Pn1 Page 8

  "Okay now you are scaring me. What happened? Did someone try

  to rape you, rob you? And why are you are work at this hour? You

  don't exactly work on Madison avenue." Liz twisted the steering

  wheel hard, making the tires screech, but it got them in line with the

  exit drive. "Do we want police to find us or not?" Her foot paused

  over the brakes.

  "No, no police. I didn't do anything wrong though." Gillian

  nervously got her seat belt on. She stared at the rise and fall of her

  chest.

  Liz looked at her out of the corner of her eye then turned away to

  get them onto the closest thing to a major road that went to and from

  the docks. "You didn't answer me."

  'I'm ... okay. No one hurt me." Patryk had touched her, but she sure

  as heck wasn't going to explain that to Liz. "I got scared, thought

  someone was following me and then I was scared to leave the

  warehouse grounds."

  "Someone probably was following you, at this time of night, in this

  neighborhood." Liz clenched the steering wheel and sighed

  exasperatedly. "You told me you would be careful taking this job."

  "Can we talk about this later, please? I just want to get home, lock

  the door, and call in sick tomorrow." Gillian stared out the window,

  refusing to look back towards the water.

  "You call in sick? If you do that I'm dragging you to the ER. What

  happened?" Liz turned long enough to glare at her.

  "I told you, I spooked myself, nothing more." Gillian looked away,

  opting for the warehouses over Liz's stare.

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  She managed to avoid interrogation pitfalls until Liz pulled up to

  her building.

  "This had..."

  "It won't Liz, I promise." Gillian leaped out of the car before Liz

  could follow through with a diatribe and waved goodbye while

  dashing to her apartment building.

  Swiping her key in front of the censor, the click sound made up for

  all the disturbing noises from earlier. She squeezed through the

  entrance and shut it behind her. Leaning against the cool glass, she

  waited until she heard Liz sharply pull away, leaving tire tread behind.

  Ah, just as expected.

  Pushing herself upright, she walked up the three flights of stairs

  instead of sealing herself in an elevator shaft. With her apartment

  door between her and the outside world, she allowed herself to flop

  onto her bed fully clothed and pound the comforter into submission.

  She hated being vulnerable, despised it. All her life she was the

  one people picked on for being small, or quiet, or the good one, or, or,

  or... She was tired too of calling Liz or someone else to get herself

  out of a mess that shouldn't exist, wouldn't exist if people were as

  scared of her as she was of them. Not even their housecat growing up

  was ever scared of her, even if she was vacuuming.

  Working into being defiant, she kicked off her sneakers without

  undoing the laces. Yes, the world hadn't ended and her toes were a

  little freer, but she needed more, much more. Yanking off her coat,

  she tossed it in the vague direction of the front closet instead of

  properly putting it on a hanger and placing it un-rumpled in the closet.

  Her internalized mother and Liz screamed, but that was the worst that

  happened. The propriety police didn't bash down her door and the sky

  didn't fall on her. She doubted the jacket was capable of being afraid

  of her, but she had put it in its place and refused it a hanger.

  This had to end. She didn't want to feel like something that went

  squish and squawked when stepped on or always scurried into a hole

  in the night. There had to be a point in her life when she was the one

  with claws and fangs to put a little dread in someone else's life. Not

  to permanently traumatize anyone, but couldn't people at least stop

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  pushing her off the sidewalk or apologize to her? Not closing doors in

  her face would be a nice start.

  Was it so wrong to want the power for once, the feel of being in

  control and not stepping out of the way? She could use it for good of

  course, most of the time. Not all monsters had to be fully bad.

  As if waiting to give her an answer, her door rattled on its hinges

  with a rapid fire of knocks.

  Gillian crawled off her bed, over her jacket, and stared at the door.

  The knocks came again, quicker this time. "I know you're in there

  Gillian, open up. Your neighbor was nice enough to let me in. I'd

  hate to wake up anyone by knocking for another hour."

  Her stomach caved to the floor. Patryk? How? When? Where?

  Shut up. Power had to start somewhere, and didn't magical things

  happen in fairy tales when the heroine stared down the monster or

  slayed it? This was her apartment. That meant she had to be the

  heroine. It was her door, her place, her time.

  She forced herself to get off the floor and keep her chin up. There

  was no reason she couldn't do this, nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

  Making sure her pounding heart didn't show through her stretch top,

  she settled her hand on the doorknob and twisted it on the third round

  of knocking. Keeping her knees from clamoring into each other, she

  faced him with what she hoped was a look of disinterest.

  "Patryk, whatever in the world are you doing here?" Did that sound

  flippant and at ease? She forced herself to keep the door open and

  remain where she was instead of making a dash for the bed and

  burrowing under the comforter. God, how could someone look so

  sexy and scary at the same time? He exuded confidence and that

  always got her, made her want to get closer in hopes it would brush

  off on her and give her a leg up in the world.

