Page 169 of Falling Offsides

“I’m not crazy.” I trust my instincts implicitly.

Panic ignites in my chest, and I break into a run. I can’t think. I can’t breathe.

The exit looms at the end of the hallway. In sight. Within reach.

Then the lights flicker. Again. And again. And it’s dark. Pitch black as I pull my phone from my pocket and shakily use it to light my immediate surroundings.

All those times I ran up the stairs after turning all the lights off have nothing on right now.

And I hate the dark.

“It’s okay,” I tell myself, shaking the panic out of my head.

It works. Until the shadow steps into the only stream of light—the glow from the fire exit sign.

My heart slams against my ribs.

And then the shadow orders, “Run.”

One word. One command.

I go.

Veering right, I sprint down the side hallway. Straight for the player tunnel. I know this place like the back of my hand. I can sprint through it blind if needed. But every step I take, another echoes behind me.

Mimicking mine.

Closing in.

I reach the tunnel, my breath ricocheting off the walls. Deafening.

A blur flashes past the corner of my vision. Then?—

Hands.

Strong. Fast. Brutal.

A rough grip wraps around my waist and yanks me back into a solid chest.

A gasp tears from my throat, only to be swallowed by his hand.

“Don’t make a sound.” The voice is low, raking through me.

I suck down the yelp that pushes up my throat when he yanks my backpack off my shoulder, dropping it on the ground with a hard thud.

“Hands on the wall.”

I nod, sucking in a breath.

“Hands on the fucking wall,” he snaps, a heavy hand pushing between my shoulder blades, shoving me forward.

My face slams to the rough wall behind the team bench and then his other hand is snatching my wrists and pinning them above my head.

He’s got me caged in. Hot breaths blustering in my ear. So deafening I can’t hear anything my brain is begging me to do. Every act of self defense I’ve been taught is forgotten when he lassos my wrists together and with an upright pull, he hooks me onto the wall.

My toes scramble for purchase.

My pulse is hammering all over.