CHAPTER 6 #2
“I might have, maybe, kinda, sort of…” I trailed off and he raised a brow at me, waiting. “I beat a man nearly half to death with a sledgehammer—but I can explain!” I quickly blurted out and he crossed his hands on his lap.
I sighed, suddenly feeling like an awful human being.
“Well, it’s not my fault that men don’t understand a simple two lettered word. I doubt you’ll be familiar with it with that pretty little face of yours, but it starts with ‘N’ and ends with ‘O’. Ring a bell?” I asked and he scoffed with a timid smile.
“Yeah. I heard it a couple times, and all of those times I heard it, it was all coincidentally by you .”
I tilted my head slightly. “You’re funny.”
“And you’re cruel. What did he do?” Am I going to trauma dump with a really hot stranger right now? Yes. Yes I am.
Mentally I was praying that I do not scare this man off. I needed a ride to the club, after all.
“He forced himself on me and after three ‘no’s’, I kicked him between his legs and he fell beside me.
And we were outside—mind you. He wanted to have sex with me in the backyard of a strangers house, on the cold ass ground—can you believe the nerve of this jackass?
” I asked in disbelief, shaking my head.
“The nerve,” he breathlessly said, shaking his head too.
“Right!” I nodded. “Well, as I tried to move away from him I tripped over the sledgehammer and when he tried coming back, I hit him,” I shrugged my shoulders.
“I know this might sound fucked up but hearing the bone in his arm crack was oddly satisfying. So I didn’t stop.
His arms, legs, hands, feet and when his cries became to loud, his mouth. ”
Something unfamiliar—yet hot—took over his face. As though he was oddly impressed with me right now but I could not tell why. “So you have a thing for beating up guys?”
“Only assholes who deserve it.”
“Did you report him to the police?”
I nodded. “I did, but he got there before me and I was sentenced to three years. My lawyer suggested I plead insanity and I did—trusting him—but turns out it was only an excuse for him and my mom to send me off to a mental hospital for two years after I spent a year in jail.”
“But he forced himself on you, wasn’t it self defense?”
“Well…” I sighed, turning my body completely to him as I brought one leg up onto the seat. “Since he didn’t get that far to actually go through with it, there wasn’t any proof. His lawyer played the ‘ she was drunk ’ card and yeah. That’s about it.”
“Why would your mother want to send you away?”
“Because she thought that anyone capable of what I did—even though it was self defense—was mentally ill. She said that I wasn’t…
” I trailed off, feeling the bile rise in my throat.
I dropped my eyes to my lap, clearing my throat.
“She had her own reasons, I guess,” I shrugged my shoulders looking up at him.
I could sense a hint of pity but he masked it, speaking up. “Do you remember anything about him? His name? What he looked like?”
I glanced away, swallowing hard at the mere thought of him. “Just his name. Loren Winston.”
I looked back at him to see him simply staring at me and I awkwardly shifted in my seat. “God, I’ve traumatized you,” I breathed. “You okay?” I asked, pressing the back of my fingers against his forehead but he moved his head back.
“You’re way more interesting than I had anticipated, Nirah Joy .”
“Thanks?” I smiled with uncertainty.
When he simply tilted his head a little to the side, still staring at me, I turned to the door and unlocked it. He was making me feel things that I did not want to feel. That I could not feel.
“Come on,” I said, looking back at him.
“You’re driving me to the club.”
“And you can’t do that yourself, why?”
“Because I haven’t had anything to eat in twenty-four hours, and I think I’m about to pass out,” I pulled at the neckline of my dress.
“You haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours?”
“Well no, considering that I had men pounding at my door before 8 am yesterday, and then when I tried getting some coffee this morning, a weird stalker guy decided to force me into his car.”
“Force? Coming from the woman in the driver’s seat—if anything you forced me .”
“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t sound so offended.”
He got out, so I climbed over onto the passenger’s seat. I buckled up and he opened the door, leaning both of his forearms onto the roof of the car.
He lowered his head, staring at me. “Did you just step on my seats with your boots?” he rhetorically asked and I could’ve sworn the muscle under his right eye twitched.
I looked down at his seat and saw the mark the bottom of my shoe left behind.
I placed my hand on the seat, slowly wiping it away. “Sorry,” I awkwardly smiled with my heart thudding in my chest, and he grabbed my arm, throwing it onto my lap before sliding into the car.
His voice was a low murmur. “If you were anyone else, I would’ve had your head on a silver platter.”
I practically melted into my seat as he started the engine. Oopsie .
He drove off and when I pulled out my cellphone, I noticed an alarming amount of text messages from Silvia and Jordan. And a few calls. Even from Marco. I texted all of them, letting them know that I was perfectly fine and that they didn’t have to worry about me.
After some time I looked up since the drive felt a little too long. “Wait. Where are you taking me?”
“My house,” he answered, looking over at me and my heart dropped.
I pulled the neckline of dress back and forth, breathing heavily.
“Oh god,” I said, looking at him, then out the passenger window, then back at him.
“You’re kidnapping me,” I breathlessly whispered and he didn’t say a word.
“I run from one kidnapper and land in the arms of another.”
“I’m not kidnap—”
“You’re going to lock me in a dark room, aren’t you? And you’re going to make me work for you—you’re probably going to make me wear some ridiculous maid outfit, aren’t you?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“That’s not a bad idea,” he slightly turned his head to me with a grin.
“You’re taking me to the club,” I demanded.
“Too late. We’re already here,” he said as we stopped at two large gates. Holy fuck… This place is huge.