rtment felt different tonight.

.. st

t click of the lock echoed through the room. The soft city lights spilled through

nding somewhere near her and somehow, the absence of his

door, rubbing the back of her neck a

e way he looked at her, the way his voice always carried that

d through her hair. "Get a grip,

was that ever since Damien Hart walked in

into something else entirely, something heated, something reckless, som

poured herself a glass of wate

her from the dark window, cont

ight she felt... shaken. Her thoughts drif

nged to him,a small shiver ran down her spine and then, annoyingly enough, she remembered the night before,

omorrow." The c

er again wasn'

e vibrated on the kitchen counter

rolled her eyes imm

up the phone

essage

tc

last night and I don't want

e mysterious tall stran

y. Her thumbs moved q

, I'm

tely the phone

W

esponds just r

message

were drunk the en

smiled

not d

pa

sla re

ook before typing

shook

ng hap

her

sent a sin

ir

e worst li

r her breath. Sometimes she

essage ca

tell

nd intense man beha

es from earlier flashed through her mind before she could stop them. Damien stand

She quickly typed bac

ntly. "And you're av

ed. "He's ju

appeared on

he

the President o

hed again, sh

sleep

. A moment later th

in

your heart I will per

iled faint

ight,

troubl

lent again. Arianna placed her phone back on t

mien one last time before s

hing complicated. It was just an att

walked toward the living room. That

ightly. She stood still for a moment, liste

.."Probably the wi

out the apartment s

et silent against the wooden floor. The faint lig

was strange. She was certain she had clos

t formed in

shaking her head lightly. "You're bein

heart slammed violently against her ribs, before she cou

ed tightly o

, the sound mu

oded throu

against the grip, but the per

str

m.

ashing loudly onto the floor. The sc

y, trying to break free. The stran

d pressed against her neck. Her movements s

oser. A low voice whis

t." The voi

ain, but the cloth pressed over her mouth suffocated the so

n..Her strength

started creeping in was the glow of h

e appeared o

it home safel

ything we