Page 28 of Savage Devotion
From my position on the floor, I grab a particularly thick epic fantasy from the bottom shelf and chuck it with all the know-how left over from my short-lived stint as a pitcher for my grade school team.
Thunk.
Ouch.
I form a new love for fantasy and grab another, this time aiming low. Each five-hundred-page tome lands with a solid thunk. In return, I get a grunt, but the bastard is not slowing down.
I swing and feel good when the solid back of my book-turned-weapon meets the side of his head.
“How the fuck did you get past parish boundaries?” I seethe between clenched teeth.
“I have my back ways into this piece-of-shit town. I was up all night waitin’ for the right time. Those slutty Savage bitches’re gone and now you’re all mine.”
Warm air from the vents sweeps across my bare skin when he shoves my skirt over my legs.
Protect my babyis all I can think as I kick and swing with all my might. I rear back and land the heavy tread of my boot in his nut sack. By luck more than skill.
“Ooff,” he grunts, falling forward clutching his family jewels. Maybe if I’m lucky, he’ll never reproduce.
I scramble to my knees and swing my best batting game. I’m not much of a sports person anymore but for once I’m grateful for paying attention to my coach’s instructions.
Dick Face bounces off the back wall—with what I guess is a fresh round of adrenaline jacking his veins, and lurches for me.
I’m not fast enough. I’m on the floor with his body on top of mine. Flat lips peel back to show cigarette-stained teeth to match the stench rolling off him.
This is it. He’s going to rape me and murder me. In the middle of my dream bookstore.
Suddenly his heavy body is off mine, and I can breathe again.
It all happens in slow motion. Shelves fall, glass breaks and I scramble to my knees and then my feet just in time to see Reaper throw Dick Face over my prized Edgar Allen Poe collection. My front window doesn’t stand a chance.
Glass shatters, flying everywhere and the fog of the late afternoon pours into the Broken Chapter Asylum ruining my pretty gothic display.
Blood drips from the jagged edges of my front window but Dick Face must not be cut too bad because I’ve never seen a man pound pavement so freakishly fast.
I come up behind Reaper and he whirls on me, picks me up like a doll, and crushes my smaller frame to his chest. Warm, strong, and safe. Those three sensations hit me all at once and I want to freeze time. With me in his arms, the night air around us, and his heartbeat in my ear.
“Did he hurt you? Fucking asshole. Did he hurt you? Answer me, Belle, baby.”
So much for wishful thinking, I sigh out heavily and let reality take over.
He sits me down and starts checking me for what I assume is broken bones, bruises, and blood.
When his hands stop long enough for me to focus on words and not how all those rough calluses feel on my cool skin, I say, “He just ruined my mascara, is all. But my store? Look at it, Reaper.”
He looks around, shaking his head. “Who cares about the store? All I care about is you. Your fingers are trembling.”
“I care, Liam! Me!” Books litter the floor, some with their covers and spines ripped and cracked. My heart constricts. I’ve always seen the escape I get from reading as an extension of myself. Seeing the ruined books scattered around makes me want to cry. And then stab someone.
I turn to the front. And the front window is pretty much non-existent.
But I’m not. I rest my hand over my stomach and the baby growing there. It could always be worse, right? I’m okay. We are okay.
“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” I say firmly. I don’t know if I am reassuring him or myself but I feel marginally better getting them out of me like an affirmation.
He links our fingers and pulls me into his arms. Strong hands rub everywhere and you know what? I don’t mind the moment of pause so I can catch my breath.
But then I pull away. I can’t have Reaper fighting all my fights. “I think the boot and book beating he took will keep him away for a while. I should have had my camera turned on. I would have seen him coming if I had.”
