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  “Joey, run!” Will’s voice startled her coming from the red robe of her rescuer.

  It hadn’t been him on the pedestal after all! He ran for the group of similarly dressed figures approaching him. And it was a smart thing to do because he would be hard to identify.

  Heartened that Will was okay, empowered by a single chance to survive, Joey ran after him, straight-arming the first man who came at her as they fled the stage. Another grabbed her robe from behind and she turned into a hard kick with her left foot, connecting solidly with his midsection. When he still didn’t let go, Will turned back and ran for him, his fist driving into the man’s nose and sending him flying backwards to free her.

  Will grabbed her wrist in a tight grip and they ran for all they were worth past the pedestal and into the audience, easily maneuvering through the black-robed participants to the stairs that led to the platform where they’d first watched the ceremony.

  They ran like hell out of Cranford Hall and into the night. Joey’s chest hurt but kept her legs moving as they sped out onto the lawn leading to the main university parking lot. Will never let go, holding onto her as they ran.

  “Come on!” Will pointed to a town bus stopping to pick up passengers at a stop several feet ahead.

  Joey wouldn’t have thought she could run any more at such a pace, but somehow she kept running, keeping up with Will who had longer legs and a wider stride. The bus appeared about to pull away then stopped abruptly so someone had seen them. The doors reopened and they flew up the stairs and plopped down into a seat near the front.

  Joey craned around in her seat expecting to see someone right behind them, but she saw nothing in the darkness save for the lights in the parking lot and a few students walking to or from their cars.

  “Dudes, what kind of party did you just come from?”

  The bus driver looked about twenty years old and had spiked blond hair and a goatee. Will caught his breath enough to speak before she did.

  “A wild one!” he answered before pulling Joey across his lap and capturing her mouth for a searing kiss that took her breath away.

  Joey didn’t look to see what the bus driver made of that. She looked up from the cradle of Will’s arms, almost afraid to believe that they’d made it out and that Will was there with her.

  “How?” was all Joey managed to ask.

  Will’s chuckle was deep, but there were shadows behind his eyes. “You’re not the only one with survival instincts, G.I. Jane. I managed to get a hand out when I was strapped to that table and just in time because the guy I cold-cocked was about to shove a vibrator up my ass.”

  “I thought we were going to die,” she whispered, her eyes locked with his deep blue ones. “I was waiting to die and… Rafe…”

  “You couldn’t save him, Joey,” Will said.

  “I know.” But that didn’t lessen the guilt she felt at his horrible death, the pain she felt for a man who couldn’t let go of his love.

  “Shh.” Will pulled her close to his heart. “We made it out. That’s all that matters.”

  Joey hung onto him, listening to the hammering of his heart. “Thank God,” she whispered into his chest. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “What?” Will lifted her up so he could look into her eyes. “What did you say?”

  Joey took a deep breath, swallowed hard.

  “I thought I lost you, Will.” And that had scared the hell out of her. “If something had happened…”

  Will’s eyes darkened before he crushed her in his arms, oblivious to the few passengers scattered through the bus watching them or the bus driver shaking his head.

  “But it didn’t, Joey,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m here.”

  He knows my name!

  Joey tilted her head back for a long, slow kiss as the bus pulled off the campus and headed into town. She and Will never saw the young man hammering a missing person poster to a light pole in front of the alleyway where they’d made love. It was a picture of a pretty girl with long black hair with a red stripe painted in it.

  The young man hanging the missing person posters was the brother of a girl who’d just arrived at Woods University. Jennifer Wenham had been missing for three days and her brother Mark vowed to search heaven and hell for her.

  Mark Wenham couldn’t shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach that it just might come to that.

  To be continued…

  Isabella Jordan

  By day Isabella is an instructor at a university in her native Virginia. By night she writes erotic tales and fantasies -- and eats chocolate! In her spare time she enjoys life. While Isabella enjoys spending quiet time with her family and reading, she also enjoys bungee jumping, hiking, walking in the rain, rock ‘n’ roll, and volunteering at her local women’s shelter.