Page 16 of Heartbreak Hero

Kevin sighed and rested his arms on the desk. He gave a wry smile and nodded. “Yeah, I know. Even when we broke up in college, you ended it nicely.”

She grinned. “I’m not normally nice.”

“Yes, you are. Of course, you do have a temper.” He ruefully rubbed at his cleanly shaven jaw, and she was reminded of the time she had slapped him in the face.

Back in college, they’d been at the movies and Kevin had commented on the size of her friend Cindi’s breasts. Everyone heard Kevin’s remark.

Sara had whirled around, called him a pig, and slapped him so hard that her palm had stung.

That had been a week before she ended it with him. Kevin had apologized to both her and Cindi, and that was the only reasonSara had forgiven him. Two weeks later, Kevin and Cindi had hooked up.

Go figure…

“So, does this mean you’re quitting?” Kevin broke into her trip down memory lane.

“What? Me? No.” She squinted at him. “Do you want me to?”

“No way. I need a date on Friday.”

They shared a laugh, and Sara was glad she’d taken the time to talk with him.

It turned out that Kevin was an okay guy despite being a former pig.

Catching the trash from the canister, Sara pushed open the back door to the lounge and left it propped open.

Tomorrow, the truck would come to empty the big dumpster, so everything had to be taken out tonight. Normally, Jim did it before he left each night, but he had taken the day off.

She lifted the lid, gazed inside, and tossed the bag onto the piled trash inside.

The back door to the lounge suddenly shut and she turned toward the noise. Expecting to see one of the waitstaff or even Kevin, she was surprised to find two big men.

One had his hand planted against the door and the other was walking toward her.

“What are you doing out here all alone, beautiful?” one of the men said.

“Taking out the trash.” Sara thought fast, the back door was closed, and it locked when that happened, so she’d need to head around the building to the front entrance.

It was close to closing time, and there were only a handful of customers inside. Her cell phone was sitting behind the bar and her purse, with the backdoor key, was in the break room.

She gave the guy a quick smile and hurried past him.

“Aw, don’t be in such a hurry.” The man’s laugh sent a chill up her spine and she wasn’t surprised when he grabbed her arm before fisting her hair.

Fear lent her strength, and she kicked at him and screamed, but the other man was there, closing a hand around her nose and mouth.

“Get her legs,” the second guy hissed.

The first man slipped his hands up her thighs and yanked at the button of her pants. When the button popped and the zipper came down, Sara fought like a wild thing, but her pants were yanked down and away.

Oh God, they were going to rape her.

Right there in the alley.

Nausea threatened to bring up her lunch, but she wasn’t going to take this sitting down. She gouged with her nails and bit with her teeth.

A shrill scream erupted from her throat.

Kevin made his way down the back hallway and reached for the break room door key pad when he heard Sara scream.

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