by S. Nelson
“Fine, but if I think he’s being too possessive over you, I’m gonna say something to him.”
I had no doubt she would. Carla had come to be a good friend over the short time I’d known her, so I didn’t take any offense to her threatening to stick her nose further into my business. Besides, I thought it just might be worth watching that interaction between the two of them. For amusement purposes.
The next few hours passed relatively quickly. The crowd grew in size, and thankfully everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. Surely the overly large bouncers spread throughout the club didn’t have anything to do with it. Coming back from the ladies’ room, Carla caught me before I walked back behind the bar.
“Hey, there’s a guy over there asking for you.”
Craning my neck around her and the few men blocking the view to the other end of the bar, I didn’t see anyone I knew.
“Is he a customer?”
“I don’t think so.”
Again I tried to see anyone who might look familiar, my heart racing inside my chest all of a sudden. “What does he look like?”
“Cute. Tall. Slim build. Blond hair. Oh, and he has a small scar on his chin.” Carla nodded toward one of the dancers needing her assistance before leaving me to stand there all alone, my fear taking hold and wrapping its horrid arms around me so tightly I suddenly found it hard to breathe. My eyes bounced all over the club and still I didn’t see him.
Not until one of the drunken patrons hopped off his stool and staggered toward the stage.
A terror I was unfortunately all too familiar with ripped me apart from the inside, threatening to destroy my very existence. My sudden panic stole my remaining breath as soon as my eyes connected with his. A wry, lecherous smile spread across his face before he shoved away from the bar. Each step he took toward me warned me to run, but I couldn’t. My body froze, locking me in place. My heart rammed against my ribs as fearful tears stung my eyes.
A cold sweat broke out over my skin when he’d finally reached me, his fingers curling around my small wrist and tightening. He saw fear in my eyes, a reaction he’d come to love from me.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. My brain fired off a plethora of words, but my lips refused to give them sound. “You didn’t honestly think I’d let you leave me? That I wouldn’t find you?” He sucked on his teeth while he shook his head, an indication that harm was about to find me. But surely he wouldn’t do anything in public. Right?
Breaking eye contact, I glanced around the club in a panic, desperate to find one of the security men Tripp had hired. I saw a couple of them, but they were busy keeping the customers in line. I screamed in my head for one of them to look over at me but it was useless. They obviously couldn’t hear me as they weren’t mind readers. Next I searched for Carla, but she was busy serving drinks.
When my eyes found his again I flinched. His cold stare froze me. The way he looked me up and down, wearing a disgusted expression as he did so, told me his rage was building.
“What the fuck are you doin’ here, anyway? And dressed like some kind of street whore?” His hold on my wrist intensified, making me wince from the pain.
“Please let me go,” I pleaded. “Please.”
All of a sudden we were nose to nose. “Don’t you think you deserve to be punished for running away?” My only reaction was to shake my head. He disagreed with my silent response. “I think you do.” His eyes darkened as his other hand seized my upper arm, turning me around and shoving me in front of him toward the hallway. I tried to look over my shoulder to see if anyone had noticed the man gripping me up, but the club was packed. As he pushed his way through the crowd, I knew there was no hope of being rescued.
Reece
Dread filled my veins as he shoved me into one of the empty private rooms. In that moment I would have preferred that bastard who’d attacked me the night Tripp saved me over the soulless man standing in front of me right then.
The way his cold stare devoured me made me feel weak and pathetic. Gone was any ounce of strength I’d gained since fleeing from him all those weeks prior, only to be reduced to the sniveling, pleading shell of a woman pushing short pants of air from my lungs.
“Rick . . . please don’t do this,” I begged, raising my hands in front of me as if my feeble attempt to ward him off wasn’t laughable.
“Don’t do what?” He cocked his head. “Make you see the error of your ways for taking off? For forcing me to hire someone to track you clear across the fucking country?”
I’d been so careful, disposing of the single credit card I had and only paying with cash. I thought I’d fled far enough, leaving him back in Maine, but his daunting presence just reiterated how much of a fool I’d been to think I could ever escape him.
With each word he spoke his voice became louder, raising the hairs at the nape of my neck. I knew what would happen once he ran out of rhetorical questions.
Threats.
Pain.
Bruises.
“Fuckin’ answer me,” he roared, spittle hitting my face as he backed me against the wall. “Did you really think I’d let you go?” Running his fingertip down my arm, he sneered at me before puncturing my skin with his nails. Blood trickled down my arm and I flinched in pain, praying this was the worst he’d subject me to. But I should have known better. “I swear to Christ if you don’t answer me, you’re gonna regret it.” The lower half of his body pinned me to the wall behind me.
“No,” I meekly whispered.
Placing his fingers at his ear he said, “Sorry. What was that?”
“No,” I repeated, choking on my fear.
“Then why did you leave?” His voice was low and deep. Menacing. I wasn’t sure which I preferred, him shouting or the calm tone he chose to use right then. Both warned me of what was to come.
