Blindsided. Katy Lee

your hands!” Ethan shouted.

      Roni willed him to look away. Why did he have to come in now? She wasn’t ready for the disgust in his eyes when he saw what was beneath the silk. She wondered if she would ever be ready.

      And yet, at the same time she wanted to shield his view, a hope blossomed that her scars wouldn’t matter to him. What if he was different?

      Before the idea took root, Ethan frowned.

      Roni thought maybe the scars had already made an appearance, and he caught his first glimpse, but with the guard’s hands at her neck, she knew that wasn’t the case.

      Ethan could only be frowning because he already knew.

      After all, he’d checked her out.

      Disappointment waged war with anger. Both responses were enough for her to fight her own battles, and she twisted with all her might to free herself from the guard’s pawing hands.

      Ethan reached for the other man still holding her.

      But not fast enough.

      It was over before she knew it. One moment her neck was covered, the next, her imperfections were exposed for all to see...and judge.

      The man behind her dropped her as though she’d burned him. The one with her scarf held his hand frozen in midair. The Boss slowly stood, his hands gripping the edge of the table. She raised her gaze to his face and saw the familiar cringe, the distasteful curl of lips, but there was something different in his eyes that she was not used to seeing.

      Anger.

      Usually people’s eyes widened and they looked away to some sudden interesting occurrence off in the distance. A child might stare and snicker or point and ask what happened, but adults never did. But they also never turned eyes so boiling on her that her skin could melt again.

      “Kill her.”

      The words spilled from his lips in smooth clarity but bounced off her ears as her mind rejected the command as real.

      Then the man who held her arms down before wrapped an arm around her throat.

      Roni reached for his tightening forearm, knowing she couldn’t stop the quick death coming her way. She closed her eyes, but suddenly the arm fell away lifeless in her hand. She had no time to understand why, but a quick turn of her head showed Ethan dropping the unconscious man to the floor.

      He jerked his head to his left, and she took that as her cue to run for it, but a lift of his boot caught her attention. He reached for something and a tear of fabric could be heard.