  "I told you that you owed me an answer and I've come to collect."

  He walked inside until their chests were resting against each other.

  "Do we have to do this with the whole world watching? I've never

  been one for an evening soap opera."

  Grudgingly she let go of her hold on the door and walked

  backwards into her own living room. Okay, she could do this. She

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  had the home turf advantage and she was not going back to being

  small and skittish, that was for mice and she was a grown woman with

  the curves to prove it.

  Flouncing her reddish hair into a wavy mess, she put her hands on

  her hips and didn't budge when he slowly closed the door behind him

  and walked up to within inches of her chest. She had to kink her head

  back to look up into his eyes, but she offset the height difference by

  cocking an eyebrow just like she'd seen the nasty girls in high school

  do, like Liz did all too often.

  Now all that was left for her to do was jump him and show him

  who was boss.

  Jeez, who was she kidding, could she jump Tarzan and live to get

  her next paycheck? Could she jump Tarzan and live through the take

  down she'd get in return. The initial romp, all two nanoseconds it

  lasted, would be fun but heinously short. Okay she really was sleep

  deprived.

  "Are you done planning your attack?" Patryk blew her hair away

  from her
eyes as he spoke.

  Gillian flummoxed her stance by dropping her hands and looking at

  his chest. She took a few steps back from him, hoping the cleaner air

  unsaturated with his musky smell would help her plan better and not

  so obviously. "How did you know what I was doing?" Things were

  not going as she'd intended. Couldn't he just recoil so she could play

  the aggressor?

  "People don't lie with their bodies, only their mouths." He sidled

  around her and planted himself onto her sofa with his legs casually

  splayed open.

  She wondered if the sofa would hold up under him first then came

  around to realizing she was angry he felt the right to do so. Stomping

  like a two-year old, she placed herself between his legs and glowered

  down. "I thought this was my house."

  "It is and I was sure you were going to remember your manners and

  invite me to sit down." He folded his arms over his chest and stared.

  "What were you doing at the warehouse?"

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  Leverage, she needed leverage. "I was making sure the drivers

  didn't bollocks the shipment going out. It was my first solo gig and I

  wanted it to go ahead without problems." Folding her own arms she

  squinted. "You calling me a liar?" Sketchy ground she treaded, but

  she refused to let someone come into her place and scare her into

  saying something untrue. She watched him lick his pink lips and nod

  his head.

  "Not calling you a liar." He watched her blink.

  "So you believe me." Shifting, she clumsily hit into his knees

  making them both jump then settle into a staring match.

  "I do. Did you go into the warehouse and see anything else?" He

  brushed his knee into her, making her shiver.

  "No. I never got past the door when you scared the hell out of me.

  Why didn't you ask me then?" Gillian tried swallowing but her throat

  felt tight.

  His lips stayed together.

  "You aren't going to tell me, are you?" Fuming, she leaned in to

  make him move this time if he wanted to keep watching her face.

  Patryk shook his head, but kept her in view.

  "What if I make you?" This was her place, darn it.

  "Be very careful. Bandying about threats without the ability to

  back them up will get you in trouble. Be sure you know what you

  want." He put his hand out to push on her stomach and keep her at

  bay.

  His heat scorched her through the whisper thin top she had on.

  Why had he followed her, and where was Sebastian? Gillian panted as

  feverish sparks radiated outwards from his palm, making her sweat

  between her legs and squirm against the tightness of her jeans. "What

  if I do?"

  "There are dangerous repercussions to any action. You sure you

  want to see where the path of the warrior leads? I can walk out of here

  right now and never see you again, make sure Sebastian never sees

  you again." He slipped his hand a bit lower, getting near the

  waistband of her jeans.

  Gillian shuddered on hearing Sebastian's name.

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  "If you want to be predator not prey, you're going to have to keep

  those emotions in check. Can't let them see you quake or you're done

  for." Patryk pinched her smooth stomach between his fingers then

  rubbed the redness with his thumb.

  Gillian steeled her breath then let it go. "How did you know what I

  was trying to do?" Why did he know what she was thinking before she

  did? It was beyond creepy. Guys were supposed to be clueless lap

  dogs that were around for the petting and treats not psychoanalysis.

  "I once was a cub learning the ropes. You got to work on your

  style, but you'll get it, if you want, if you're ready to bruise a half-

  million times. You sure you want to take on the big game?" He

  clamped his legs around her, making her teeter and reach out for his

  shoulders to avoid falling into his face.

  Gillian hissed.

