Dan and I had been left in charge to lock the shop up as Steve was away visiting family. My fingers routinely flicked through albums, placing them back in alphabetical order. It was a task I had grown familiar to after customers made snap decisions and placed cases back in the improper places. The shop floor was empty, Dan checking and sorting orders out in the back room.
When the sound of the shop door echoed I didn't take much notice, picking out another album to move. Strands of hair were tucked back, clearing my vision.
"Sorry, we're closed!" I called out behind me.
I scuffed a little further along the aisle, searching for the "T" section. But my ears quickly came to distinguish the pounding of heavy footsteps over the base of the song currently playing. A strange feeling floated throughout my body. It was an odd sensation, something telling me whoever it was had no intention of leaving.
"Hello, Beautiful."
I tensed. The greeting normally brought a tingling to my entirety, with the raspy words being spoken from the mouth of a curly haired male. My bottom lip trembled as my stomach dropped. The clatter of plastic made me jump, the album I had held falling to the ground by my feet. My hand shakily rose to my mouth, attempting to conceal the petrified breath escaping my body in sobs. I could sense the heat emitting from the figure standing behind me.
It wasn't Harry.
When I remained stationary, my wrist was painfully gripped before my body harshly spun. My fears were confirmed as I stared up at the man who Harry had defeated in the boxing ring. I had no chance. I could tell he used his menacing frame to his advantage, intimidation was his aim as he stood uncomfortably close to me. The dark ink swirling on his arm was the distinctive feature that had caught my attention earlier on in the week. I had absolutely no desire to be alone with this man. All I wanted was Harry.
"Aren't you pleased to see me, Bo?" Scott smiled.
The curve of his lips held a sinister edge, evoking a chill across the surface of my skin in goose bumps.
"Fuck off." I spat, yanking my arm back.
Scott deeply laughed at my feeble threat.
"There's that feisty spark." He taunted.
Brown eyes flashed down to my chest. Disgust flooded me, believing he was staring at the skin exposed by my low cut top; but it surprised me when his fingers reached for the chain around my neck. My fearful vision scanned over to the door, an escape that seemed to gradually be becoming an impossibility.
Harry was under ten minutes away. If I ran, I could get there in five.
"This his?" Scott enquired with a tilt to his head.
His question snapped my attention back to the looming male. My smaller hand protectively snatched the pendant from his clammy ones, tucking it safely into my top. He seemed to find the action amusing.
"Maybe I could give it back to Harry...something to remember you by, hmm?" His voice deepened as he spoke the last words.
I stepped back in terror, my body bumping into a display. My heart was thumping, pulse racing as my mind worked in overdrive. Scott was going to kill me. I quickly realised the location had been planned, knowing it would destroy Harry to be so close but know nothing of the sinister events taking place just a couple of roads over. I'm sure Scott knew our arrangements; maybe he would prolong this torture until Harry came to pick me up from work. He wanted to end my life in front of the boy I loved.
Scott's smile was sickening, he was enjoying this, taking pleasure in the fear he was evoking. My jumbled thoughts turned to Hayley. How could anyone even consider being in a relationship with the awful man currently pinning me with his gaze. Scott's arm jutted out as I attempted to make a run for it. The length of my dark waves became tightly wrapped around his hand, harshly tugging it back to force a strangled cry from my mouth. The action was agonising, my vulnerability becoming even more of a disadvantage.
