Shit. She wasn’t kidding.

I put my hands up. “Calm down. At least I wouldn’t try to slice you up, sweetheart.”

“Stop calling me that!” Her face twisted in despair. “Please, let me go. Please…Rafe. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Sweetheart,” I said, just to goad her, “you’re not even close to hurting me.”

She only hesitated an instant before her arm shot out again and jagged glass came way too close for comfort.

Ducking, I caught her wrist and squeezed until the bottle dropped and splintered at our feet. “Come at me like that again and you’ll wish the devil was down here with you.” I wrenched her hands behind her back, trapped her against me, and wrapped an arm around her throat. Her breaths puffed out, each slow exhale indicating she was giving in. At least, that’s what I thought. I loosened my arm, a mistake, because she sank her teeth into my inked bicep, stomped on my foot, and tore up the stairs.

11. Phobia - Alex

11. PHOBIA - ALEX

Why isn’t he grabbing me?

That was my only thought as I ran up the stairs. Each step seemed agonizingly slow, as if I were in a dream, someone on my heels chasing me, and I couldn’t get my legs to move fast enough. I pulled the door open and ran smack into a broad chest.

Jax grabbed my shoulders, and his fingers gouged my bones.

“Let me go!” I lifted a knee and aimed for his balls, and when he doubled over with a groan, I took off running. Time seemed to slow, and every footstep felt as if I were forging through mud. I reached the door, flung it open, and lurched into the cold. I didn’t dare look back. They could have been a foot behind me and I wouldn’t have known, and I was too scared to find out.

Breaths coming in shallow gasps, I raced over rough ground. Rocks bit into my feet and wind whipped hair into my eyes as rain drenched my body. At this point, I didn’t care that I was running naked in the middle of nowhere, exposed to the weather.

A streak of lightning lit up the sky, and I saw a break in the trees.

“Alex!”

My heart pounded in my chest, as loud as the thunder overhead as I recognized the fury in Rafe’s voice. He sounded much too close. I buckled down and made for the trees, hoping to find a road on the other side, the source of the highway noise I’d noticed before from inside the kitchen.

“Stop! Alex!”