Chapter 1
Jenna Browning lifted the wooden spoon to her lips to taste the pasta sauce she’d spent the last half hour making. It was perfect. She smiled to herself as she glanced up at the clock hanging in the brightly colored kitchen and sighed, worry creasing her forehead. Talia, her roommate, should have been home by now. If she wasn’t home soon, Jenna would call her. She had said she was meeting some friends and she’d be home by nine, and now, it was almost ten pm.
Living in New York City was unsafe for two single young women, especially at night, and Jenna and Talia always kept each other aware of where they were.
She glanced around the kitchen for her phone to call Talia, and just as she spotted it lying on the end table in the living room, she heard the sound of keys in the door lock. She breathed a small sigh of relief and turned her attention back to her sauce. She was going to kill her roommate for not letting her know where she was.
“Jenna!” Her scream ripped through the apartment, setting Jenna’s teeth on edge.
She rushed out of the kitchen at her roommate’s cry, the spoon in her hands all but forgotten as she dripped sauce across the floor. “Good grief, Talia, must you be so dramatic about everything?” She cut herself off at the sight of her roommate.
Talia Sanders stood in the doorway, bent over, her hands clutching her stomach as blood seeped heavily through her fingers.
“Talia!” Jenna exclaimed. “What happened?” She dropped the spoon and hurried over to her friend, helping her onto the couch.
Talia carefully stretched out on her back, whimpering a bit. Jenna pulled her hands away before lifting her shirt. Four long slashes crossed her stomach, and blood oozed out from the deep wounds. She gasped softly as she stared at the deep cuts.
“I was attacked,” she murmured, biting her lip to keep from saying anything more.
“By what?” Jenna shouted, staring in shock at Talia’s exposed stomach. The slashes looked deep and like they’d be made by an animal. Almost like she’d met a large cat.
“Jenna, can you go grab some towels? I have to get this bleeding stopped.” Talia pulled her shirt down and rested her hands over her wounds, grimacing in pain and completely ignoring her question.
Jenna pursed her lips but ran down the hall and grabbed some towels out of the closet. She headed back to the living room and gently placed the towels over her wounds. Jenna looked Talia over for any more injuries and noticed slashes on her neck as well, though they weren’t nearly as bad as the ones on her abdomen. If they were, more than likely, her friend would be dead. “Your neck is slashed too.”
Talia reached a hand up to the wounds and sighed. “They’re not bad,” she said and squeezed her eyes shut.
“What happened?” Jenna demanded again, keeping pressure on her wound.
Talia opened her blue eyes and met Jenna’s green ones. “I ...” she sighed. “I was attacked in Central Park,” she said reluctantly.
“We need to call the police...” Jenna started before
Talia grabbed her arm with surprising strength, cutting her off. “NO! We cannot get the police involved.” Talia said.
Jenna frowned as she took a step back, studying her friend, confused at her vehemence. She had been viciously attacked, probably by a wild animal from the look of her wounds. Someone needed to do something. Others could get injured if the attacker wasn’t stopped. Someone could end up dead.
Talia pulled herself up off the couch, still clutching the towel to her stomach, and turned to face her friend. “I absolutely cannot get the police involved.” She pushed her long blond hair behind her ear. She winced when some of it stuck to the bloody scratches on her neck.
“Will you at least go to the emergency room?” Jenna pleaded as she too stood. “You really need stitches. Those wounds are deep.” Talia, in general, was pretty easygoing, but once she made up her mind about something, there was no changing it, and arguing with her was a waste of time.
“No. The emergency room will lead to the police, and I just can’t get them involved. I’ll be fine.” She pulled the towel away from her stomach, checking her wound again. Blood seeped out, making her sigh. “I’m going to take a quick shower. Will you help me clean my wounds after?” she asked, pressing the towel to her wound again.
Jenna nodded and sighed, watching her head down the hall towards the bathroom. Talia had lived in the city her whole life. What on earth would have possessed her to go to Central Park this late at night? Jenna had only lived here for six months, and she knew better. She headed down the hall to find the first aid kit.
