Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
But, well, I guess those quiet guys were likely all holed up in their own apartments doing their hobbies like I was, so meeting them seemed unlikely.
So if I wasn’t going to be able to meet some dreamy guy, then I needed to move to a new apartment and get myself a dog friend—or three—to hang out with.
Luckily, this gig paid a lot better than my last job, so I was maybe only six months away from being able to not renew my lease and find a better place.
Then I could stop window-shopping the dog rescue pages on social media and actually put in my own application. It could only work in my favor that I could bring my dog with me to work.
I scrubbed the utility sink, glancing up at myself in the mirror that had little dog paws etched on one of the corners.
My white-blonde hair was pulled into a clip to keep it out of the way, but a few wisps had fallen down around my face, which was a little red and splotchy from cleaning.
My mascara was smudged around my gray eyes. Courtney had mentioned several times before that I shouldn’t bother with makeup on the job. But Courtney had nice thick, dark lashes. My natural lashes were a light shade of brown that kind of disappeared if I didn’t darken them a bit. The same went for my brows that I tinted every few weeks.
I used a wet finger to rub some of it away before tossing my apron into the hamper to wash in the morning, grabbing my thick cardigan—that I may or may not have crocheted myself—and heading toward the front.
I double-checked the lights and security system before making my way out into the lot.
The sole light in the back had burned out, and I tried not to let my mind run away with me as I made my way toward my beat-up old sedan, bleeping the locks at the last possible second.
In the end, though, that precaution proved kind of pointless.
Because I was already in my seat, stabbing my key into the ignition when the door whipped open.
I couldn’t even scream before the blow landed to my head.
But I was out cold before I could even feel any pain.
__
“Ow,” I whimpered, the pain a bass band behind my eyes, the disorientation making it hard, at first, to remember what was going on, why I was in pain.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” a voice said as I lifted my arms, wanting to press the heels of my hands to my eyes.
My belly dropped to my feet.
I didn’t know that voice.
But I knew that whoever it belonged to, I wasn’t supposed to be around him.
No, I was supposed to be at work.
No, I was supposed to be leaving. I’d finished cleaning up and was walking out, noticing the light off.
Then I was climbing in the car, sticking my key in the ignition, and…
My eyes shot open, ignoring the pain screaming in my head. From the blow I’d taken to the head.
Wherever I was, it was dark. I blinked, trying to adjust to the low light, but all there were shadows all around, closing in, swallowing up all of the air, making my throat…
No.
No, I had to focus.
This was not the time for a panic attack.
I mean, it was. But it wasn’t a time when I could afford to lose myself to it.
I had to focus.
I had to figure out where I was.
Why I was there.
What this man wanted from me.
You know what he wants, that awful little voice whispered in the back of my mind.
I wasn’t one of the girls who could consume endless true crime content. The more I watched, the more my pulse would pound and my mind would race. Until I was in a full-blown anxiety spiral.
That said, I was informed enough to know that there was basically only one reason a strange man wanted to grab you and take you.
“Uh-uh,” he said as I lifted my arms again, ready to defend myself if necessary. “You might want to rethink all that moving around,” the voice said.
Then, suddenly, a light was flashing on, temporarily blinding me with its brightness. The pain behind my eyes intensified as my heartbeat thundered in my chest, neck, wrists…
Breathe.
I needed to breathe.
Calm down.
Focus.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and blinked until my eyes adjusted.
It was a simple exposed bulb hanging down from a ceiling, illuminating the cinderblock walls and cement floors that were splashed here and there with different colored paint.
Okay.
A basement.
I was in a basement.
That was—scary, horrible, challenging—good to know.
Basements often had interior and exterior exits.
And, hey, even those tiny little windows, even if I wasn’t sure I could wedge my body through one of them.
It wasn’t hopeless. I could still get away.