So much for not wanting to tell him too much. Between his earlier questions and now, Caleb Sanchez knew my entire life’s story. And I only knew his name.
He hugged me closer to him, kissing the top of my head. “Fitting in is not always the best path for everyone.”
So he hadn’t fit in either, that made me feel a little better. I still wanted to know more, wanted to press him until I had a picture of his high school years, his time growing up, and his parents. But Caleb’s breathing evened out as I thought of things and my eyes grew heavier. I was more comfortable lying here in Caleb’s arms than I’d been in … all my life. I refused to let the unanswered questions in my head interrupt the longing of my heart.
So I tempered the curiosity and accepted the feelings that engulfed me. I enjoyed the guy I was with and the woodsy scent of his body, the softness of his sheets, the dark quiet of his home. And then I slept, deep and solid unlike I’d ever been able to do before. It was glorious and all was absolutely perfect in my world.
“Get up!” Caleb whispered into my ear. “Get up, go into the bathroom, and get dressed. Lock the door and do not open it until I come back.”
My hazy mind sifted through the words and I could only manage to respond with a grumble.
The response was answered by a not-so-gentle shake and Caleb’s lips pressed to my ear. “I need you to wake up, now, Zoe. Get into the bathroom and do what I told you. Right now!”
He was whispering but the urgency in his voice was coming through loud and clear. I opened my eyes to see the room around us was still dark, but I was no longer blissfully wrapped in Caleb’s arms. Instead he was kneeling on the bed, his hands cupping my face as he leaned in to talk quietly to me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, knowing instinctively that this was not the norm for new lovers. Waking me with soft heated kisses and asking me to join him in the shower, maybe, but not this.
“I need you to do what I said. Hurry!”
This time instead of waiting for my reply, Caleb pulled away. He lifted my shoulders off the bed until I was sitting up and then thrust clothes in my arms.
“In the bathroom and stay there until I come get you.”
He was off the bed in the next second, moving to where I had no clue because through my sleep-hazed mind and the dark of the room all I could make out was his shadow. He was moving fast and the tense energy of the room buzzed around me. I slipped off the bed, holding my clothes close to my chest and headed in the direction I remembered the bathroom was.
I was at the door when his hands were at my waist, his body pressed into the back of mine, his lips once again at my ear.
“Remember what I told you, Zoe,” he whispered.
“What? Oh, stay in the bathroom until you come get me.”
I could feel his head moving from side to side behind me.
“No,” he said with a quick sigh. “I will always protect you.”
And then he was gone and I slipped into the bathroom, turning the lock as soon as the door was closed behind me. I hurriedly switched on the light and got dressed. Then I was back at the door again, pressing my ear right up against it, waiting to hear something, but not sure what. I should have brought my phone in here with me, should have brought something for a weapon, something I could use if the person that came back to this door wasn’t Caleb.
Heart beating wildly, I waited but heard nothing. Had he thought there was an intruder in his apartment? Was he going out to confront the person? Should I be calling the police instead of standing here wondering what the hell was going on?
The answer to the latter was a resounding yes and I unlocked the door and turned the knob.
Lights were still off and since this was my first night being in this apartment, I wasn’t 100 percent sure of where I was going or what might be in my way to make my presence known. So one hand was braced against the wall, sliding down as I limped slowly for a good ten feet before the wall ended. That would mean I was in the living/dining room area because as I recalled, the apartment only went in one direction. The bathroom and Caleb’s bedroom had been along this wall.
He was in this room. I couldn’t see him but I knew it, I felt it somewhere deep inside of me. It was as if our bodies were somehow connected now that we’d had sex. I reached for him without moving and waited to see if the feeling was reciprocated. What I felt instead was an icy shiver snaking down my spine until my teeth actually chattered.
There was a sound to the left at that moment and I jerked my head in its direction, eyes open wide as if I thought that would make me see better. It didn’t. Another sound, and what happened next would forever be emblazoned in my memory.
Green and gold lights flashed through the darkness. Four circles of light moved so fast if I’d blinked I would surely have missed it. There was another sound like something smacking against a wall and then a horrific roar that felt like it was shaking the entire building.
I jumped back, a trembling hand to my throat as if that were going to help or somehow change whatever was happening around me. There was more thumping and other sounds that just weren’t humanly.
Don’t fuck with me, bitch! This is all your fault!
You heard what the human said.
Dex’s words rang in my ears and I shook my head, hoping to dislodge them somehow. This time the roar was so loud I immediately thought of being in a forest with killer animals and that was enough to get my butt in gear. I racked my brain for a memory of where the lights were in this place and moved fast, but still kind of unsure, trying to find the switch.
The knee of my good leg slammed into a table and I tumbled over it, landing on the floor with—well, what do you know—the lamp beneath me. Pushing the pain to the back of my mind, knowing I’d have to deal with it later, I felt all over the base of the lamp looking for a switch, finally finding one just beneath the bulb. When light flooded the room I rolled onto my back, crab-walking toward what, I had no idea. Wherever I was headed was far, far, away from the two big-ass cats that were across the room, coming up on their hind legs and trading blows with their front paws. It would have seemed like a regular street fight if they didn’t immediately fall back to the floor, the skin of their jaws inching back to reveal teeth sharper than any knife I’d ever seen.
Fear choked me so screaming wasn’t an option. Running wasn’t really a choice either since I’d backed myself into a corner and the only door that would take me out of here was behind the freakin’ cats! Get to the phone! That was another thought I had. In fact, I kind of chastised myself for not doing that in the first place. My cell phone was in Caleb’s bedroom. Caleb, who I did not see.
The fight continued and my eyes were drawn to the two big beasts, one almost completely black and the other golden and spotted. Their teeth were huge, as they bit and lunged for each other. Shaking fingers moved over my face to push back hair that kept falling and blurring my vision. My chest heaved, breath coming out in quick pants. I couldn’t stay here. That was clear. I had no idea what was going on or why it was going on in a city apartment but that wasn’t the priority right now. Staying alive was.
One of the cats broke the only other table Caleb had in this room, glass from a sculpture I’d seen earlier scattered across the floor. My gaze fell to the floor with those broken pieces, then I shook myself free of that trance and noticed that the front door was no longer blocked. The cats were closer to the opposite wall now, actually a little closer to the corner where I’d barricaded myself.