He slammed his palm against the wall by the side of my head, his breaths coming out harsh and quick. “Why do you make me do this, baby? Why do you keep testin’ me? You know once I’m angry I can’t control myself.” I saw the devil in his eyes when his fingers wrapped around my throat. Images of Tripp flashed before me, and my heart ached at the thought that I’d never see him again. That pain was worse than anything Rick could ever inflict on me.
The tighter he squeezed the closer the darkness crept, bursts of light behind my lids warning me I was going to dive into unconsciousness very shortly. Just as my vision tunneled, someone banged on the door.
We hadn’t been in the room but for five minutes, although it felt like a lifetime. More banging, followed by a man yelling. “Reece,” he shouted. “Open the door.” More pounding against the locked door. Surprisingly Rick released me, and as soon as I drew in air I started coughing, rubbing at the tender affected area around my throat. Rick reached for the handle, flipping the lock before swinging open the door. I was too busy trying to breathe to bother to see who had thankfully interrupted us.
“What the fuck do you want?” Rick growled, shrouding the doorway so I couldn’t see who it was. Not until Mike, one of the bouncers I’d tried to signal earlier with my silent plea, shoved past him and approached me.
“Reece, are you okay?” He reached out to touch me but I shrank toward the wall, confused as to what was happening. My wits hadn’t fully returned yet, my body still in preservation mode, trying to take in as much air as my lungs would allow.
“She’s fine. Now get the fuck outta here,” Rick yelled, stepping in front of Mike, his back facing me.
Before Mike could forcefully remove Rick, Tripp appeared in the doorway, his eyes instantly finding me. He seemed frozen in place, taking in the entire scene in front of him, but it only lasted for a few seconds before he rushed inside and shoved both Rick and Mike away from me.
“What the hell is goin’ on here?” he asked, never taking his eyes off me. The vein in his neck bulged and I knew he was doing his best to control himself, his gaze pleading with me to fill him in on why I was in one o
f the private rooms with a man he didn’t know and one of the club’s security men.
Tripp’s eyes trailed over my face before falling to my throat. I hadn’t even realized my fingers were still rubbing at the area. When he gently removed my hand I swore I saw his eyes turn red with rage. “Who did this to you?”
“Don’t touch her!” Rick shouted, sidestepping Mike and shoving at Tripp’s shoulder. Rick was a tall guy, lean but certainly strong, although he was no match for the likes of Tripp—and he was about to find that out very soon.
Spinning around, Tripp lunged toward Rick and pounced on him, both men falling to the ground with a heavy thud. “You dare put your hands on her?” Tripp roared, his fist connecting with the side of Rick’s face. I didn’t feel sorry for the beating Rick was about to endure, but the last thing I wanted was for Tripp to be dragged into my mess.
“Tripp!” I shouted. “Stop. Please.” I took a step forward, but Mike moved in front of me.
“Not a good idea,” he warned, flicking his eyes back to the two men on the ground. Tripp was on top of Rick, expelling his rage onto the man who’d terrorized me for years.
A garbled sound erupted from the bastard’s mouth but was quickly silenced by another hit from Tripp. In a blur of movement to my left, Hawke and Ryder rushed into the room and ran toward Tripp, attempting to pull him off Rick. After the third try they were finally successful.
Tripp stumbled backward until he righted himself, but as soon as Rick tried to speak Tripp attempted to go after him again.
“What the fuck?” his brother shouted.
Leaving the scuffle, Ryder asked me, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. I was anything but fine, but the last thing Tripp needed to see was just how scared and upset I was. It would only add to his fury.
Once Rick had finally risen to his feet, he stupidly tried to approach me. His eye was already starting to swell, his nose and mouth all bloody, but that didn’t stop him from boldly trying to shove past the man who’d just beaten him and try to get at me. It showed how crazy he was when it came to me.
“Don’t you fuckin’ touch her,” Tripp growled, his voice dipping low with unbridled rage.
“Don’t you fuckin’ touch her,” Rick retorted, wiping the blood from his face and then running his palms down the front of his jeans.
“Are you insane?”
Little did Tripp know the answer to that question was a resounding yes.
With a crazy look in his eyes, Rick stood rigid, glared at Tripp, and then uttered the words I’d feared as soon as I saw Tripp enter the room. “Get away from my wife.”
Tripp
I must have heard him wrong.
Did he just say that Reece was his wife?
She’s married?
Whipping my head in her direction, my feet quickly followed until I loomed over her. Her head was lowered, her eyes either closed or staring at the goddamn ground. I couldn’t tell, but either way she was gonna look at me and tell me what the hell was goin’ on. No way she was married, and to that fuckwit to boot. My brain refused to believe it. Plain and simple.
“Reece,” I bit out, anger, adrenaline and confusion battling for first place. “Tell me what’s goin’ on,” I demanded, the bite in my tone obvious. Still no movement from her, except for the shudder of her shoulders. Trying a softer approach, I lifted her chin with my finger until she finally looked me in the eyes. Hers were filled with unshed tears, but as soon as she saw the look on my face, an expression I wasn’t sure was clear as I battled with pinging emotions, they fell down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, grabbing my arm.
“Tell me it’s not true,” I pleaded, brushing off her hold before finally backing up. She cried harder before looking toward the ground again. “Tell me, Reece. Tell me right now that it’s not true,” I repeated. “Tell me you’re not really married.”
