Page 84 of Dealing Dirty
“Where do you think you’re going,chiquita?” A familiar voice skitters down my spine, and terror clenches my gut tight enough to halt my momentum.
Slowly turning over my shoulder, I meet Alfonzo’s snake-like eyes as they bore a furious hole through me. Fresh cuts join the scars that already marred the left side of his face, and I fail to suppress a rush of glee that Jackie or Bruce punished him for aiding Ethan in my capture.
He rushes me before I can scream.
“You stupid little whore,” he seethes, grabbing my outstretched arm and wrenching it behind my back.
“Ah!” I grunt as he snags my other wrist and jams my arms further up my back. Sharp pain shoots between my shoulder blades.
He nips my neck. “Mmm, yes. I think I’ll enjoy you before I slit your throat wide open, then I’ll blame it on your boyfriend.”
Shit.He knows Derrick is here.
On the brink of losing my ever-loving mind, I bark a laugh. “Screw you.”
We’ve not come this far for this moron to screw it all up.
“Shut up,” he hisses, dragging me toward an open room as I struggle against his punishing hold.
Enough.
I’m sick of being manhandled.
A shiny candelabra catches my eye on a table several paces from where we struggle.
Throwing my body weight toward the wall, I’m able to get him to stumble toward it. His gleeful laugh only drives me harder, but this gown keeps getting caught between my legs, making my steps clumsy.
So close, so close!
Thinking quick, I raise my knee and back kick my heel straight into his groin the way I wanted to last night.
“You… bitch…” he pants, but I’ve been given just enough space to vault toward the heavy object.
I swipe the candelabra off the table and blindly swing it at Alfonzo’s head. It connects with a sickeningthud, and he drops.
“Jesus, Juliana,” Derrick breathes from behind the man now crumpled on the floor. His wide eyes match mine as the weight of the heavy candelabra drops my arm against my dress.
Blood trickles from Alfonzo’s temple.
Derrick steps over him and pries the object from my grasp. He sets it back on the table before turning to me. “Are you okay?”
Actually, I think I might cry.
It must show, because he pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head.
A soft chuckle warms my hair as I take big breaths. “It’s okay, Juliana. I’ve got you.”
The pounding of his heart beneath my ear is soothing, and once I’ve calmed down, I point to Alfonzo’s limp form. “We can’t leave him here.”
Derrick shifts his gaze around the hall. “Hang tight.”
I watch as he grabs Alfonzo under his arms and drags him down the hall to a coat closet. After stuffing him inside and closing the door, he wipes his hands against his thighs and trots back over to me.
We’re so close to getting out of this. I’m going to reunite Hazel with her dad and the Wolves and then… what?
Guilt rides on the high rushing through me. I told Jackie that I trusted him, and Ihadfelt betrayed before I knew he had nothing to do with me being captured. But escaping without warning him feels deceptive, and I’m not sure how to process that.
Beside where I rest against the wall is an open room. Derrick guides me inside by my hand. The door closes with a light click, swathing us in darkness, and he whispers four quiet words. “We don’t have long.”
