Bad Boy vs Millionaire by Candy J Starr Page A

the kitchen bench when I fell. I reached up but I couldn't feel blood, just a huge lump.
    Jack fell back onto the couch and I wasn't sure whether to wake him completely or to just let him go back to sleep. He probably had no idea what had happened. It wasn't him. It was like he was not there, in his head. Something else had taken over.
    I couldn’t stay in the house with him. Not in that state. If something had taken over Jack’s body, I didn’t want to be with that something.
    I got up but my legs weren’t steady. I could hear something in the kitchen but I didn’t want to check what it was. I held my breath.
    Obviously , Eric hadn't come home and Jack was not Jack. I tiptoed back up the stairs, trying not to make a noise. Every creak or groan had me terrified that he’d come after me.
    I tried to get some air into my lungs and wondered if I should call Angie. But he’d hear me on the phone. He’d even hear me texting. The house had gone an unholy type of silent.
    I didn’t think Jack would want me to tell Angie about this anyway.
    I tried to remember what Eric had told me last time this had happened but all he’d said was that they left Jack alone.
    I grabbed my clothes and tried to dress as quietly as I could. I threw some other things into a small bag. I focused on doing what I had to do. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to let my mind dwell on any of the possibilities.
    Then I crept back downstairs, staying close to the walls so he couldn't sneak back up behind me. I slowly turned the handle on the front door, holding my breath, scared that even the sound of my breathing would wake him again. I didn't know why he acted like that or what triggered it but I sure as hell never wanted to deal with him like that again.
    A strange rumbling noise made me jump and pressed myself into the space near the door, trying to make myself invisible. After a minute, the noise still continued but nothing had attacked me.
    I looked over and realised Jack was on the couch, snoring in his sleep. What was in that man’s head that made him act like that? It had to have been something major that scrambled up his brains.
    Part of me wanted to go over and soothe him somehow but I wasn’t sure what I could do.
    Once I got safely outside, I got out my phone and called for a taxi. I had the keys to the new apartment in my bag and everything I needed there. I could come back later for the rest of my stuff.

Chapter 15.      Hannah
    I couldn’t sleep at the new apartment. I checked the time. Again. Then I put down my phone. I couldn't spend all night watching the minutes tick over in front of my Jack Colt wallpaper. Erk, that pic was so crappy. I needed to change it so I didn't have to see his face every time I used my phone.
    Angie had snapped the photo during my homecoming party and set it as the wallpaper on my phone. Then she'd done the same to Jack. At the time, I had been secretly pleased. I would never have been able to bring myself to suggest something so cheesy but it was okay when Angie did it. She could do that kind of thing and make it a joke, yet real at the same time.
    I didn't even need the phone because I had a clock beside my bed, noisily ticking off each second. I turned my phone off to avoid the temptation of looking at that photo.
    When daylight crept through the gap in my curtains, I figured I might as well get up and do something productive.
    I thought about ringing Angie and getting her to come over. We could get coffee and bitch about Jack. But Angie would ask questions and have opinions. I didn't feel like coping with that right then. Instead, I decided to have a shower then run down to the shops to get some necessities.
    From the street outside, I could see all the way down to the docks, a sparkle of water framed by the towering buildings. I hadn't noticed that when we'd come to look at the apartment but then, maybe it couldn't be seen in the bustle of people and traffic during the workday. Now, the