A 'YES' OR A 'KILL ME'

His lips were only a breath away from the hairs on her neck, the nuzzle of his gun pressing deeper into her neck as each second passed without a reaction from her.

He smelled of rain and something else her mind couldn't conjure at that moment, he was warm but she could feel the coldness from the surface of his jacket.

"Get inside!"

She heard a click from the gun under her ear and her legs shook, it reminded her of the day she got her first period and how embarrassing it was for her.

Her body tended to shut down when it was too stressed when the pressure became too much and now she was feeling it right around the corner.

She would not let that happen!

A large hand came in front of her, long fingers that looked perfectly trimmed but yet had dirt caked up around them, he pushed the door open completely and let go of Halle's waist.

The next thing she knew, she was being forced into her apartment and thrown to the floor like a rag doll.

Her knees landed on her thick rug with a dull thud and her hands didn't manage to catch her in time.

She fell face flat to there ground, a grunt escaped her lips as she lifted her head from the ground and tried to turn around and see the man who was behind her. It was dark in her apartment, Halle remembered switching the lights off earlier in the day when she went out for her classes due to her severe fear of house fires and also the piling light bill in the mail that she knew she couldn't afford.

Now it seemed to have backfired as the man used the darkness to his advantage. His large figure was all she could see, from the shadows she could tell he was a muscular man, looked almost seven feet or something and he had something pointed at her face.

His gun.

She could faintly see the shape of it. Halle sucked in a breath, bit her lip, and brought her clammy palms to the sides of her jeans to wipe them off.

"You...You killed a man!" Then she stuttered and coughed. "I mean I...I…I didn't see anything!"

"I didn't say you did," came his gruff reply, his voice like velvet but yet suffocating the living shit out of her. Was she going to die, was this really how her life was going to end?

Great.

She'd only finally managed to pay for her first two semesters after three years of hard work and now she was going to die before she even finished the first semester.

"I…I have money, anything—" She choked from the lack of air, which was her fault, "I have money…"

That was a big lie, she only had about 20 dollars to her name currently but, Halle would do anything to keep herself alive.

"Hmm," Was that a scoff or a chuckle?

Halle could tell, she brought her knees up to her chest slowly and inched backward, moving closer to the window in hopes that she might be able to open it and jump out.

Her apartment was not big and there wasn't much space to run, the only advantage was that she knew its layout like the back of her hand, even in the darkness.

"Do you plan on jumping out the window?" Halle could hear the faint amusement in his tone like he didn't believe she would be able to get away from him.

"That won't work you know,"

He shook his head, "We're six stories up right now,"

Yeah. Thanks for the reminder, genius.

"And I also do not need your money,"

He laughed, "I doubt you have enough to even feed yourself daily,"

As his head turned to look at the state of the apartment, Halle took that as her chance and got up abruptly, heading for the window.

She almost tripped over her rug as she reached for the handle but the second she did, a hand caught hers and pulled her away from the window.

"Let go!"

Halle yelled, breathing heavily as she struggled out of the stranger's grip.

"You're insane!" She heard him mutter under his breath as he wrapped one large arm around her entire body and then pulled her closer to him, holding her in place.

"I will only let go if you behave," His lips were directly over her ear and her cheeks flushed from the contact.

"You…You're too close!" She said. When was the last time she'd let anyone come this close?

"Shut up!" he said with a grunt, next thing Halle knew, he was falling to the ground and taking her with him.

"Urgh!"

Halle felt the hardness of the rug beneath her body and then the quickening of breath behind her.

It wasn't her breathing. It was his.

"What—what the fuck do you think you're doing!" she cried out in frustration as she tried to push the man's body away.

"I am hurt," he simply replied like that was enough to make sense of this whole situation.

His voice sounded weaker.

"I need you to patch me up,"

She felt the nuzzle of the gun against the other side of her face.

Halle's brows creased and her nose crinkled in disbelief.

What?

He wanted what?

"You literally have a gun to my head!"

"Patch me up and I won't kill you," He retorted.

"You just admitted to seeing everything and, I also know you're a medical student." He said, his voice tinged with a dark tone.

If he was so injured, how did he still have the strength to hold her this tightly? Halle still struggled to get out of his grip, hopefully inflicting more pain on the bastard so she would have enough time to reach her phone and call the cops.

Damn it!

She should've reached for her phone instead of the window!

Halle blew out a strained breath, it was so hard trying to get out of his hold.

She wanted to scream but of course, she knew no one would hear her.

The walls were soundproof, despite the cheapness of each apartment.

"How do you know that?!" She exclaimed, her eyes narrowed in suspicion and her whole body screaming to create distance between them.

Did he do a background check on her? Where did he find the time between chasing her and finding out who she was?

Just who was this man?

"You left your student ID at the alley," He deadpanned. He looked almost bored as he spoke, pulling out a card from his pocket and handing it over to her.

Her student card.

Halle inhaled deeply.

Okay. Maybe she was thinking way too much, she read one too many mafia-related books and watched one too many mafia-related films and documentaries.

One can't just run a background check for one person in less than an hour!

"Please let me go," Halle begged with a whimper, this was not how she wanted to go.

"Patch me up and I'll be out of your hair,"He retorted, the resolve in his tone sounded like steel and his gaze dead serious.

"I will never—"

He tangled his fingers in her hair that had somehow come loose after all the scuffling, effectively shutting her up. Halle expected him to grip her hair even tighter just to prove his point but instead, his fingers remained in her hair like they were meant to be there, she hated how natural his warm fingers against her scalp felt in that moment.

"—You will and it will be done tonight, I have a gun pointed at your head, I am not asking." He said, that drop in his tone made her palms and feet cold.

Halle's breath quickened and she felt her head get lighter and lighter like it was disappearing.

Great, it was happening again.

She had to stay awake!

"Is that a yes or a 'kill me'?" He asked in a low voice laced with threat.

"I…yes, I'll do it!" She said obsequiously.

She was going to do it.