Lines Drawn (Drawn to You #2) - Ker Dukey Page 0,63
have risen all over my body. Fear, hungry and dominating, consumes me. My gut is screaming at me to flee, that I’m in danger. Jackson is here, he’s taunting me.
The flowers that came. Finlay never admitted they were from him. Has he been here all this time?
My legs move faster than they ever have and I find myself at Gavin’s club within minutes.
It’s daytime so they won’t be open but I know he will be here by now.
I bang my knuckles on the door and wait, but there’s no answer.
The wind whistles and sends a scattering of goosebumps over my flesh.
My skin itches like I’m being touched when I know I’m not.
I sense eyes on me but there’s no one around.
Trying the handle, it opens in my hand. Gavin must leave it unlocked when he’s inside working, thank God.
Racing down the stairs and across the dance floor, my breathing relaxes when Gavin appears from his office.
“I just saw you on the monitors. Are you okay?”
“He destroyed my paintings.”
He takes me by the arms and leads me to a barstool.
“Calm down, you’re going to have a heart attack. Catch your breath.”
He walks around the bar and fixes me a drink of water.
“Jackson is here. It has to be him doing this.”
His brow furrows. He shakes his head. “Antonia, take a breath and start from the beginning.”
“My paintings have been vandalised, and the photos…” I pull them from my purse and scatter them on the bar, pointing my fingers on them. “These are from my bedroom back home in England.”
He rears back. “Wait.”
He thinks I’m being paranoid. “Gavin. The flowers. They weren’t from Finlay, were they?”
“Flowers?”
“Yes. Ages ago, the red roses that came and had the weird message.”
Recognition flashes in his eyes. He comes back around the bar and takes my hands in his. “The florist said James.”
Pulling my hands free, I get to my feet and pace the space between us. “This whole time you’ve known and you let me believe Fin sent the flowers.”
He reaches out for me to stop me moving and lifts my chin with his thumb and forefinger. The blue of his eyes look like the ocean and I wish I could just dive into them and swim away.
“I didn’t want you to be hurt. You loved James.”
I rest my hand on his wrist and gently pull it away from my face.
“It isn’t James. He would never think to write something like that. It isn’t him, it’s Jackson.”
“What happened with your paintings?”
“They were slashed apart.”
His body solidifies. Every muscle on show coils, elongating his entire body.
“I’m so sorry. You worked your ass off on those. Are you positive it’s not a jealous student?”
“What about the pictures?” He has to believe me. There’s too much to be coincidence.
“How would he be in the States?”
Shaking my head, my thoughts race around in my mind.
He rubs a hand down his cheek and then reaches out for me, pulling me into him. His arms wrap around me until my head is resting over his heart, which is stampeding in his chest.
“I think we need to call the police. If you think this really is him then we need to keep you safe and inform the police.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I nod in agreement. “Let’s do that then.”
Releasing me with a kiss to the top of my head, he half smiles down at me.
“This shouldn’t be happening to you and I swear I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe.”
“I know.” And I do. Without him these past months, I would have simply slipped into the darkness and never found my way out.
In all this chaos, he gives me the grip I need to hold onto my sanity.
“I’m going to grab my keys. We can call on the way back to your apartment.”
“Okay, good.” I’m fidgety and can’t keep still. If Jackson is here then where the hell is James? Is he here with him?
I pace the bar when something catches my eye at the end of the surface. Time slows and my heart pounds heavily in my chest.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
My hand reaches out and fumbles with the thin thread of piano wire.
A heavy weight comes over my back, pushing me forward and pinning me against the bar. A scream gets lodged in my throat and I’m back in Daddy’s shop, helpless. Terror consumes me and spins the room around me. The smell of the man trapping me between the bar and his body is so familiar and yet