“I know, baby. He’s gonna come by tonight and talk to you.” We sit in silence the remainder of the drive.

I finally convince Masen to go around seven o’clock. He claims he’ll be home no later than midnight. Sniffer’s not going with them. He doesn’t want to chance seeing Sam and David. If he’s that worried about it, I think it’s more than the loss of a friendship bothering him. Masen tells me he’s coming by around eight to hang out with me and his mom.

Masen kisses me goodbye, and I tell Mickey I’ll be in my room finishing packing until Sniffer gets here. Then I’ll make Masen’s cheesecake. He’s only been gone for about ten minutes when I hear someone outside the bedroom door. Leaving my back to the door, I call out, “Did you forget something?” After a few seconds with no answer, I turn and fire ignites on the left side of my face causing me to stumble back and hit my head on the bed poster. I crumple to the ground with my arms laced protectively over my belly. My vision goes black around the edges as I fight to stay conscious, quickly losing the battle when I receive another blow to my head.

CHAPTER 31

I wake suddenly. The back of my head throbs slowly with my beating heart. My pulse rises. When I remember what’s happened, the thump increases. I keep my body still, not wanting whoever hit me to know I’m awake.

I’m still in Masen’s bedroom, crumpled on the floor where I fell. The only pain I feel is coming from my head, so I think they stopped hitting me when I passed out.

Willing my pulse to slow, I lift the lid of my eye that’s closer to the floor. The strangest thing is I can’t scent whoever was or is still in the room with me. I don’t see anyone, but with my limited sight, I didn’t expect to unless they were right in front of me.

I don’t think I was out more than a minute or two by the way I feel. I know Sniffer should be here in about an hour. Oh God, Mickey. Have they hurt her? Does she even know someone is in the house with us?

If I could shift, I could protect her and my baby, but being pregnant I can’t risk the change. Finally, the sound of muffled footsteps near me comes from the hall outside the door. When I see a pair of my own shoes coming closer, I have to work hard to keep my breaths slow and even. I still can’t tell who it is from the scent, but the shoes are from my condo. The pant legs are cuffed repeatedly and still fall over the tops of my limited edition leather Converse. The closer they come, the more my senses are confused. Masen is all I can scent, no one else.

It becomes painfully clear who my attacker is when I get a hard kick to my thigh. “Roll over you, fat bitch,” Roxanne sneers, while shoving me with her foot. “Not so tough, now, are you cunt?” she spits. “I wanted you to be awake for this, but either way, it’ll still hurt.”