CHAPTER THIRTY

Hannah sensed that this situation was in danger, spiraling out of control. She decided to make one last attempt to rein it in before resorting to more desperate measures.

"Clayton," she said, hoping she sounded calm and confident, "if you think that stalking someone has legal consequences, think about what you're doing. Physically threatening someone, which you are on the verge of, has life-altering consequences. You'd be destroying your future. Take a moment to reconsider your choices here."

He took another step toward her, seemingly undeterred.

"I used to worry about that," he acknowledged. "But the truth is that none of the other girls talked after the fact. They must have known that saying something would be worse for them than just letting it go. So I figure you'll keep your mouth shut too."

Hannah's heart was beating near out of her chest now, but she reminded herself that she'd been in situations more dire than this and come through them. That thought cleared her head. When she spoke, there was no hesitation in her voice.

"You're forgetting something, Clayton," she said.

"What's that?"

"I'm not like other girls."

Clayton, seemingly turned on by her words, licked his lips. Then he leapt at her.

He was quicker than she had anticipated, slamming into her and sending her colliding with the back wall of the study room. With one forearm pressed against her chest, he grabbed at the button of her jeans, trying to pop it open.

She reminded herself not to panic and waited until he got frustrated and looked down to see what he was doing. That's when she pulled her right arm back, then fired it up and forward, smashing the bridge of his nose with the meaty part of her open palm.

Clayton released his arm from her chest as he reached for his face, allowing her to scurry away. But before she could dash to the door, he stepped into her path.

"You're going to regret that," he growled .

Behind him, on the other side of the glass, she suddenly saw movement. It took her a second to process that it was Finn, walking over with a confused look on his face. Because the room was soundproofed, he clearly didn't understand what was happening. But she couldn't worry about that. Clayton had recovered enough to smile again, oblivious to the blood dripping down from his nose into his mouth. He took a giant step toward her.

This time she maneuvered behind the chair that Clayton had been sitting in earlier, and gripped the back of it, as if it was some kind of shield. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that her action had given Finn an idea. He picked up the chair just outside the room that she'd been sitting in and held it up high over his head as if he was going to smash the glass with it.

Clayton got her attention again when unexpectedly, he dove at her. She let go of the chair and kicked it at him, aware that it wasn't going to stop his forward progress. But it did make him stumble slightly as he neared her. That was enough.

As he got to her, she launched her knee upward, making contact with his groin. Just as she connected, she heard glass smashing. She ignored it. Clayton had doubled over in pain but was still standing. Again, she opened her right hand and locked her wrist. This time she came at him with an uppercut, slamming her palm into the underside of his chin. She heard his jaw snap shut as he toppled backward onto the carpeted floor.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the chair she'd kicked at him, flipped it around so that she was holding it by the legs, and thrust it downward, pinning the top of it to Clayton's neck, jamming it up against his Adam's apple. He appeared too stunned to struggle. Then she looked over at Finn, who was standing in a sea of broken glass, staring at her, dumbfounded.

"There are zip ties in the small back pocket of my backpack over there," she said evenly, nodding to the right. "Get them please."

Finn nodded without speaking. As he dashed over to her backpack, Hannah tossed the chair away and dropped down heavily, slamming her knee into Clayton's gut. He groaned. She lifted her leg up just enough to flip him onto his stomach. Then she pressed her knees into his lower back and pinned his right arm behind it.

"Ow!" he squealed .

Finn appeared at the now non-existent door, with a shocked expression on his face and the zip ties in his clenched fist. She extended her hand, and he tossed them to her.

"Can you please call campus police while I deal with him?"

Again, Finn nodded silently as he pulled out his phone. While he called, she proceeded to tie Clayton's wrists together behind his back. Then she had an idea. She took another tie, and attached it to Clayton's ankle before connecting it to a leg of the desk he'd been sitting at only minutes earlier. Satisfied that it was secure, she stood up. Finn was just finishing the call.

"Yes, at the very back of the fourth floor, at the study rooms behind the stacks. We'll be waiting."

He hung up and looked at her, still stunned.

"They said to hang tight," he told her, sounding like he was in shock. "They'll be here within two minutes."

"Great," she said. "I think we'll get by until then. Are you okay?"

"I will be," he answered. "Are you?"

"Mostly," she said. "Don't forget, I've been through stuff like this before."

"Oh yeah," he said, still sounding uncertain. "I haven't."

"You did good," she told him, trying to shake him out of his disorientation.

"Thanks?" he said hesitantly, managing an embarrassed smile. "I feel like it's an understatement to say this, but so did you."

"Thanks," she said with a laugh, stepping over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Showing up," she said. "I thought you were going to be late because you needed food."

"I decided food could wait," he told her. "I realized this was more important."

"My hero," she said, batting her eyes playfully.

"Are you kidding?" he exclaimed, seeming to be returning to his old self a bit. "You're my hero. You're such a badass. How did you stay so calm and collected through all that?"

She sighed.

"Unfortunately, I've had a lot of practice," she told him. "I'm just keeping it together until the cops get here. Then the shaking will kick in. "

Finn nodded sympathetically. On the floor behind them, Clayton groaned again. Finn looked in his direction.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"I'll get into it later," she said, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Let's just say that Clayton wasn't exactly what he seemed to be."

"Well, apparently neither are you," Finn said, then grinned mischievously. "Would you like a return kiss in acknowledgement of your accomplishment?"

"We can see about that later," she told him. "Right now, let's just get this guy to the cops."

"Understood," Finn said. "Sorry to be so glib."

"That's okay," she told him, "but I wouldn't mind a hug right now."

"Sure," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in tight.

It was then, when she finally felt safe, that the shaking began.