His tongue trails from the side of my chin to the corner of my mouth. I'm frozen on spot, barely breathing. When he pulls away, his eyes are the same shimmering silver I had seen the other night. My breathing spikes, and his eyes dart to my mouth. B...
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— 27 —
I wake with a start, blinking at my surroundings. At first, I'm confused. Even in the dark, I can tell I'm not in my room because the ceiling looks too rundown to pass Mother's inspection. Then someone next to me shifts, and I look over just in time to see Whitler pull the covers over her head.
Right. We're at Chase's. We stayed here after...
My heart starts racing, head pounding.
What the hell...?
Annoyed, I carefully slip out of the covers and crawl over Nikki. She's dead to the world after she falls asleep, unlike Whitler, who usually wakes up the moment someone moves. Both of them are passed out, though, clearly exhausted from days without sleep.
Trying to keep from waking them, I crack the door open and look down the hall. The living room lights are off, so I creep into the bathroom and turn on the water, washing my face.
For some reason, I can't calm down. I think it's why I woke up: all of a sudden, I was in fight or flight mode with a pounding headache and a racing heart. I can't remember having a nightmare, but I must have because I'm definitely shaking. My hands are practically vibrating as I put them under the faucet again.
"Vixen?"
I jump, throwing water everywhere.
Chase is standing in the doorway, somehow managing to make the crooked door look even smaller.
"What're you doing?" I hiss quietly.
"Are you okay?" he asks instead.
"What?" I demand, wiping my hands on my shirt.
He follows the movement, catching my hands with his. "You're shaking," he states.
I rip away from him. "I'm fine," I grumble. "I'm just..." But I don't know what I am.
"You're panicking," he answers softly. "It's normal."
"Panicking?" I scoff, rolling my eyes. "What would I be panicking about?"
He sighs, leaning against the door. "You were attacked, love," he says easily. "And it should have been the first thing we addressed, but it wasn't, and that is entirely my fault."
"Why should it have been the first thing?" I ask absently, trying to talk over the sound of my heart in my ears. "It's not like he could do anything."
"I know I got there before anything too dastardly could happen, but that doesn't change the fact that you were kidnapped, tied up, and beaten. It's completely normal to be panicking."
"How is it normal to be panicking now? I've been safe for hours!"
"Because the adrenaline has worn off," he says easily. "Everything happened so fast—you haven't had time to process it."
