Bodyguard: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (Snake Eyes Book 1) by Tabatha Kiss Read Free Book Online

for him to answer me but I still hear nothing.
    I step out of the tub and grab my robe to cover up before rushing over to the closet. My fingers wrap around the handle of a baseball bat — the one a young, single girl living alone keeps stashed away for times just like this. I hold the bat tight and move to the door. There’s still no sound coming from the hallway. I grit my teeth in anger. Smith isn’t the type to mess around. If he is playing a prank, it’s entirely unwelcome. However, I’d much rather this be a prank than anything else.
    The floorboards squeak in the hall.
    I grip the bat a little harder. It doesn’t sound like Smith’s black loafers. These are boots, hard and loud. They tap down the hall, inching closer toward the bathroom door. My entire body shakes. Water drips down my legs. Muscles twitch and ache.
    A hand grips the doorknob and it twists back and forth.
    I lay a palm against my mouth to keep from screaming.
    The door flies open, smashed in by a single kick of his boot. My feet slip in the water beneath me and I fall to the floor. The bat clatters away, rolling towards the sink in the corner.
    It’s him .
    I look up into his eyes, the only bit of his skin visible behind the black mask and tactical gear, and scream. I spin onto my knees to crawl away, but he’s on me fast, grabbing me by my wet hair. He pulls me around and slams me back down to the floor. My head smacks the hard tile and pain crashes down my spine as he mounts me and wraps his hands around my neck.
    He doesn’t squeeze. I expect to feel my lungs gasping for air but he doesn’t choke me. He sits there with wide eyes, staring down into mine as if to memorize my fear. It won’t last. Any moment now he’ll flex his fingers and my trachea will crush beneath the weight.
    This is it. This is how I die.
    “Mercer…” I say.
    His grip loosens. “How do you know my name?” he asks, tilting his head at me. There’s confusion in his blue eyes, but I detect playful amusement dancing behind it all.
    “He told me—”
    “Who told you?”
    He leans in so close, I can smell his stale breath behind the mask. I quiver in his tight grasp. “Fox Fitzpatrick,” I answer.
    His eyes grow wide with pleasure — even more so than they were before choking the life out of me. “Fox Fitzpatrick?” he repeats the name. “So he is here.”
    I nod.
    “Oh…” His laughter, dark and cold, rattles my core. He draws me closer to his wild eyes. “I knew it… I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist this…” He grabs me and raises me off the floor, standing me in front of him like a human shield. “Fox! Take the shot! I dare you!”
    I furrow my brow in confusion as Mercer pushes me forward towards the windows. He reaches up and rips the blinds open to look outside, keeping me in front of him at all times. I scan the buildings across the street, seeing nothing.
    “Fox!” he shouts again, laughter shaking his throat. Mercer grips the back of my neck even tighter and pulls me backward as he steps to the door. “You can end this now, Fox! Just shoot her through the heart and you’ll hit me, too!”
    I cringe, fear stalling my movement. Mercer tugs me along with him into the hallway, slowing down before we reach the living room.
    Smith. I see him there, lying face down on the floor of the kitchen next to his toppled chair. Mercer keeps me close, refusing to let me run away as he creeps closer to the door.
    “Fox!” Mercer shouts again. “You can follow me down the stairs and shoot me once I reach the street… or you can take out the guys I have on the ground floor, ready to run up here and slit her throat. It’s up to you.”
    He shoves me forward and launches himself out the front door, hiding from the windows as he charges towards the elevator. I rush into the kitchen and fall onto my knees by Smith. “Oh, god — get up .” I push him over onto his back and wince at his blood-covered face. His skin is warm, alive. I check his neck