Page 110 of Freaks Of Nature

“Well shit!” Ash’s voice calls out from the hallway.

There’s a long beat when I don’t understand.

“I was really hoping I could convince you I’m him, so you’d finally kick him, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Ash?

In the next second, the bottom of his boot collides with the door in a deafeningBOOM!The useless slab of wood flies inward, pieces from around the lock shooting toward where I cower. My arms come up to shield my head.

Three heavy strides rush me. Barging in, Ash snatches my phone from my grasp and flings it into the shower. I scream, watching it explode into pieces against the tile as I swat and kick at his hands trying to grab me again.

His grip locks around my ankle.

Another scream ruptures my throat when he yanks me down onto the ground to drag me out into the hallway. I kick with my free foot and flip onto my stomach, but my slick palms slide along the ground, finding no purchase.

Gripping my wrists, Ash flips me over and lays me out, my back hitting the ground. My head flings left and right, hair blocking my view as I fight him.

He straddles my hips before my knees can make contact with any part of him. My struggle is futile. He’s so much stronger than me. His fingers only clamp tighter around my wrists.

“Fuck, Em.” Pain flares in my forearms. Ash slams my hands down hard on either side of my head, a note of intrigue winding through his harsh breaths. “You really have some fight in you. This could’ve been fun.”

His voice rings much clearer now. With his mask down, tucked under his chin, I recognize him but also not. He’s like a different Ash I’ve never seen before, no longer hiding behind his jovial façade. The sharp lines of his face are hard in a way that has erased all the charm his features once held.The cut on his eyebrow…I assume he inflicted it on himself to match Mason’s. All to fool me.

Even used his cologne.

He’sthe liar.He’sthe one I should’ve been afraid of.

“Such a shame that you had to figure it out.” He shifts my arms, locking them in a one-handed grip above my head. His right hand wraps around the front of my throat once more, and his next comment seals my fate.

“Now I have to make sure you don’t tell, but what’s one more strangled girl?” he grates out, the words laced with a dark chuckle.

My bottom drops out. My voice attracts a quiver. “You!”

Ash is the one who killed the girls, and now he’s going to kill me too.

His fingers tighten around my throat. His thumb strokes across my jugular in mocking of my ignorance. “You’re so naïve, Em. You walked right into the lions’ den and didn’t even know it.”

My sob hitches against the pressure of his palm. He’s right. I was so blind to the danger I put myself in.

“Well, I hope that thrill you were looking for was worth your life.” He releases my wrists, but it doesn’t matter. I’m starting to feel light-headed. I can’t lift my arms. They’re too heavy to fight back.

Keeping the vise around my throat, his left hand traces the low cut of my shirt, teasing it down. “What do you think, baby girl? Should we let him watch one last time?”

His words carry as if underwater, dragging my conscience further and further away, and even though I can’t move a muscle to save myself, I’m still fully aware of his body pressing down on me.

I feel him shift to pull out his phone.

Ash points the camera at me. I catch a glimpse of his grin before the flash comes on, blinding me.

His thumb twitches where it digs into my jugular vein. “Just a few more seconds, baby girl. Relax for me, yeah?”

This is it. My vision begins to fade at the edges as thunder rocks the floorboards again. The vibration chases tremors through my weak limbs.

Then two black gloves rip Ash off me by his shoulders.

Mace

Fury ignites my blood.