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I take a slow inhale through my nose, and press the button to lock the car before slamming the door shut.
Just twenty steps to the office door.
Open the door, act normal, get a room.
Then get to your room, wash your hands, and have a mental breakdown.
Fifteen steps to the office door.
“Mrs. Vass?”
All of the oxygen evaporates from my lungs.
I didn’t hear him coming.
Didn’t see him.
A man nearly as tall as King, and maybe a little wider, stops next to me, forcing me to turn and face him. “Sorry, ma’am. Didn’t mean to scare you.” His smile drains the last of the color from my face.
He’s not doing anything particularly scary, other than approaching me in a parking lot, in the dark, and knowing my name. Or, I should say, my married name.
No, it’s not what he’s doing. It’s just him. His energy.
The man is not in a suit, like I’ve become used to. He’s in a plain t-shirt and jeans. And every inch of skin from his jawline to his fingertips is covered in tattoos. With his buzzed hair, and thick facial hair he might be considered handsome, but he looks like he just stepped out of prison.
“The name’s Dominic, but you can call me Dom.” He extends his hand and habit has me taking it. “Your husband sent me.”
My poor heart is beating wildly. “King?” I whisper his name, barely noticing the way he gently shakes my hand, like he’s being careful not to squeeze my fingers too hard.
The man, Dom, smirks. “You got any other husbands?”
I shake my head.
“That’s probably a good thing.” He releases my hand, and I don’t have a chance to reply before he’s at my side, pressing that same hand into the middle of my back. “Come on, I’ll drive you.”
“No,” my feet stumble on the jagged blacktop, “I’m okay here.”
When I start to pitch forward, Dom grips me by the shoulders and steers me towards the cars in the last row. The ones I had looked at in the rearview mirror.
There are four of them, and they all look like those big blocky cop cars, only these are all black, with not an inch of silver on them. And even in the dark I can tell the windows are tinted.
We’re headed to one of the middle cars when I notice that the other driver’s windows are down, men behind each wheel.
Did all of these cars pull in after me and I didn’t notice?
I’m guided all the way to the passenger door where Dom reaches around me to open the door.
When I don’t move to get in, I hear him sigh behind me. “Look, I get it. This isn’t the best way to meet someone, but King asked me to keep an eye on you until he got here. And as much as I feel for your situation, I don’t really feel like getting on the bad side of The Alliance tonight. So, you can either come with me now and we can wait in the comfort of my home, or we can stand in this parking lot, hoping it doesn’t start raining again.”
There’s no dome light on inside of the car, the pitch-black interior daring me to climb in.
“I promise you’re safe with me, Savannah.”
I wet my lips and turn back to the man behind me. “Because you don’t want to cross King?”
He keeps his eyes on mine as he dips his chin down in confirmation.
King might be a monster, but I’m the monster’s wife. And that might be enough to save me right now.