Page 5 of When He Fights
And he’d told her the truth.At least, partially.If he took her…
I don’t think I can let her go.
The ice kept tumbling down into the small bucket.The machine was loud as hell.Clanking.Gurgling.Grinding.His gaze darted to the left.A vending machine waited.Half-stocked.
He started searching for Ana’s favorite candy.The woman loved peanuts and milk chocolate.
And Ana said she loved me.That she was falling for me.
The ice overflowed from the bucket and poured down to the floor.
The motel roomdoor opened behind her.A soft creak of the hinges.Anastasia exhaled slowly and squared her shoulders.Five minutes had passed—just five—but she’d gotten herself under control.She’d swiped away those pesky tears.After all, crying never did anything but gave her a headache.She didn’t want Kane to see her tears.Didn’t want him to know that her guts were twisted and her heart broken.
She pasted a smile on her face and swung around.“I was thinking we could watch one of those cheesy horror films that you like so—” Anastasia stopped.
Because that wasn’t Kane standing in the open doorway.
It was her ex.Logan Catalano stood there, wearing a wrinkled dress shirt, faded khakis, and grinning at her.“Found you.”
She stumbled back a step.
Logan tucked the key card into his pocket.“Told the front desk clerk I’d been locked out of my room.For twenty dollars, he gave me a new key, no ID required.”He crossed the threshold, put up theDo Not Disturbsign, then he shut the door.Locked it.The main lock, and the small, secondary lock on the door.“Waited for the new boyfriend to leave.Then I came inside.”
Kane wasn’t her boyfriend.
I wanted him to be.
Logan bent down, reached toward his ankle, and when he rose, a knife was gripped in his hand.“Did you say something about a horror film, sweetheart?”The sharp blade of the knife gleamed.“Because you don’t have to watch a show.I’ll let you be a real-life scream queen.Right now.”He lunged for her.
She did scream.As loud as she could.She screamed and she ran, but he was in front of the door so the only place she could run toward was the bathroom.Anastasia dove for the small bathroom, thinking she could get inside and lock him out.She could stay safe in there until Kane came back.Kanewouldcome back.She knew it with certainty.
But she didn’t make it to the bathroom.Logan grabbed her from behind.His fingers fisted in her hair, and he caught her, only to then slam her forehead into the bathroom’s door-frame.
Shefeltthe thud through her whole body.Her breath shuddered out even as a pain-filled whimper slid from her.
“I’m so pissed at you, Anastasia,” he growled.His mouth was at her ear, his breath blowing over the shell.
Anastasia.He’d always called her by her full name.Maybe that was one of the reasons she’d started to hate that name.Maybe it was why she liked Kane’s shortened version so much better.Ana was…
A new person.
A new life.
The knife was at her throat.
“I’m so pissed that I am going to make youbegme for my forgiveness.”
A droplet of blood slid down her neck.
Tears pricked her eyes.Those stupid tears again.Tears wouldn’t save her.Fighting would.
But he whipped her away from the doorframe and threw her toward the bed.She hit the side of it.Fell down to land in front of the small nightstand.Anastasia shoved her hair out of her way and looked up at her attacker.
He smiled at her.Classically handsome.Bright green eyes.Golden skin.Dimples.And his hand—his right hand with the swirling tattoos was wrapped around the knife.“I won’t cut that pretty face,” he promised her.“But you will beg.”
He rushed toward her.
She leapt to her feet.Ignored the dizziness and the throbbing in her head and she grabbed the lamp from the nightstand.She threw it at him.It just bounced off his chest.Bounced and then fell to the floor where itshattered.
