With wide eyes and a panicked expression, Duke holds Jeremy’s neck on both sides. He’s not squeezing, but his grip is tight, as evidenced by the white of his knuckles. Duke stares into Jeremy’s neck with his back to the open front door and says on a plea, “I gotta get out of this house.”
Duke leaves, and Jeremy quickly slams the door shut then locks it behind him. With a few strides, he’s kneeled down beside me, but the closer he gets the less I can handle it.
“Please go,” I whisper. “I need… some time alone.” He waits a moment before standing and walking to his room.
I give myself a while before I summon the courage to call Darren. With the calmest voice I can manage, I ask him to come by the house to return the file I gave him last week that contains all of my dad’s legal paperwork. He knows something’s up, because he asks me repeatedly what’s wrong in that pretend kind voice he uses in public.
When he arrives at the house, my eyes are red, but dry. He wants to know why I don’t want his help anymore, and he’s inviting himself into the living room.
“I’ve done a lot of work on this,” he says with a sigh. I try to keep my distance, but wherever I move in the living room, he follows and stays within reach. If everything with Duke wasn’t fucking me up so bad right now, I might see it coming. But I don’t.
“Why the change of heart?” he asks.
“The club’s handling it,” I say. “I have to trust them.”
“You didn’t want the club’s help before. What’s changed?”
So much has changed. Duke being here and us working on being less fucked up together, and now making our own family? It’s more like what hasn’t changed. But Darren doesn’t deserve all of that. He barely deserves what I’m giving him now.
“I’m with Duke now,” I say. It’s the simplest answer, and even though I don’t want to invite him into this part of my life, I need this to be as quick as possible. Jeremy’s just in the other room, but it feels like he’s a million miles away.
Darren’s entire mood changes. He goes from thoughtful and annoyed to red-faced angry in a matter of moments. Then, just like always before, a sinister smile appears on his face, and I already know what’s coming.
He reaches out and grabs my arm tight and shoves me against the wall behind me. Bending down and in my face he hisses, “I had hope for you once. But it’s too late now. You’re nothing but a filthy whore.”
“Stop it,” I say as loudly as I can, hopeful that Jeremy can hear me. I open my mouth to yell for Jeremy when Darren raises his arm in the air, but the blow comes too soon. Right across my mouth, and a throbbing sensation erupts in my jaw and cheek. Darren grabs a hold of my hair and pulls my head back so I have to look up at him. “You’ll just fuck anybody, won’t you? You gonna fuck me?”
His free hand works at the fly of his jeans, causing me to freak out. I start to scream and fight him off, but the hand he places over my mouth silences me and pulls my body down the wall. “Actually, I think I’m gonna let you suck my dick. Just remember what happens if you bite.”
Shoved down to my knees, I push myself against the wall and keep my head turned to the side with my eyes clenched shut. Darren frees himself from his pants and grips his dick in his hand. Through the paralyzing fear of what he’s trying to do, I find the courage to fight back. Years ago, I didn’t fight back like I should have when he forced himself on me, because he convinced me that I deserved it. But now? Now I have something more important to fight for.
My baby.
Chapter 23
Duke
Shame isn’t an emotion I’m used to feeling a lot of these days. But right now as I climb off my bike at the safe house in Little River, I’m feeling a fuck ton of it. Everything about the shit that just went down is wrong. From the way I screamed at Nic to the way I accused her of sleeping around. It wasn’t right, and I really fucked up. The best I could do when I was in that place was to leave. It wasn’t her fault. She’d been trying to talk to me all day, and I didn’t want to hear it.
She deserves better than I was giving her.
Our baby deserves better.
For weeks now I’ve had it in my head that she was hiding something, and fuck if I wasn’t right. I never did like that arrogant prick she dated back in high school. Sure, part of it was jealousy, but the rest of it was just him. He’s always had his nose in the air, and he’s always treated Nic like she was beneath him. And my girl isn’t beneath anybody.