The Colt & The Cobra - THE SPECTER SERIES [book six]

Chapter FIFTEEN

"I appreciate your hospitality, Juliette.."
You wave down at your new outfit, looking like some kind of country-girl-cheer-leader and feeling like a leopard in a tiger stripe coat.. Not quite right..
"And the clothes.. Anyone with taste this good is automatically a friend to me.."

She grins.. "You're mighty welcome, Mikki! Sleep tight now, sweetie-pie, don't let the bed-bugs bite!"

"Goodni-- wait-- bedbugs?!"

Juliette chuckles, closing the door behind her, leaving you to wonder if there actually are hungry little beetles that are going to devour you in your sleep.. You are out in the countryside after all.. God only knows what kind of creepy-crawlies lurk in the sticks..

Shrugging off the skin-crawling sensation, bringing yourself back to rational thinking with a few deep breaths, your first instinct is to check the windows, finding all of them locked by little internal latches..

Sliding back one of the metal lugs, you push on the pane and it swings wide open..

So you are not a prisoner, there is no key.. Nothing to keep you.. You could jump out this window right now and run.. You could find a road, hitch a ride interstate, dye your hair, blend into a new backdrop.. Disappear forever..

If Charlie were here, that's what he'd probably tell you to do.. To get out.. Run.. After all that's what his ghost had been saying for months now..

But you don't see him or feel him with you in this moment.. And in the absence of his spirit, you now feel more alone than ever..

God.. You don't want to be alone any more..

Thats when you remember the pills.. The ones that help you see Charlie, and the ones that send him away.. They're both in The Cowboy's jacket pocket..

You're not going anywhere..

"Shit.. What now, Mikkalia?"
With a sigh, you pull the window closed and fasten the lock back into place..

Running isn't the solution.. Truthfully, you are too tired.. Too weak.. And Angelo would only find you, his eyes are everywhere, his pockets deep as the ocean..

Lightheaded, you tiptoe back across to the bed, reaching down to pull back the cover when your vision begins to strobe, stuttering between two separate realities...

Your mind splits open on a searing flash of white, pressure and pain building powerfully behind your eyes..

- FLASH -

In your suite back at the De'lucca estate, your hands reach down to pull back your
bedsheets when an icy breeze flows into the room from the balcony door as it opens..

The familiar scent of sour whiskey and weak weed curl in the air around you..

A heavy hand slips around your throat, another over your mouth and a heated wall of muscle presses into you from behind, squeezing you breathless, without mercy..

"Hmmph!!"

Every muscle in your body seizes stiff as a palpable terror that tastes like vinegar
burns in the back of your throat and his hot breath hits your neck..
"Shhhhut-the-fuck-up, don't make a fucking sound, sweetheart.. Not so tough now, are ya bitch?.."

"Nngghh!"

His slimy, sluggish tounge licks a wet trail along the shell of your ear and without warning, he shoves you forward to topple facedown onto the bed, Dax's heavy weight baring down on top of you as he releases your throat, his hand moving down to grope at your backside, tearing at your nightdress as he snarls in your ear..