“He’s on his way,” Brecken announces as he places his phone in the back of his pocket. “What if she ...?”

“Shut up,” I snap as I look down at her. Her features are soft as her head turns to the side, her hair covering half of it. “She’s gonna be fine,” I assure myself.

He holds the back door open for me, and I run with her as I make my way up to my apartment. As soon as I lay her down on my bed, I hear Doc in the hallway speaking to Brecken. “What happened?” he demands when he walks into my room.

“She passed out,” I inform him. “Her neck needs stitches.”

“She needs a hospital,” he argues.

I shake my head. “No.” Hospitals have records. They make you do paperwork that conceals all of your personal information. I need to know if this was meant for her or if she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“But ...”

“But nothing. Either you give her the proper treatment that she needs right here in this room, or I find someone who will,” I shout.

***

I sit on the side of the bed as I watch Doc finish the stitches on her neck. It ended up costing her ten. She also needed some on her upper arm and her outer thigh. But other than that, everything seems to be fine.

“I need you to stay until she wakes.”

He looks around the bedroom as if to ask me where he would stay. “I have a guest room. Once she wakes, I need her to tell us where she hurts. Then we can decide if she needs further treatment.” Who knows what happened to her while they had a hold of her. She may have a concussion. Broken ribs. Internal bleeding. The gashes and bruises are visible to the eye. So much more could be happening underneath her skin. But we’ll have to wait to find out. I lift my comforter up to her neck to shield her body.

There’s a knock on my bedroom door and then it opens slowly. “I’m ready for you,” Brecken announces, popping his head in.

I nod my head as I stand from the bed. I slap Doc on the shoulder on my way out. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Following Brecken, we make our way down to the club floor. Then we walk down the hallway that leads us to the bathrooms and the private rooms. He comes to a stop at the one marked SLOTH, and I almost smile.

He pushes the door open for me, and I walk in. A man lies on the floor, face up. The second he sees me, he tries to jump to his feet. The broken ribs I gave him earlier in that alleyway prevent him from moving as fast as he wants.

“Who the hell are you?” he demands.

“Not important.” I look over at Brecken. “Go keep an eye on her, will you? I got this here.” Then I turn to face our guest.

He doesn’t respond, but the sound of the door opening and closing lets me know he is following orders.

“Where’s the other man I was with?” he rasps, holding his side.

I arch an eyebrow. “Don’t want to speak his name?”

“Fuck you,” he spits out.

Just looking at the motherfucker makes me want to pull my gun out from the waistband of my jeans and shoot him dead, but I need answers. “You fucked with a woman. My woman. Now, I’m going to fuck with you,” I say truthfully.

“You think you fucking own this town,” he growls. “But you don’t. People are on to you.” Thought he didn’t know who I am? Doesn’t really matter what he knows.

I ignore him. He wants me distracted, and it’s not gonna work. His dark gray eyes dart around the room as blood runs down the side of his head from the wound I gave him when I jumped him in the alleyway. The first thing I did was rip that fucking facemask off him to see if I knew who it was. No such luck. “Now, I’m going to ask you a question. Every time you refuse to answer, I’m gonna break something. Deal?”

“You’re crazy,” he says in a high pitch voice as he starts to back up.

I shake my head back and forth in disappointment. “That was a question.” I close the space between us in the next second and punch him in the side of his face. He falls back, tripping over the coffee table as he falls to the floor grabbing his nose. “That’s one,” I say, knowing that I just broke his nose. I shake off the sting in my hand.

“Next question.” I watch as he rolls around crying out like a child. “Why her?”

He takes in a few deep breaths. “I could ask you the same question,” he grounds out. “She seemed like such a high-maintenance bitch …”

I pull him up by his arm, spin him around, and kick the back of his knee. He screams like a bitch as he falls to his knees and I shove his head down onto the coffee table with my free hand. Pulling his arm behind his back, he lets out a scream so loud it has my ears ringing. I smile when I feel the pop in his arm from bending it at this angle.

I let go of him and step away as he rolls off the coffee table and onto the floor screaming out in agony.

I breathe heavily. “Same question. If you don’t answer, I’ll break two bones.” A part of me wants him to keep his mouth shut. I’ve killed a man with my bare hands before, and I have no problem doing it to this sick bastard as well.

He moans as he holds his arm to his chest. Babying the one I just broke. “Okay then.” I pull my foot back about to kick him in the ribs when he holds up his uninjured arm. “Wait,” he shouts before taking a few deep breaths. “I got a phone call earlier this evening. I don’t know who it was. They just offered me a job. Said that it involved you …”

“What about me?” I demand.

“There’s a buyer who wants you out of the equation. Feels if you’re out of the way, your loyal customers will go to them.”

“What does that have to do with Taylor?” I snap. “What the fuck did you want with her?” I roar fisting my hands down my sides. I see nothing but red right now.

He swallows. “We weren’t going to kill her. Just fuck with her as a warning.” He leans over as his chest heaves.

Motherfucker! I bend down next to him. “Fuck with her how?” I ask gripping his blond tips.

He looks up at me, his gray eyes puffy. His dingy teeth covered red with blood that drips down the side of his lips. “They didn’t say …”

I rip his head back, and his mouth opens wide but no scream comes out this time. My nostrils flare as I’m tired of this fucking game. “I’ll rephrase the question. What were you planning to do to her?” I demand.

I watch his neck work as he tries to swallow, which is kinda hard for him to do with his neck yanked back at this angle. “I wasn’t gonna kill her. I promise,” he all but sobs. “Just cut her up a little bit …”

“Fucking bastard.” I spit in his face. “And then what?” They had cut her top off her. They were going to do more than cut her up. They were going to destroy her. That thought has me bringing my other hand and wrapping it around his neck.

I smile when I feel his pulse race under my hand. You had better be scared, you son of a bitch. “Leave her on the back porch for you to find her in the morning,” he rasps.

I let go of his neck and with my hand that’s still in his hair, I shove his face down to the floor as I growl like a fucking beast. They were going to leave her on the back porch like fucking trash to be picked up, like a wounded dog left to be found. I’ll show him how you treat trash, all right. He rolls onto his back with a dazed look in his eyes. “Thanks for the cooperation. I’ll now answer your question. Your friend is dead! I shot him!” He whimpers. “But I’m gonna let you live,” I say, and he moans this times in pain. I wish Taylor were here to see it. To see how easily he cracked. “But we’re not done …” I stand and look down on him. “First, I’m going to break your jaw so you can’t go and run your mouth, and then your other arm.” I shrug carelessly. “Maybe both of your legs.” He cries out at that. “Once you’re released from the hospital, you’re going to jail.”

I sit in my office by myself as I go over what happened tonight. Shit just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Taylor had ended … whatever the hell we were doing, and she had every right to. I haven’t been honest with her. Then, of course, Rachel had to go and run her mouth about what she and I have done, and it just caused even more fucking problems. I’ll never forget the look on her face when I told her that Rachel was different. It hurt her to think I could hold Rachel on a higher level than her, no matter how untrue it was. I was just mad at Taylor. Mad at her for not listening to me. For not trusting me. Now, I see why she didn’t.