He doesn't reply.
I stand shaking in the curtain for what feels like an eternity.
I think about how it will go down.
Vincent watched the play. He's going to be waiting for me outside. He's going to hit me over the head, or jab a needle into me, or maybe he'll just put his hand across my mouth and say don't scream.
It’s then that I kick myself for hiding in this curtain. That was stupid of me. I should have stayed with Aiden. I should've grabbed his arm and left with the crowd.
But in Miami, Vincent threatened to shoot Damian. If he were cornered and close to having me, he would shoot his way out of here.
Killing Aiden and my friends.
No, it's better this way.
Just me and him.
Maybe I should let him kidnap me.
Let him take me. Have Garrett track my locket, find me, and then arrest him.
I’d get my life back.
I'd go see my family. Hug my sisters. Go back to the beach. Smell the ocean.
I think about a recent thriller movie where a girl is on the phone hiding under a bed while men are in her house. Her dad tells her that she’s about to get taken.
I'm about to get taken.
I reach up to grab my locket, but my fingers don’t touch it. I pat my chest, frantically searching for the locket.
It's not on me. It's lying on my dresser because we weren't allowed to wear any jewelry for the play.
I realize I'm screwed.
I hear the auditorium door open. Footsteps walk up the stairs.
Then onto the stage and closer to me.
I stop breathing and don’t move a muscle.
I can feel that he’s closer.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Ohmigawd!
I was right.
He's here.
Please don't let him find me.
But then my phone vibrates.
Even though it’s tight against my chest it makes a little noise.
The shoes start walking toward me.
Getting closer and closer.
I'm going to have to fight. Take him by surprise.
I launch myself at the dark form in front of me, knocking him and me quickly to the ground. Then I start wildly punching.
I connect with both his chest and his face.
I leap up to run away as he grabs me, rolls on top of me, and pins me on the floor.
Fuck.
I close my eyes tightly.
“You're supposed to punch the bad guy, not the one that's here to rescue you.”
I quickly open my eyes. “Cooper? Ohmigawd. I thought. I thought . . .”
We both freeze at the sound of a door opening. Cooper covers my mouth and gets both of us to our feet effortlessly and quietly.
We hear the sound of shoes heading back toward the dressing rooms.
Cooper runs his hand down my leg, slides my heels off, and then pulls me across the stage.
We sneak down the steps then crouch behind the auditorium seats.
When he thinks the coast is clear, we run toward the main entrance.
Cooper’s still holding my hand as we exit the building. He pulls me toward a car parked in the handicapped stall.
There's a big puddle of water that I’m ready to run through, but Cooper scoops me up, carries me over it, and sets me in the car.
He slams the door shut, quickly runs to the driver’s side, and gets in.
I look out the window, scanning the area for Vincent. I remember Garrett telling me that he couldn’t disguise his height.
The only person I see, though, is Whitney. She watches us drive by, not even trying to hide the disgust on her face.
Shit.
Now, she's really going to think there’s something going on between us.
I shake my head. She’s the least of my worries.
“We need to leave campus,” I say, as I see Cooper driving toward his quarters.
“I think we're safer here.”
“No. Garrett told me to run. Go to the train station. Run. Get away.”
“That was before you hired me.”
He pulls up in front of his quarters and we run into his town house.
I drop down on his couch as he pulls his curtains shut. He grabs my hand again and leads me upstairs to his bedroom.
Then he pulls me onto the bed and into an embrace.
“You're shaking,” he says in a gentle voice. “Calm down. You're safe.”
Then he rubs his eye, which I realize is starting to swell.
“I think I gave you a black eye.”
He grins at me. “You did a good job.”
“Not good enough. You pinned me in two seconds.”
Cobra Cooper strikes again, quickly pinning me on the bed.
“Now what am I supposed to do?” I say as I reach up and gently touch his quickly swelling face.
He grabs my hands and pins them above my head.
My breathing starts to speed up a little.
“If something happens today. To me. To you. If he gets you. You need to know how to get away. I suspect this is a position he will want you in.”
I look up at his hand strongly gripping mine. Run my eyes down his tightly straining muscles His rock hard body.
But it’s Cooper and he’s not scary.
“You just relaxed. That's exactly what I was getting ready to tell you to do. It makes you feel like less of a threat. Look at me like you want to kiss me.”
I lock eyes with him. Raise my chin toward him, slowly licking my bottom lip.
“That’s exactly right. Because you’re not fighting me, I’m not gripping your hands as tightly. Can you feel that?”
“Yes.”
“What do you notice about my body?”
I open my eyes to look at him.
“No,” he says. “Leave your eyes closed. Use your body.”
I raise my hips up toward him, which causes him to push into me.
“What do you feel?”
“Your hips.”
“Yes, but if I were your assailant, I would be aroused. He’s been dreaming about having you in this position for months. He’s been planning and scheming and finally, you are his. And, even better, you’re submissive, so he thinks you want him. Which makes him feel powerful and in control. But he’s not anymore. Now that he’s aroused, he’ll loosen his grip. He’ll be vulnerable. What are you going to do?”
I press my lips firmly on his.
He responds by pushing his hip into me and kissing me back. I pull away from the kiss, pushing my head deeply into the pillow as I rock my hips into him and make a little moan.
“That’s it,” he tells me. “This is when you make your move.”
“I could head butt you.”
“Do it softly.”
I push my head into his. He reels back, but when he does, he sits on me. His full body weight trapping me.
“Shit. That didn’t work. All that would’ve done is pissed you off.”
“Exactly.”
“So what should I do?”
He gets back in his previous position.
“Push your hips back up. Feel how much space there is between us?”
I remember a wrestling move that Logan put on Jake.
I use the space to flip him over and sit on top of him.
“You're supposed to run away now. Not sit on top of me.”
I grab his hands and push them above his head, putting him into the position he just had me in. “What are you gonna do now?”
Cooper smiles big enough to form deep dimples. “That was a good move. But this isn’t some movie, Keatyn. This is real life.”
“I wish we were in a movie,” I say, suddenly exhausted. “Then I could control the script. And no offense, but if I controlled the script, you wouldn't be here. There would be no Vincent.”
There's a knock at his door.
My eyes get big.
Cooper effortlessly flips me off him and then pushes me into the bathroom. “The window opens to the fire escape. If I don’t come back, you go out that window and run.”
I start to shake again and get tears in my eyes.
I grab Cooper and hug him tightly.
“I’m coming back,” he says, grabbing a black handgun off his dresser and creeping downstairs.
There's another knock.
I hear Cooper answer the door.
Part of me is praying it’s Vincent. That Cooper will shoot him and this will be over.
Instead, I hear Whitney yell, “Keatyn, are you here?”
Cooper says in a calm voice. “You can't come in here. And, no, she isn’t.”
“I saw her get in the car with you. Where is she?”
“I dropped her off at her dorm.”
“I was just at her dorm. No one has seen her.”