He laughs.
“Sure, you’re not. You’re a stupid slut who fucks three men at once.”
His features harden, and my hackles rise.
This is getting way too serious, and my instinct is telling me to stop talking to him, move as quickly as I can to the door, get the hell out of here and ask for help.
“You think you’re going to last in your stupid job? Do you think you have the brains to work in that industry? They’re going to eat you alive. Not these fuckers––the men you suck for a living. Everyone else.”
Every word leaving this man’s mouth drips poison into my soul. I’ve never been abused, but this is as close as it gets. No matter how much untruth there is in his words, they are meant to hurt me, and they do.
They poison my soul.
I shoot my fist into his chest.
“Listen, you piece of shit. I’m not you. I don’t know what you do, but it can be good, or you wouldn’t be in my room. What you think about me means nothing to me. You’re a stupid fuck who thinks he can blackmail me into doing what he wants. You have no idea how little you mean to me. Do you think I haven’t noticed how you look at me? Always thinking with your dick. Entitled. Like I’m here to serve you. Fuck you. Fuck. You. You have a problem with me? Take it up with Bob Walker. Or better yet, Kai Walker. Ask him what he thinks about what you just said to me. I can’t wait to hear it. I don’t need your opinion when it comes to my job. The same way, I didn’t walk into your hotel room and tell you about your life. Who the fuck do you think you are? You have no business being in this room. And stop stalking me before I’ll have you arrested. Now get out.”
I shoot my arm in the direction of the door, showing him out in case he’s forgotten how he got here.
He opens his mouth to say something else, but I’m faster than him.
“Out!” I snarl.
He’s lost momentum and doesn’t know how to shift things around and corner me again.
A muscle ticks in his jaw and I don’t need another clue to know this man is violent, and he is just looking for an opening to bestow that violence on me.
To make things easier for myself, I move to the door.
I either throw him out or make a run for the elevator or the stairs, but he’s not stupid. He grabs me by the neck when I shift to pull away.
I thought about that too, so my hand shoots to the crystal vase sitting on the wall table––the one someone considerate enough has filled with lilies.
I grab the rim of the vase since I can’t wrap my hand around it and smash it against his skull.
He staggers back, letting go of my neck, his eyes blank as if he’s about to fall to the floor. The lilies and the water roll over his face when he runs his hand over his cheeks.
His eyes are dark when he charges at me, and I smash the vase against his skull again. A fight ensues, grabbing the vase becoming his priority.
I’m smaller and way faster than him, and that works to my advantage, not to say I’m more determined than he thinks I am, and I want to take him down.
I’m sure that’s not what he expected from some lightweight like me.
I clock him a few times until my wrist hurts, and then he finally changes his strategy and latches his hand onto my neck again, cutting my air supply.
The vase falls from my hand, and I’m about to faint when the door bursts open, and Kai shouts from the doorway, leaping at him.
“Let her go,” he thunders, his fist zipping fast by me and landing flat on my attacker’s face.
His bones creak, and his head lols to the side while he lets go of me, and I fall into someone’s arms.
Alejandro lifts me and pulls back with me while Francisco joins Kai. Sloane tries to fight back, which proves to be just one of the numerous bad decisions he’s made tonight.
He’s a mess, blood gushing from his broken nose.
It’s like his brain has ceased to function, asking for more of the same. Eventually, Kai pulls him up and smashes his fist into his face sending him over the edge of my bed.
The man lands smack in the middle of my bed, and the furniture croaks before crumbling to the floor in a loud noise of broken things.