  "Use your diaphragm more for the hissing and I might believe it,

  but as it is, you have no follow through power. You've used up all

  your air already." Patryk's chest rumbled but there was a frown on his

  face that made his eyebrows press together into a solid line.

  Not being able to knee him in the groin which her roiling anger

  intending on doing, she raised her hand to hit the annoying lips that

  still looked provocative as they made fun of her.

  Patryk grabbed her hand before it contacted him in a slap.

  Gillian watched his eyes twitch, scanning her for any sign of

  movement. Whatever part of her limbs she tried to move he

  counteracted as if he knew where her body would be before it got

  there. Her heart sped up, hitting into her rib cage with deafening

  blows.

  If she tore her eyes from him and backed down, she sensed it would

  be over but she refused. If she stopped now, she'd always be the weak

  one people walked over and ignored. It had to end one way or the

  other, and she'd chosen this path so she was going to find the end and

  not call Liz this time. In fact she was going to remove Liz's number

  from her phone all together.

  Gillian tried to get her eyes to stay open like his were but they kept

  closing and had to refocus on him.

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  "Want to see how animals do it in the wild, unbridled power of

  domination and submission's tug-o-war?" Patryk ran his knee up her

  thigh, pressing in on her hip to control her balance.

  "You so sure I'll lose?" Gillian tried to get her voice to come out

  strong but there was an undeniable waver to it like the throbbing

  between her legs.

  She tried to scratch his face, but he pulled her wrist away from her

  body, stretching her at an angle where her breasts were a tongue's lick

  away. She curved her back to keep her breasts away from him.

  She tried rearing back.

  Patryk head butted her in the solar plexus and let go of her wrist

  and legs concurrently, sending her crashing back onto her ass with a

  thump the downstairs neighbors would feel.

  The impact stabbed into her teeth and rattled her ear bones,

  delaying profanity from spitting out of her throat long enough for him

  to push off his feet and tower over her, his looming face the focal

  point of her furry. "You moron, freaking idiot."

  "I think the proper word here is animal." He dropped to his hands

  and knees, pinning her underneath him and using his head again to

  push her onto her back with a well-aimed forehead punch to her chin.

  Gillian's head banged off the floor, her lips coming up on the

  rebound a hair-breadth from his lips set in a wicked grin that she

  wanted to bite off his face and spit out all over his mane of hair.

  "This is how the big kids play. Enjoying it yet?" He bent down to

  blow air at her eyes, making her blink automatically in rapid fire.

  She lowered her eyes and waited for focus to restore. The angle of

  the eyes gave her vantage to the strained zipper holding him back

  from staking her to the floor with his cock. Smiling without teeth, she

  winked at him and rammed her knee into the growing bulge stretching

  his jeans to the point of
showing holes. But it wasn't his jewels she

  impaled. When the first twinge of pain watered her eyes, she blinked

  on purpose this time and grunted at the hand cradling her knee and

  fingers gauging the diameter of her knee cap.

  "You announced your attack. Anyone would have seen it coming.

  Never smile or go for what your opponent seemingly offers up as

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  prime target, not when you are playing against winners." He pressed

  her knee towards her chest until she squealed like a pig and shimmied

  under him.

  "You want me lame?" She kicked his ankle with her good leg,

  hoping to leave something to remember her by, something black and

  blue tinged with green, yellow, and purple a day or two from now.

  Patryk shook his head. "Pain is a great teacher. Don't ever do

  something that leaves you vulnerable." He tossed her knee to the side

  and punched her in the crotch with loose knuckles. "See?"

  Gillian sputtered, refusing to cry. "You monster." She rolled her

  legs inward to cut off his access.

  "That's better, now I'd have to work more at getting you." Patryk

  licked his lips slowly, tracing the outside of his curves and finishing

  by buffing his canines in her mesmerized gaze.

  "What is this sex ed?" Gillian curled up her lips at his wide

  shoulders. His shirt rode up from bulging biceps, showing off his

  stomach with a dusting of amber and grey hair that disappeared below

  his jeans. She tracked the hair to where it ended, losing apprehension

  of what he was doing until it was too late.

  Patryk grabbed her shoulders. Falling onto her, he rolled them

  over, crushing her to his chest. He now lay beneath her, her breasts

  and his pecks sharing the cramped space between rib cages and

  pulsating lungs.

  Gillian spluttered as vertigo claimed her momentarily.

  Patryk licked her spit off his lips and slurped noisily.

  "Animal." She hissed at him, trying to squirm out of his clasp.

  "Now you are learning, better late than never. Someday you might

  even win." He chuckled coarsely, opening his legs so she fell between

  them.

  Gillian wriggled as the warmth of his cock and balls seeped into her

  pussy clueless of the jeans keeping them apart. She felt him hit into

  her and seek out her entrance. "I'd say I have the upper hand. You