“She is,” the bastard behind me yelled.
Desperately needing privacy, I instructed Hawke and Ryder to take him to another room and wait for me. I refused to acknowledge that he was her husband, even though I knew in my heart it was true. And even though I was sure she had a good explanation, it didn’t change the sting of betrayal that sliced me in half.
Reece and I didn’t know each other that well, this was true, but the connection I’d found with her was unlike any other I’d ever experienced. I knew the feeling was reciprocated. I saw it in her eyes when she looked at me, felt it in her kiss when she demanded more from me. But to think that she was hiding such a huge secret made me question everything I’d been feeling for her.
Once we were alone, I paced in front of her, silence compounding the tension which now existed between us. Finally, after what felt like forever, a soft sound drifted through the air and caught my attention.
“Tripp, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, the lilt of her voice softening my anger toward her and the entire situation. “I wanted to tell you . . . but I didn’t know how. I just wanted to forget.”
“Forget you were married?” I crushed the small distance between us and crowded her personal space once more, giving her no other option than to look me in the eye while she tried to explain. Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do right then was deal with this shit, but I knew it would only fester and drive me insane, making me even angrier if we didn’t have the damn discussion.
“Yes.” Because of her anguish, her eyes took on a deeper hue of blue than gray. “I’ve left Rick a few times, but he always finds me.” I hated the sound of his name on her lips, but I did my best to rein in my simmering fury. She slowly raised her hand and traced the scar on the bridge of her nose. “He threatened to kill me if I ever left him again. He probably would’ve had Mike not interrupted him.
“Was he the one who broke your nose?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her.
“Yes.” She blew out a pent-up breath before quickly revealing what’d happened. “He’d come home drunk, like he often did, and accused me of cheating on him. Even though I wasn’t, and never had. It was the first time he’d punched me.” A few tears escaped and trailed down her cheeks. “Before, he would only grab me and slam me against the wall, or slap me across the face. But he never balled up his fist, not until that time.”
The silence was deafening as I continued to try and process everything Reece had just told me. My emotions had me feeling like I was on a damn roller coaster, jolting me back and forth between sadness, anger, betrayal and, oddly enough, possessiveness.
“I knew I should’ve never let you leave my house,” I mumbled more to myself than her. But she’d heard me loud and clear.
“There’s no way you could’ve known. I didn’t lie to you, per se, but I did omit certain things about my life.”
“Which is the same as lyin’, by the way. Just so you know.” I couldn’t help the anger in my tone, pushing to the forefront of my tangled emotions. “You definitely should have told me before we fucked.”
My crassness startled her, and the look of regret on her face tore at me. A deep sadness shrouded her eyes. It’d been there the first time I saw her, but I’d dismissed it to the lifestyle she’d chosen. Apparently it hadn’t been from her choice of profession but from years of being beaten down so much she never thought she was worth anything. While I was still very upset with her for not confiding in me, I knew I had to protect her from her husband.
Fuck! I hated even thinking that word, but there it was.
Reece was married.
But that wouldn’t stop me from claiming her.
Tripp
As if I didn’t have enough shit to deal with, now I had to take care of the issue with the shitbag who’d made Reece’s life a living hell. Even though she’d only divulged a small amount of their life together, I knew there was much more to that damn story.
The last thing I wanted to do was leave her alone, so I instructed Mike to stay with Reece until I returned, knowing damn well she wa
s still scared after what happened.
Striding toward the room where Rick was being held, I took a deep breath before turning the handle, knowing I had to control myself so as not to kill him right then and there. Don’t get me wrong; I had no problem snatching his life, but taking such a rash step wasn’t smart. If it came down to whether or not he had to die, I wanted to make sure everything was set in place before he drew his last miserable breath. Killing was never something I aspired to do, but I knew it was necessary sometimes.
Rick was slumped over on the small couch set against the far wall. Drawing my brows close together, I stared at Ryder with a questioning look, since he was the one closest to him.
“What?” Ryder asked, shrugging. “I saw Reece’s neck. Just thought I’d make him see the error of his ways.” The slow smirk on his face would have been comical had I not been so torn up inside over the whole situation.
Nodding, I approached. I slapped the side of Rick’s head, a groan escaping him before lifting his head up. His eyes rose to mine briefly before closing. He was coherent enough to hear what I had to say. “You are never to come near Reece again. Do you hear me?” No response from him except an incoherent grunt. “I know you understand what I’m telling you, but let me break it down for you, just in case. If I so much as see you anywhere in the same vicinity as her, I’ll kill you. Slowly. If you don’t believe me then just test me, although it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” I stood to my full height. “Reece is mine now. Forget you ever knew her.”
Jerking my head toward Ryder and Hawke, I instructed, “Break his legs.”
“Both?” Ryder asked.
“I said legs, didn’t I?”
“Okay, just making sure.” I would have done it myself but I needed to get back to Reece. Ryder grinned while stepping toward Rick. My brother closed in on his other side and the two of them dragged the no-good piece of shit from the room and out the back door of the club.
