Luck was on my side, as he didn’t slam my head down again. But he did move on to his next goal.
As I was trying to come around from the brutal pain searing through my head, the man travelled down my body, his hands fumbling with the button on my jeans.
I was powerless to do anything as he attempted to pull the material over my hips, leaning forward to whisper in my ear, “let’s see if he still wants you after I’m done with you.”
I twisted my head to the side, groaning in pain as I did so, but I didn’t want his putrid breath blowing against my skin. I didn’t want to look at him as he took what wasn’t his to take.
I tried. I really did. I bucked my hips up. I tried to slap at him. But my pathetic attempts did nothing other than make him laugh.
And that’s when I saw the glint shining off the knife I had dropped.
I knew then I had one choice, and only one shot at making it work. If I fucked this up, I’d be raped down this alleyway, and no one would be coming to my rescue.
I relaxed under the man, allowing him to wrestle the trousers off my hips and shove them down my thighs. His hand came up to cup my pussy through my underwear, a disgusting moan of pleasure spilling from his lips.
“Please,” I whispered, “please don’t,” I even threw in a sob, knowing that the sick bastard would enjoy hearing me beg him not to do this. And knowing it would keep him focused.
My hand snatched up, and my fingers curled around the knife. I waited for the exact moment his fingers slipped inside my underwear, and then I struck.
I impaled the blade directly into his cheek, pulling it out and thrusting it back in within the same second.
He screamed, but I wasn’t to be deterred. I struck again and again, stabbing him repeatedly. His cheeks, his nose, his mouth. I didn’t fucking care. So long as my knife went through him somehow, I didn’t care which part of his face took the brunt of it.
Before I knew it, I was on top of him, straddling his waist as I clasped the knife in both hands, raining blow after blow down on his face, his neck, his upper body. Anywhere I could reach, I was attacking.
My limbs moved on instinct, not strength. I didn’t even feel the knife in my hand until the third strike.
My final move was to stab the knife through his ear before I rolled off him, landing on my back on the concrete.
I looked up at the sky, knowing the adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going. The pain from having my head smashed off the floor would come again soon, and I didn’t have long to get us to safety.
I pushed myself to my side and crawled over to Shark, placing my head on his chest, hoping to feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
Please be alive. For fuck's sake, please be alive.
Tears came to my eyes as I waited and waited, needing to feel his movements before I gave into the panic attack waiting to consume me.
I couldn’t feel a thing, so I brought my head to his lips, waiting to feel his breath fall against my skin.
“I’m alive, Rachel,” a tiny voice croaked against my ear. I was so relieved that I fell back, a wave of shock rocking through me. And then I rushed forward again, wrapping my arms around him the best I could.
“Thank fuck for that,” I breathed, the tears freely spilling from my cheeks.
“Don’t… cry…” he wheezed. “I saw the… whole thing… like the… top spy… I am,” he attempted to grin at me.
“You’re not a spy,” I half laughed, half sobbed. I pulled back and cupped his cheek. “You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get us help. Just hang in there. I’ll be back. Just wait there.”
“I’ll… be… here…” he joked as I shot forward to rifle through the bags of shopping, looking for the one with my phone in.
Instead, I came across Shark’s cigarettes and his phone. I pulled one out, lit it up and took a deep draw before holding it to Shark’s lips. He tried to grin before he inhaled, choking slightly on the smoke as I dialled in Dante’s number.
“Is she behaving?” He asked when he answered.
“Oh, I’m behaving, but others aren’t. Remember when you said I couldn’t get into any trouble with Shark watching me? Well… We got in trouble.”
Chapter 56
Rachel
