The Last Five Days: The Complete Novel: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller by Paul Seiple Page B

her index finger on her chin and looked to the ceiling as if she were thinking. She smiled. "Not even Ryan Gosling."
    Dean flashed a half smile. "Liar." His smile widened. He fell back onto the couch.
    Melanie scooted over and took her place between his legs again. Dean pulled her hair away from her neck and massaged her shoulders.
    "I'm sorry about earlier," Melanie said between soft moans.
    "Sorry?"
    "I wasn't trying to pry into your past."
    "You weren't prying. Nothing to be sorry for." Dean kissed the top of Melanie's head. "I'm not proud of some of the things I've done."
    "We've all done stupid things in the past. It's OK. I didn't know you then. I know you now. That's all that matters."
    Dean pressed his thumbs a little deeper into Melanie's shoulders. He hit a knot that sent pain to her neck. She winced and shifted her weight away from the pain.
    "Sorry." Dean eased his fingers to a gentle touch.
    "No, it felt good. Hurt, but felt good. I've always held tension in my shoulders."
    Dean increased the pressure. Another moan escaped Melanie.
    "You were so beautiful the first time I saw you."
    Melanie pulled Dean's hand away from her shoulder. She kissed the protruding veins. "I thought you were handsome too. My heart may have fluttered a bit." She pressed Dean's hand to her chest.
    "I'll never forget that night."
    "Night? Don't tell me you have me confused with someone else. We met at lunch at Luther's." Melanie let out a short, hard laugh.
    Dean took his other hand away from Melanie. "I'm not confused. I meant night."
    Dean's words were muffled. Melanie pushed his hand away from her and she turned to face him. Fear stopped her heart. Dean was wearing a clown mask. Not just any clown mask. It was identical to the mask one of the robbers wore in New York.
    Melanie sprang to her feet, tripping over the edge of an area rug. She fell and hit the back of her head on the coffee table. She was out cold.
    Dean lifted the mask from his face. "I swear, if you killed yourself before I get the pleasure." He pulled the mask over his face, lifted Melanie, and tossed her over his shoulder.

    * * *
    D on't think about moving or I'll put a bullet in your forehead.
    Melanie opened her eyes and gasped as if hands were wrapped around her throat, stealing life. She jerked her arms, but they only moved a few inches. The force felt as though it ripped her shoulder out of its socket. Melanie tried to move her legs. No budging.
    "Feisty."
    Dean rocked in the rocking chair given to Melanie after her grandfather's death. She loved that chair. When she was a little girl, her Paw Paw used to sit in the chair and read her stories while she played with her dolls. Dean picked his fingernails with a knife. The butcher knife that Melanie insisted he arm himself with for protection. Dean hummed along with the creaking of the thirty-year-old chair. Melanie's heart fluttered, but this was much different from the first time, or at least what she thought was the first time, she had seen Dean. His face was hidden beneath the mask that chased sleep away from Melanie. Throbbing pain from the fall pricked her neck. She tried to move her arm again. No luck.
    "You hit your head pretty hard. You'll probably have a nasty bump. On the bright side, you're not bleeding." Dean stuck the knife into the arm of the rocking chair, digging into the wood as he wrote something. "I had to tie you up. I remember you're a fast runner."
    "You followed me here? How did you find me?"
    "Internet. You can find anything on the Internet. I would have been here sooner, but when you're in jail, traveling takes a backseat."
    "Why? I didn't see your face. You got away with it."
    "I fell in love with you at first sight."
    Melanie showed fear that night in the alley. The two clowns got off on it. Months after the robbery, her purse, cash, and credit cards were replaced, but Melanie couldn't get back the dignity she felt she lost that night. Giggles from the clowns as she begged for her life