Page 18 of Leland

“Yas-huh. I bet it’s so good!”

I didn’t comment on her Little peeking through, but gently encouraged her to keep telling me how excited she was and about all the types of pizza she wanted to try in hopes I could coax her out a bit more.

“Leland?” she asked, suddenly.

“Yes, baby?”

“Thank you for this. I-I didn’t know, I-I didn’t know this is what I needed until now. I’m g-gonna have a chance to get better because of you.”

Chapter Six

Rouge

Grabbing the trash, I kicked open the back door and groaned when the hot Georgia air wrapped around me. The humidity was like trying to breathe soup. Letting the door slam shut behind me, I dragged the way-too-heavy trash bag out into the alley. The dumpster seemed like it was a thousand miles away and I was regretting my choice to be helpful, but we had been swamped today. Everyone was tired. It had been a really great day with Leland. He’d kept his promise and taken me toTriangles. We’d both loved the chocolate pizza. A smile worked its way onto my face when I thought about how he’d gently wiped chocolate from my face.

The sound of crunching gravel sounded somewhere behind me and I turned in confusion. A tall man stood about six feet from me. He wore a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head. He was big—maybe six feet—and his shoulders were wide. I couldn’t make out all of his features, but I didn’t think he was a client.

“What do you want?”

“Give me your purse.”

His words calmed me a bit. I’d been worried he was with… Well, it didn’t matter, because he wasn’t.

“I don’t have a purse.”

He took a menacing step towards me and the smell rolling off of him made me nauseous.

“Bitch,” he spat.

“Listen, you crack-a-doodle, I don’t have any money for you to take. Turn around and leave before I rip off your fingernails and feed them to you like cereal.”

He charged at me with an angry roar, knocking me to the ground before climbing on top of me and punching me in the face twice.

Fuck.

I pressed my elbows together and used my forearms to shield my face the best I could. Blood filled my mouth and one eye was swelling quickly.

Think, Rouge. This isn’t the first time you’ve been in this situation. What do you do?

He pressed his body weight down on top of me and my arms gave way. Wrapping his hands around my neck, he squeezed. Panic filled my body as quickly as my anger multiplied. Who did this mother fucker think he was? I had not survived hell to be taken out by a smelly, probably small-dicked man. Reaching up, I grabbed at the side of his face, digging my long nails into his skin. When he hissed and leaned back a bit, I took the opportunity to press the thumb nail of my right hand into his eye. Screaming, he fell to the side and used both hands to cover his eye. I kicked him hard in his side with my combat boot, making him topple over fully.

Taking a deep breath, I scrambled to my feet and kicked him again.

“You stupid piece of shit.”Kick.

“Really? Trying to mug someone in this economy?”Kick.

“For a criminal you are fucking pathetic.”Kick.

“I didn’t even have a purse. Just a trash bag.”Kick.

Arms wrapped around me from behind, and I threw my head backward before digging my nails into the arms of the stranger lifting me in the air. “Easy, sugar. Easy, baby.”

Relief filled me. I was safe. It was going to be okay. “Daddy!” I cried.What the fuck? Did I call him Daddy? Dammit, I don’t care.

“Shh, I’m right here, Little one,” he soothed. Clearly he didn’t care either. He continued to carry me away from the asswipe laying on the ground. Turning my head, I watched as Bash and Blade dragged the guy to his feet. Bash hit him hard in the face and the guy fell back to the ground.

“Don’t look, baby. It’s okay. It’s all over now.”

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