Me.
I had.
The creepy breathing, the prank call on Halloween — that was Adrian on the other line.
Damn, damn,damn.
“Now, you’re coming back to A.C. with me. You’re gonna make this right with Viggo.”
“I’m not goinganywherewith you!”
We were almost at the curb.
“You’ve made my life a real fucking mess.” His arms went tighter around me — crushingly so. One at my neck in a chokehold, the other at my midsection. I could hardly breathe. “And now, you’re going to clean it up.”
“Fuck!” I gasped, fighting for air. “You!”
“Oh, you’ll fuck me, baby.” His voice gained a lascivious edge. “We’ll fuck until you remember how good we were together.”
I thrashed violently against his grip. I tried to scream, but he was now cutting off my oxygen completely.
He started to say something else, but his words were overshadowed by a deep, warning growl. It was coming from the front porch, and it was ominous enough to stop Adrian in his tracks.
“What the?—”
My eyes shifted in time to see Socks vault off the top step. His oversized paws hit the path and then, in two bounds, he’d reached us. His razor-sharp puppy teeth sank into Adrian’s exposed ankle.
“Fuck!” he bellowed. “What the fuck!”
Surprised by the attack, his arms loosened enough for me to slip out of his grip. I dropped to the sidewalk like a stone, then scrambled toward the path on my hands and knees. Meanwhile, Socks continued to snap at Adrian’s ankles, until the man was backed up against his car door.
“Get the fuck away from me!” He kicked out at Socks, who easily dodged.
Good boy.
“Get away! Fucking psycho mutt!”
I rose to my feet, heart pounding, eye throbbing.
“Imogen!” a voice called from down the block. “Everything okay over there?”
I turned and spotted Jamie on her front lawn, holding a hose. She was watering her mums. Her face was contorted in concern as her eyes moved from me to Adrian and back.
“I’m fine, Jamie,” I called. Then, my gaze swung around to pin Adrian with a glare so intense, I wished looks were in fact capable of killing. “He was just leaving.”
Adrian glared back at me. His bedroom eyes flickered over to Jamie, then shot down to Socks — who had momentarily paused his sharp-toothed assault — before returning to my face.
“This isn’t over,” he hissed, rounding his Ferrari to the driver’s side. “We have unfinished business, doll. If I were you, I wouldn’t get too comfortable in this new little life you’re building for yourself.”
“And if I were you,” I returned. “I wouldn’t show my face here again. My new boyfriend is a detective. You spoke to him on the phone, remember?”
He paled slightly.
“I’m guessing you do, seeing as you must’ve looked up his address to track me here.” I smirked. “Good. That means you’ll know exactly who is beating your ass to a pulp if you show up again. My advice? Leave Salem. Don’t come back.”
Adrian sneered at me, yanked open his car door, and slid inside. He roared away from the curb in his gaudy sports car, leaving a streak of skid marks across the pavement. When he was gone, I glanced down and found Socks sitting, per usual, on my feet, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
“Exciting morning, huh?”