Theirs to Keep (Tangled Hearts Trilogy #1)(57)

She nodded, her head spinning from lack of oxygen and the pain in her side. His hand slid intimately up her body, lingering over her belly and then moving underneath her breast.

She began to struggle again, refusing to allow this son of a bitch to molest her in her own garage.

Her head flew back when he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked. Tears sprang to her eyes as her neck craned at an impossible angle. With his free hand, he punched her again, and she nearly blacked out.

Dragging her limp body back up his, he forced his mouth close to her ear.

“You tell your boys that they f**ked with the wrong person. If they don’t drop the charges, I’ll be back, and I’ll f**k you up so they can’t even recognize you. You understand?”

“Y-yes,” she gasped out.

He jerked her around and then backhanded her, snapping her head back. She tasted blood, and this time when she staggered, he let her go down.

She fell in a heap on the garage floor, trying desperately to squeeze air into her lungs. Her side was hurting so badly that she worried he’d broken her ribs.

The one word that echoed over and over in her mind was no. No! This couldn’t happen to her again.

Images flashed in her mind. The memory of being pushed roughly to the ground. Her face pressed into the dirt. The shock and…betrayal.

Betrayal.

She’d known her attacker.

It was someone she’d trusted.

She curled into a tight ball, hoping to protect the most vulnerable parts of her body. Pain lanced through her ribs once more as he kicked her.

Oh God, what could she do? She was helpless.

Rage exploded inside her. She was not going to be some helpless victim who couldn’t even fight back.

She rolled quickly, hoping to catch her attacker off guard. And apparently she did. Ignoring the pain in her ribcage, she righted herself and lunged for the crowbar mere feet away on the floor.

She grabbed it and came up swinging.

He howled in pain when she connected with his face. His head snapped back, and blood spattered onto the concrete below them.

Not giving him a chance to break away, she nailed him again, this time in the ribs.

He doubled over, holding his midsection as blood dripped from his mouth.

“How’s it feel, you son of a bitch?” she raged.

She hit him again, and he dropped like a stone onto the garage floor. For a long moment, she stared down at him, still holding the crowbar over her head.

Then it slid from her grasp and clattered loudly at her feet. Her knees buckled, and she went down. The material of her pants ripped where her knees scraped the concrete, and then she pitched to the side, every breath she took excruciating.

For a long moment, she simply lay there, trying to gain control over the pain that wracked her body. Then she became aware of the fact that she had a body lying in her garage. She may have killed a man.

She reached out, groping blindly for the purse that had gone flying when the man had grabbed her. Her fingers scraped across it, and she fumbled for it, dragging it close enough that she could dig her cell phone out of it.

Every breath was agony, and her hands shook so violently that it took her three attempts just to punch in 911.

Finally she put the phone to her ear, and when the dispatcher came over the line, she simply croaked, “Help me, please. I think I just killed a man.”

Chapter Thirty-One

CADE TURNED ON THEIR STREET and accelerated before slowing for the one stop sign before the house. He frowned when he saw a myriad of cop cars with flashing lights and two ambulances parked in what looked like his yard.

What the f**k?

He automatically checked his phone, wondering if he’d missed anything, but there were no missed calls or texts. He floored the accelerator and raced down the street, his pulse pounding in his ears.

He’d assumed when he’d gotten to the office and no one was there that Merrick and Elle had just gone home after his training session. He’d driven straight to the house thinking they could have a late lunch together.

As he pulled up, he saw Merrick’s Hummer parked to the side, and to further his what-the-f*ck reaction, two paramedics were loading a strange guy into the back of the ambulance. Even from a distance, Cade could see the blood on the man’s face.

He slammed on the brakes and slid out, engine still running. As soon as he got to the edge of the driveway, he was held up by two cops.

“I live here,” Cade bit out. “What the f**k is going on?”

One of them looked relieved. “Thank God. Maybe you can help us with her.”

Cade froze at the mention of her.

“We can’t get near her. She’s out of it. She called 911 saying she’d killed a guy.”

The cop jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the ambulance the stranger had been loaded onto.

“That guy over there. When we got here, she was barely conscious and lying next to the guy on the floor of the garage. She took a crowbar to him. But as soon as we tried to touch her, she went ballistic. No one can get near her. Right now, someone’s trying to get close enough to sedate her so we can take her to the hospital. She’s pretty banged up. Looks like the guy worked her over before she got ahold of him with the crowbar.”

“Where the f**k is Merrick?” Cade exploded.

The policeman’s brow wrinkled. “There’s no one here but her and the dude she beat the shit out of.”