and tell the cops.
Damn it. I just realized that my phone was charging in the bedroom.
There was a quiet curse, before heavy footsteps pounded toward the kitchen.
I braced myself, as I watched through the crack at the intruder closing the apartment door.
He then entered the kitchen and loomed near the pantry.
I held my breath and silently prayed that he wouldn’t open the door and look inside.
From this vantage point, I could see his ugly mug and the scar that ran across his right cheek.
He pulled a cell phone from his pants pocket and called someone.
“She’s gone…” Pause. “Yeah, the roommate’s gone too…” Then a longer pause. “Will do…” Pause. “Okay. We’ll keep a look out.” He shoved the phone back in his pocket.
Panic and fear mixed with my confusion, but I remained as still as possible and waited to see what the lug nut was going to do.
I didn’t wait long. He looked around the kitchen, stopped and stared at my half-eaten breakfast, and I lost the ability to breathe.
I closed my eyes, trying to wash away the dizziness, when I heard the soft click of the front door.
I popped my eyes open and listened intently for more sounds.
After a good five agonizing minutes, I peered through the opening and didn’t see the guy.
I was so sure that he’d left that I climbed out of the pantry and took a shuddering breath.
While the panic in my gut settled, I shook my hands out to ease the sting from wringing them so tightly and then wiped my sweaty palms down my pajama pants.
Who was that asshole? And what does he want with me and Maya?
Something inside told me that he’d be back, and I had to get out of there.
I raced to my room, exchanged my pajamas for yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt, and jammed my feet into my black Hey Dudes.
Then I grabbed my backpack out of the closet and began shoving clothes and other necessities into it.
I threw in my cellphone and charger, and remembered my toothbrush and toothpaste.
One foot out of my bedroom and I froze midstride.
The same enormous guy was standing in the hallway.
“I knew you were here, bitch,” he said gruffly, an evil grin sliding across his face. He pointed the gun at me and closed the gap between us. “I told Grater this was going to be easy money.”
I stumbled backward into the bedroom, tripped over the backpack I had dropped in my fright, and landed hard on my butt. The back of my head hit the floor with a thud as I crumpled. My brain rattled and stars floated across my vision.
As my eyes cleared, I saw the bastard coming at me. The meathead was so huge, he reached me in three long strides. With the gun pointed my way, he hovered close like a death wraith, ready to extinguish my life.
My heart jackhammered, and the air in my lungs all but evaporated. I was suffocating in utter terror.
“You’re dead, bitch,” he said with a smile.
Right as he aimed the gun at my forehead, there was a crash behind him. The meathead spun around, grunted, and took off back toward the living room.
I wasn’t waiting around for that asshole to come back to kill me. I got up, grabbed my backpack, and headed to the window and the fire escape.
Grunts, curses and another crash of something drew my attention.
I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself.
I dropped my backpack, tiptoed down the hall and peeked around the corner.
The floor lamp by the sofa was toppled over and its glass shade was broken.
The only light was coming through the curtains.
A battle was going on my living room. The original meathead and another huge guy. I couldn’t see this new guy’s face, but he landed an exceptionally hard punch to the side of the meathead’s temple.
Meathead crumpled forward and fell onto his hands and knees, but there was a gun his hand.
“Gun,” I shouted. I had to warn my would-be savoir from being shot. However, the meathead turned his head and saw me in the hallway.
He grinned and aimed the gun at me. “You’re dead, bitch.”
I sucked in a breath, for certain I was going to die. An instant later, the meathead went face down on the floor with a bullet in the back of his head.
A scream tore from my throat as I spun around and raced to the bedroom. I slammed the door and locked it, but stumbled as I moved backward—tripping over my own feet.
When I reached the window, I tried frantically to open it. Too late. The bedroom door crashed open and there were two— two! — men looming in the doorway.
“Regi.”
At first, it didn’t register that they were calling my name. Then arms wrapped around my middle and I started to fight with everything I had.
“Damn it, Regi—it’s me!”
The deep, raspy voice finally pierced my brain and I paused to look up at the face I saw last night. “Krew?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” His voice gentled. Krew released me, and he cupped my cheeks. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
I was so stunned and confused that I didn’t realize that I was shaking my head no. “Wh-what are you doing here?” I gasped. “Are you the meathead’s partner? Are you Grater… Him…” I stabbed the air repeatedly in the direction of the hallway.
“I have no idea who that was, or anybody named Grater. We’re here to rescue you,” Krew said with urgency. “We’ll explain later.”
“What? What do you mean we ?” I shook off Krew’s hand and took a step back. “That doesn’t make any sense. What do you mean rescue me ?” I squeezed myself into a corner of the room— Brilliant move, Regi. Now you’re trapped.
I stood there, shaking and refusing to look at the man I once cared about.
“Exactly what it means.” The sharp, penetrating voice had my eyes darting to the door, and every molecule of air in my lungs evaporated. The last person I expected to see was standing there.
Decker Moss. “Hello, Regina.”
Then I saw black.