Page 169 (1/2)

I rubThat I’h Real quiet, like 007 Inside the main room, it’s dark and silent They’re not here

I blow a quiet breath out Step inside And stand there Toarea where she took ot back fro, pale blue curtain that divides the area with the beds fro space in front of me, which has the cabinets and a receptionist desk

If I go around the curtain to ht and pass the area with beds, I can walk into that little hall and listen at the door of the residence

I keep my footsteps quiet on the pale linoleum as I runting sound It stops me in my tracks and makes my body start to tre I hear the grunt again, and the sound of a zipper Oh, fuck—NO The curtain to

I hear Finley’s whiroaned whis creak He makes a low sound in his throat, and my head starts to float on top of my shoulders

She whirunts She whih the haze, I realize Finley doesn’t whimper like that

Does she?

No, she doesn’t

Finley is a screa…whispering She whi starts to crawl up my neck I can’tto the curtain’s end and walking quietly around it

Each bed has its own curtain, and the one around the bed where ere last night is pulled shut She whiain, and her voice cracks I pulse white hot as the whimper turns to a small cry Finley starts to cry, and he says, “Oh, I think you shouldn’t worry You’ll enjoy this”

I’m so hot, so frozen, so filled up with horror I don’t kno I get s to move me across the space of the floor to that curtain, but I reach out and snatch it back, and there they are

She’s on her back without a shirt on, and he’s over her For a terrifying, black hole second, I can only see the back of his, and I think he’s inside her Then I step closer, and I see Finley’s underwear Oh Jesus Fucking Christ My pulse gallops My knees tre at me

“What do you think you’re doing here?”

My eyes net to Finley, and I realize that her arms are down in front of her, cinched in a belt Her pretty face is red and tear-streaked On her left cheek, there’s an awful bruise

I don’t knohat happens, how it starts or anything, except we’re on the floor, and I’ on his face, and I can feel his bone, the sticky thickness of his blood as I try to rip his head off his body He keeps trying to talk, and I’h his face because he hurt her and you don’t hurt Finley! It ht be okay to hurt me but you never hurt her—