Jenna had come to New York City mostly as a way to get away from her overbearing father and spread her wings. She loved her dad, but the man was a bit controlling. Her father was a general in the Marine Corps, and some days, he forgot to take his uniform off when he came home. When Jenna hit sixteen, she already had plans for moving out, but she was smart and knew she needed to plan carefully, or she’d end up trapped back at home.
Her family had taken a trip to New York City when she was younger, and she had been so mesmerized by it all, she had decided that was where she wanted to live. Jenna meticulously did her research and realized she’d need quite a bit of money if she wanted to make it work. New York was not a cheap place to live. It had taken her until she was twenty before she felt confident enough with the money she’d saved up to move there on her own.
Her parents hadn’t been happy with her decision, but they had still supported her. Her mother had even helped her look for a place to live. Her first apartment had been a small studio and was a month-to-month lease. She’d found a job waitressing at a high-end cafe, something she’d had plenty of experience doing during her teenage years, and that was where she’d met Talia.
She and Jenna had hit it off immediately and quickly became good friends. When Jenna told Talia where she lived, she suggested that they become roommates. She knew the owner of the cafe they worked at quite well, and he offered them a place in the same building. The apartment had two bedrooms and was much nicer than Jenna’s previous place. It was also much cheaper. They’d moved in three months ago and turned the two-bedroom apartment into a home.
Talia, for the most part, was fun to live with. She was a year younger than Jenna's twenty years old, and always full of life, but Jenna knew there were things she didn’t share, secrets she kept locked tightly away. Like why she was in Central Park at ten o’clock at night. Jenna knew she could press her for answers, not that she’d get any, but she really didn’t want to stress Talia out. For now, she’d just take care of her the best she could.
Jenna sat on Talia’s bed to wait for her to get out of the shower. She walked in a few moments later and dropped the towel she had wrapped around her body.
Talia had no problem with nudity, something Jenna wasn’t accustomed to, having grown up in a house with three brothers. She paraded around half-naked most of the time, and Jenna honestly couldn’t blame her. Talia had long blond hair and big blue eyes. Her skin was flawless and tanned to a golden honey color. She had a perfect, athletic body and legs for miles. If Jenna had a body like hers, she’d walk around naked, too.
Talia pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee before laying down on her bed and pulling up her shirt. Jenna stared at her wounds, watching the nasty cuts ooze blood. At least they were starting to clot now and not bleeding as much as they had been before her shower.
“Tal, I really think you need those stitched up,” Jenna tried again, as she carefully set to work cleaning the wounds. She frowned as she eyed them. Was it her imagination, or were they already starting to look a little better?
“For the last time, Jenna, I am not going to the emergency room. Now, lay off already!” she said curtly with a growl before closing her eyes in frustration.
Jenna was shocked at her outburst but focused her attention back on her task, not saying anything else.
Talia sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just in a lot of pain. If you don’t want to help me, you don’t have to. I can take care of it myself.”
Jenna shook her head as she opened up the first aid kit. “It’s fine. Let me clean your wounds and get you something for the pain, and we can assess you again in the morning.”
Talia nodded and allowed her friend to clean and bandage her wound before turning to her neck. To Jenna’s surprise, the cuts had already scabbed over. “I think those will be okay,” she said, closing the kit and pushing it over to the side.
Talia didn’t reply. Jenna left the room and found her roommate some painkillers and a glass of water. She looked over at the dinner she’d been preparing before Talia had burst in and grimaced as she realized it was burnt. She sighed, flipped off the stove, and moved the dishes to the sink. It could wait until morning.
When she returned to Talia’s room, Talia was already asleep. Jenna set the meds and water down on the nightstand before heading to her own room. She grabbed a blanket and her pillow off of her bed before going back to Talia’s room and making herself as comfortable as she could on the floor. It took a bit for her to shut her mind down, but she finally drifted off.
Talia had a restless night, not able to stay asleep for any real length of time. She wasn’t pleased when she found Jenna sleeping in her room. “Jenna, you don’t have to stay in here.”
“I know, but I’m worried about you,” Jenna said, sitting up and leaning over the bed to check her bandages. Fortunately, there was no blood visible.
“I’ll be okay. I’m a quick healer,” she said, and Jenna laid her head back down on her pillow before dozing back off. Start writing here…
