Rain Page 5

  The creak of the bathroom door that I kept meaning to oil brought me back to semi-consciousness a few minutes later. I stretched as far as the tub would allow. It was a deep, soaking tub, but not one of those absurd jacuzzi-style ones that you could swim in, so my arms and legs still bumped against the sides.

  Footsteps moved across the bathroom’s tile floor. I spoke to Philip without bothering to open my eyes. “Is dinner ready?”

  Wool rustled by the head of the tub as though he was kneeling down beside it in his good dress pants, but there was no answer.

  “Philip?” I opened my eyes.

  Expecting as I was to see Philip, I smiled. It took my steam-relaxed brain an extra moment too long to catch up with what my eyes were seeing. Someone was in the room, but it wasn’t Philip. The figure leaning over me was dressed all in black. A black ski mask covered his face.

  My heart launched into my throat. I jerked upright, instinctively crossing my arms over my bare breasts. “Who…?” My words caught on the inside of my throat and faded into stunned silence.

  The masked stranger reached toward me. One black gloved hand slid around my throat while the other clamped over my mouth. Together they pushed me back against the side of the tub. The bathroom flashed a blinding white. For a second, I saw two of everything then pain seeped into my head like molten lava.

  I screamed. Trying to alert Philip to my situation. The sound bubbled up from my chest but couldn’t make it past the hand squeezing my windpipe.

  My assailant leaned toward me. The ski mask became a dark blur, all I could see were the bright blue eyes and lips pressed together thin as a pencil line. I reached for those eyes. If I could dig my fingers into them, maybe I’d get free.

  But he was too strong. My head was smashed to the side of the tub again. I couldn’t get leverage, so I took the only option left to me. I bit down hard in the gloved hand covering my mouth.

  He howled in fury, then shoved me into the bathtub wall again and under the water. Bath salts stung my eyes. Hot water burned my tongue and invaded my throat. I thrashed. My right hand finding the cloth of his mask, I raked desperate fingers across his face, but he refused to let go. His hand was strong, and he leaned his weight into my throat, crushing it.

  Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.

  It had been a long, long time since my mother and I had last danced in front of the window of our tiny one-bedroom apartment and sang that silly nursery rhyme at the Boston clouds. It echoed now through my head, a part of the jumble of my disconnected thoughts.

  His eyes were so blue. Only Philip’s eyes could rival their color.

  I didn’t tell Philip that Marianne and Tom wanted to double-date this weekend.

  Rain, rain, go away.

  My mouth tasted of blood, eucalyptus and leather.

  It had been rainy today. That’s probably why everything that had gone wrong today. Rainy days were never good days.

  Rayne, Rayne, go away…

  Coming Soon

  Rain: Wash Away My Sins book 2 coming to Amazon this July

  Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed the story, please leave a review on Amazon or GoodReads or even drop me a line. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

  We are looking for 100 people to join our Advanced Reader Team. If you are interested, please contact me at streetcapes@paulsunn.com

  Also Coming this July…

  To protect his brother, Jack Clifton paid the ultimate price. He lost his family and his freedom both in one night. All that matters now is finding his daughter, no matter who he has to go through.

  Incognito: The More Things Change is a superhero serial coming this July to Amazon from Alex Radash & Paul Sunn.

  Gladys Ginsbrum thought moving to New York would be just like the black and white movies she loved. But instead of glitz, glamour and red-carpet runways she spends her days being berated and belittled in her high-fashion job as a gopher. Pinned under the over-manicured thumb of a tyrant, she refuses to let the city break her. Going home is not an option.

  Her secret weapon arrives in a plain brown box, and smells of mothballs. NYC beware.

  The Cape: Bad Sketches is a superheroine serial coming this July to Amazon from Alice Chase & Paul Sunn

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