Red Herring ✔️

4. Witches' Woods

Oh God, this is how she was going to die...

"Shh," a gravelly voice hushed in her ear, using his brute strength to press her into the tree behind her.

Mazie slowed her breathing, her breath hot on his hand which still covered her mouth. As the haze cleared, her eyes focused on her assailant. 

"You're so stupid for coming out here at night by yourself," he growled. Christian Slater pressed her back into the tree, keeping her immovable with the arm around her back. He forced his knee between her legs, trapping her. His hold on her loosened the more she calmed down. Mazie made a conscious effort to take deep breaths and to center herself logically and not emotionally.

"I'll let you go, but you can't scream," he whispered in her ear.

He was so close that she could see his eyes dilate with the movements of the flickering fire. Mazie nodded her head.

Peeling back his fingers, Christian removed his hand from her mouth at the same time that she wormed her arms between them and flattened her palms on his chest as a protective barrier.

The moment his shoulders relaxed, Mazie balled her hand into. fist and beat him on the chest. "How dare you!" Christian Slater squirmed to cover himself and also silence her. "Jiminey Christmas! You scared me half to death!" She harshly whispered, conveying her fear through her tone.

To keep her still again, Christian squeezed her tightly, using his body weight to mold his form to hers and glue her to the tree. His eyes darkened in anger. "Good. Maybe you won't go out into the woods alone ever again. You're so stupid," he repeated, rolling his eyes.

His words sliced the fear out of her head and replaced it with, perhaps misplaced, anger. "What? Are you going to rape me?" 

His face screwed up in horrid distaste. "Do I look like I"m going to rape you? He almost lost his cool but Christian tempered his tone for the sake of their safety. 

Mazie shoved him off of her and he let her. "I don't know! I don't know you!"

"I don't know you!" He reasoned back, shoving a hand through his hair. The crisp wind turned his nose and ears pink as his blood flowed through his major body parts to ward off the cold. 

"Yes, you do." She jabbed a finger into his chest. "You were watching me in the library."

He didn't say anything. Just swallowed. 

"Like a creep."

"I'm not a creep."

Not what it looked like from where she was standing. "Yes, you are."

Christian grew more irritated by the second, his brow furrowing agitatedly. "Maybe you are. You're the one out here lurking in the woods, spying on them." 

He said them with familiarity. Like he knew who they were. 

"So are you, Einstein!" She ground out through gritted teeth, pointing a finger accusingly at him. When he didn't respond, Mazie continued the interrogation. "Did you put that note in my locker?"

Christian narrowed his gaze, tilted back his chin, and looked menacingly down his nose at her. "What note?"

"A note with this address on it." Becoming more aware of her surroundings and the people at the bonfire yards away, Mazie lowered her voice and stepped closer to him so that her words didn't travel. Briefly, she noticed his faint scent, something primal and uniquely male. "You saw me look it up on the computer."