Page 13 of The Catcher

“You’re dressed up,” he said abruptly. “Are you planning to go on a date tonight?”

“What business is it of yours?” I asked sharply.

It was enough that Tanner thought he could control me at work. I’d be damned if he thought he could control me off hours, too.

“Tell me,” he demanded. “Isthatwhy you can’t come to the game tomorrow?”

He grabbed my arm, yanking me closer to him. His eyes glittered at me.

“No, Tanner,” I said, trying to pretend I was braver than I was. Maybe if I told the truth he’d let me go. “I’m just going home to visit my family. It’s my great-aunt’s birthday.”

His silvery-gray eyes flashed contemptuously at me.

“I don’t believe you,” he said. “And I don’t want you going.”

“You’ll be fine without me,” I said. “You don’t need me. I’ll be back on Monday.”

“I don’t want you to be back onMonday,” Tanner snapped, twisting my arm so it was caught painfully behind my back, my body stumbling against his. “I don’t want you going anywhere. Tell menowif you plan to go out on a date.”

“Yeah, Tanner,” I said, starting to get angry even though I was still afraid. “I’m going to be out all weekend having sex with all the New York Knicks at once.”

His face darkened and I felt his grip bite into my arm.

“That’s not funny, Emrys.”

“It’s notnotfunny,” I retorted lamely. I was uncomfortably aware of how close Tanner was to me, and how powerful his body was.

“You better fucking stay here,” he said.

I froze, glaring up at him. It was one of those things that I couldn’t pretend didn’t change the fabric of the universe, didn’t twist the orientation of everything I knew.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I said, although I felt my legs trembling. “I’m not at work anymore. Lou approved this.”

“I don’t give a fuck who approved what,” he said. “Ididn’t say you could go.”

“Or what, Tanner?” I asked, even though it would have been smarter to say nothing.

His hand tightened on my arm, and he pulled me closer to him.

“Or I’ll make you stay in,” he said.

I reached up and yanked that thick unruly black hair as hard as I could, trying to make him let me go, struggling madly in his arms.

But instead of letting me go, he raised one hand and spanked me on the ass. I hadneverbeen spanked before and I was furious, kicking him and trying to rake my nails down his face.

“Stop this shit and go to your room, Emrys,” he said, picking me up around the legs, and his voice was so cold and unemotional that I was spurred into bolder action that I ever took—throwing myself wildly sideways.

Our bodies collided with some shrubbery that was in a huge cement planter. I got lucky. I was so short it was easy for me to throw myself through the small gap in between the sharp, prickly branches of the tree and the dirt. The branches shredded my hose, but I kept going. I could hear feet pounding on the other side of the hotel embankment, but I ignored them. I knew exactly where the car was, and I ran as fast as I could, not stopping until I slammed the heavy door behind me and put the key in the car lock with trembling fingers, spinning out of the parking lot so fast that the kicked-up gravel spattered erratically on my windshield.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I headed down the highway, but I was startled to hear a buzzing sound from my cellphone. I looked over, my heart starting to race again.

Get the fuck back here, little girl

I kept my hands on the wheel, my fists clenched tightly as I navigated my way to the airport.

How the fuck did he get my number?I had never given it to him!

I had been very carefulnotto give it to him, in fact.

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