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ELIZA COULDN’T BELIEVE what she’d just done. She felt a little sleazy, but in the best way possible. It made her want to call Veronica and squeal. She decided she would.
On the way to her car, she opened her clutch purse with shaking hands and searched for her keys and phone. Her heels were modest, but up against the potholed parking lot, they required some extra care. She squinted in the dark and tried to multitask her way through the jumble of nerves eating her alive.
“My dear, Miss Brooks, how you’ve blossomed.”
The unexpected voice ripped a yelp from Eliza’s throat, and she dropped her purse. “Jesus Christ,” she hissed. It felt like her heart had torn free and made it halfway to Mexico, leaving her in the dust.
Walter Nilsen stood less than ten feet behind her. She hadn’t heard him following her and wondered if he was parked nearby. His greasy, dirt-brown hair grazed the collar of his jean jacket. It looked like the very same one he’d worn in high school. In fact, everything about him looked the same. It was as if he had stepped right out of the pages of their yearbook.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said. The amused tone of his voice suggested that had been his exact intention. “Leaving so soon?”
“Yeah, it just got a bit more crowded than I’d expected.” She bent down to fetch her purse, patting the shadowy pavement until her hand closed around it. When she straightened, Walter was right in front of her.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said through clenched teeth. “We’re not children anymore, Walt. Harassment won’t land you in detention this time. I’ll slap you with a restraining order.”
“My, my,” he cooed. “So touchy. And I even brought you a gift.”
“You shouldn’t have.” Eliza grimaced, refusing to look down. He’d pulled the same prank more than once in school—flashing her his erection when her eyes sought out his hands for her gift.
He clucked his tongue at her. “Don’t spoil my fun now. I really did bring you a gift. And all it will cost you is one little kiss.”
He leaned forward, as if he expected her to comply just to get it over with, but Eliza shoved against his chest. She pushed hard. Hard enough that he should have stumbled back a step and given her enough time to scramble inside her car. But he didn’t budge. He just pressed in closer, until she was pinned against her own car. Until her ribs ached, and she thought she might suffocate in the smog of his cheap cologne.
It was then that she realized his mouth wasn’t even aiming for hers. And it was no kiss he was after. Teeth dug into her neck and broke flesh. Eliza tried to scream, but an ice-cold hand clamped over her mouth. It pressed down until her teeth grated against her lips, and she tasted blood.
She cried out for help, but against Walter’s hand, it was nothing more than a muffled sob. Her arms were trapped between their bodies, and though her knees had given out, he held her upright, her back crushed against the driver’s side window of her car.
“Shhh.” His breath slithered along her jaw in a hot wave. “It’ll all be over soon. Then you’ll be mine forever.” He bit down again and sucked noisily at her throat.
Eliza’s eyes rolled up to the darkening sky as she began to lose consciousness. A fat moon stared back at her. The stars were watching now, too. They blurred against the black backdrop of night, and then, one by one, they winked out.