I
at closes up. The world begins to blacken at the edges l
ds. Not with a bang,
as he appeared, th
he fray. I swear I'm h
rrupting s
m positive I'm right. This man is a g
my attacker. All I can see is the thick swell o
u?" My attacker snee
ur hands from your arms if you to
up from where the god threw him to the ground, I see him stumble. He's d
I di
t do an
'm surprised the rain on my skin does
n distaste before he hunches against the rain and scampers
ick. I press a hand to my chest and
you h
Black-ink tattoos slip out of the ends of his rolled-up shirt sleeves to wrap around his wrists. Sixty seconds ago, I wo
y. Even in the dark, his blue eyes
inned
o, I'm okay. He didn't-You got here just in time. Nothing happened." I roll my shoulders.
" the ma
at him, a frown wor
ou shouldn't be wandering down dark alleys in the
what he's saying. And how he's saying
t's just after eight. The storm is m
nd you don't have a weapon. If you'd spent half a fucking second observing your surroundings, you wou
g back redoubles and charges at
g too hard to
across the str
ort. "No wonder. What are you, a werewolf or som
seconds with something like amusement. Then his full
t of assholes wandering ar
to save you from them." He
that, I'm
hill that goes far beyond skin deep, and b
hell just
I
wered, in clean pajamas, and eating the frozen pizza I promised myself, but mentally, I
ip
s of my phone makes me jump. A dribble of grease
elle. You ma
hone," my best friend retorts. "You should b
ipe my fingers on a paper towel. "I'm not stuffin
ged parent outside of your job! I'
when you say it
ind's eye. There was nothing simple about him. He
a knight in
sheer frustration. "Move your camera. What's the
een this entire chat," I point
ht, so your situations aren't exact
best friends. Then again, Noelle is scary. If I don't do what she says no
one, giving her an ar
ithout missing a beat. "And i
sh, "that's
he sauce off with my forearm. "I'm fine, okay? The guy was drunk a
to pop. "Who cares about his week? What
rrect. "He didn'
came along and shoved him
sn't a
er the word 'giant'
lle says. "She said he was a
ional to the rest
et the class's attention. "Regardless, the fact remains that you nee
's whispering the words in my ear.
ted. Maybe another attack wouldn't be so
urts out. "Buy a gun. I ca
't getting-she do
lice report going to do if that guy comes bac
I could see your face, I'd be able to tell if you're jok
and her eyebrows are as thin as they were in high school, which is to say, almost nonexistent. She rais
ering my mouth, "is t
k ring around her right eye and gives a hum
rily silent. Her n
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