Rock Bottom (Tristan & Danika #2)(11)

“Answer me!” He shouted, one beefy hand gripping my chin.

“N-n a note. It was just a note.”

He dug in the purse, pulling out my letter to my sister and shaking it in my face. “This? This what you come for?”

I nodded, then whimpered as he crumpled the paper in his fist, pried my mouth open roughly, and shoved it between my teeth.

“Get the f**k out of here! You come back when you have this bitch’s money, you understand?”

I nodded, but I had no intention of ever coming back.

He let me go.

I fumbled with the knob, but he was on me, catching my shoulders in his hands with a death grip that made my eyes sting in pain.

He snarled, shaking me hard enough to make my teeth rattle.

He let go of my shoulders, but only to grip the thin shoulders of my tank top, ripping it open with one violent movement.

I stopped breathing; I was so shocked and terrified. My mind couldn’t comprehend how fast the situation had escalated, how fast I’d lost all control of it.

“Please don’t,” I tried to say around the crumpled paper in my mouth.

He paid no mind, moving his big body hard into mine, capturing my thighs between his own. “Keep in mind, bitch, you take more’n two days to get me my money, you’re gonna pay me back the interest in snatch, and I ain’t gonna make it nice for you. We clear?”

I nodded, just struggling to breathe.

He wasn’t finished, palming one of my br**sts, kneading at it roughly. “You don’t come back, I’m coming for you, you understand?”

He let me loose, smiling as he handed me my purse and backed away. His smile alone was enough to give me nightmares.

“Go on now, little girl. I’ll be seeing you soon.”

I ran out of there, not trusting for a second that he was really letting me go.

I was a good five minute drive away before I pulled over, coughing out the paper in my mouth, taking deep gasping breaths in relief. I was shaking, but I didn’t cry, though it was an effort.

I held my shirt together as I got out of the car, moving to the trunk. I grabbed my entire overnight bag, dragging it into the car with me. Luckily, I had a change of clothes, since I’d planned to stay over at Tristan’s apartment for the weekend. But it wouldn’t do to show up with a torn shirt. That would surely raise questions that I had no intention of answering.

I changed my shirt, stuffing the ruined one into my bag.

I sat there, trembling, for a solid thirty minutes before I felt steady enough to drive.

CHAPTER FIVE

DANIKA

It had already been a shit of a day by the time I made it to Tristan’s apartment. Shitty was really an understatement, though. It had been hell. Pure hell. Right in the fire of it.

Sadly, the awful confrontation with the man in my mother’s trailer was only a piece of that hell.

I had too much on my plate, and my boyfriend was out of town for weeks at a time, which just sucked. Knowing that I’d get to see Tristan at some point on a day like this was all that had helped me keep it together.

I had a key to his apartment, but I knocked first, out of courtesy. I wasn’t that courteous, though, because I unlocked it and walked in before anyone had time to answer.

I saw right away that they wouldn’t have answered, anyway.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, but you wouldn’t know it by the state of the apartment. Women were everywhere, slutty, groupie looking women, and I instantly felt my temper starting to boil.

Dean was lying, shirtless, on the couch. His jeans were undone, and some tramp had her hand down his pants, even as another bimbo sat hip to hip with him, sharing a joint.

Dean saw me and smiled, and I knew that this wasn’t going to be a good visit. Just as I could read a different meaning into every one of Tristan’s smiles, Dean’s only ever meant one thing. Trouble. Not fun trouble. Just bad trouble. Ruin your day trouble.

“Hey! You come to join the party? I think your boyfriend is busy, but you know you’re always first in line to suck my cock.”

I walked through the living room, heading to the back of the apartment, where the bedrooms were. If I’d been thinking clearly, I’d have gone through the kitchen, but a few words out of his mouth and my brain was already too scrambled with my temper to have a mature interaction with him, if there was such a thing.

“You might not want to go back there. I believe he said he wanted privacy…”

I whipped my head around to give him one smoldering glare.

He just chuckled. “You know I think you’re f**king hot when you’re mad. I mean, I’d f**k you any time, but when you’re mad, mmmm, now that would be a treat.”

I stifled my first urge, which was to tell him to go f**k himself, because I knew he’d just turn it into a suggestion. Instead, I settled for specific and childish. “I hope you choke on one of your own used condoms and die, you ass**le,” I told him, striding out of the room.

I heard him laughing behind me, and my fists clenched hard.

“Babe, I don’t use condoms,” he called after me.

“Disgusting pig,” I muttered as I reached the closed door to Tristan’s room.

I didn’t knock, just opening the door quietly. I figured girlfriend rights superseded some common courtesies.

I froze in the doorway as I took in the room.