PROLOGUE

Present Day- Stephanie's POV

"No, no, no, no, NO! Dammit!" I yelled, banging my fists on the steering wheel in frustration. "You piece of shit, good for nothing, hunk of JUNK!"

Despite my protests, my crappy car glided to a stop on the side of the deserted road. The engine was ominously silent. Never mind the fact that I'd had the vehicle for fewer than two weeks and the car salesman at Happy Bob's swore it was in tip top condition.

I growled. Just wait. I was going to tip top Happy Bob's happy ass in the very near future.

Thunking my head on the steering wheel a few times, I tried to collect myself.

No problemo, Steph. Just get your phone and call someone to get you, Rational Stephanie piped up.

I snorted derisively at Rational Stephanie. Someone?Let's be honest. There's only one man to call in this situation.

I began digging in my purse for my phone, prepared to call Batman for yet another rescue. After a few moments, I was hit with the unhappy realization that my cell phone was no longer. It had been a tight month for my finances and the skips weren't doing much skipping in the baking heat of Trenton's polluted summer. When it came to choosing between food and my cell phone plan, I chose to eat.

Duh.

Unfortunately, eating wasn't helping me much right now. I'd been out late, doing a hail mary surveillance drive-by on my lone FTA. I found through a Rangeman search that my skip might be staying with a cousin in Newark. So here I was, nowhere near Trenton, broken down on the side of a dark road with absolutely no traffic and in a seedy area. At night. Without a cell phone.

"Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie," I mumbled. "When are you going to grow up and stop letting this shit happen to you? What the hell are you going to do now?"

You could look at the engine and try to see what's wrong, Rational Stephanie replied.

Are you freaking kidding me? Unless the whole damn thing is missing, that's going to help me not at all, I thought back furiously.

I sighed. It really was useless. Of course I couldn't find the problem. I have the mechanical ability of a squirrel. Let's be honest- I can't diagnose and fix the non-mechanical problems in my life. Joe was working undercover in Philly, Ranger was…Ranger, and my mother was still driving me crazy with her fifteen thousand phone calls each day.

I glanced at my watch. 1:34 a.m. Great. So far I'd been sitting in this traitorous car for about 15 minutes and hadn't seen a soul.

Of course, I already had to pee. Bah.

I mentally reviewed my options. They didn't look so good. Finally, I decided that there really wasn't anything I could do at the moment, so I might as well get comfortable. I shrugged, made sure my doors were locked, then leaned my seat back. When under stress, take a nap. That's my motto. With any luck, I'd get a ride in the morning from a concerned and hunky good Samaritan who would whisk me away to the Hamptons for a week of living the high life and fantastic…shopping.

Rational Stephanie laughed scornfully. Dream on.

I rolled my eyes at Rational Stephanie. Okay, fine. How about a concerned citizen who will let me borrow their phone? Happy now?

ssssssssssssssssssssssssss

There are times where I wake up slowly, feeling relaxed and like I have all the time in the world. Other times, I feel like I've been given a hit from a stun gun with all my senses on full alert and ready to bolt. Of course, these are usually the times when some crazy is about to attack me.

This was one of those latter situations.

I jolted awake, my spidey senses going wild. Eyes wide and confused, it took me a beat to remember where I was. I looked at my watch and saw that it was only 2:54. Regardless of the time, I had an ominous feeling that something bad was about to happen. Cautiously, I leaned up to peer through the windshield.

Gulp. I swear I think my heart stopped. Holding my breath, I watched as a group of men sauntered down the road towards my car. The best I could tell, there were probably eight or ten of them, and I was pretty stinking sure they didn't fall into the concerned and hunky category I'd been hoping for.

Instantly, I was taken back fourteen years to that terrifying night in college.