Page 60 of Tequila & Lace
I washed my mouth out, took a deep breath and left to grab a taxi to head home to Paul. I didn’t have the energy to drive myself home, and I didn’t know if the john would follow me. Paul was going to be pissed when he saw me, but I needed him. I had no one else, and if I didn’t tell him, I didn’t know when I would sleep again.
Chapter Eighteen
Paul
Iwas in the middle of browsing for houses to buy when the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone this late at night. It was almost midnight for Christ sakes. I wanted to get a list of houses to look at with Andi because I was quitting S&R and would no longer be welcomed in the house I was living in. Andi would since she would still be working for the company, but that needed to change as well.
I peeked out of the dining room window and saw a taxi waiting in the street. Getting to my feet, I walked to the door and opened it as a body fell onto me.
“Andi? What the fuck?” My heart stopped the moment I realized it was her. Her beautiful brown hair was tangled, her yellow dress was ripped, and her skin was starting to bruise where there wasn’t already blood from cuts. “What the fuck happened?” I asked, hugging her against my body.
“You need to pay me!” the cab driver shouted from the street.
“I’m… fine. Just pay him,” she whispered and stumbled past me.
“The hell you are! You need to tell me what the fuck happened. Your date did this? Where’s your car?”
“Just pay him.” She fell to the floor.
“Baby…”
“Go!” She began to cry.
How was I supposed to leave her crying, bleeding and hurting in the entryway while I paid for a fucking cab?
“And—”
The Cabby honked and Andi whispered against the wood floor, “Please, just do it.”
I ran toourroom, grabbed my wallet off of the dresser and bolted out of the front door, jumping over Andi in the process. After glancing at the meter, I pulled the bills from my wallet and tossed them at the driver before I ran back to her. She hadn’t moved in the few seconds I was gone. I scooped her up, kicked the door shut, then sat on the couch with her in my arms and rocked her, waiting for her to tell me what the fuck had happened before I lost my fucking mind.
“Baby, you need to tell me what happened before I lose my shit.”
“It was like walking into my seventeenth birthday again.”
Her body shook as tears soaked my chest. I held her tight against me, not knowing what else to do. I wanted to beat the ever living shit out of whoever did this to her. Who would book a date with someone to do this? A motherfucking asshole, that’s who.
And I was going to find him.
“He rap—” I couldn’t finish my thought as I pictured Andi being held down, a man over her and…
She shook her head. “No, I got away.”
I squeezed her tighter, my body relaxing a little as I sank into the couch, squeezing her harder against me. “Please tell me what happened so I can help you.”
“You…” She sniffed. “You can’t help me.”
“We can call Mark and he can call the police, have the guy arrested.”
She sprang from my lap. “Shit, I have to call Eric.”
I stood, reaching for her to bring her back to me. “Eric? Who’s Eric?”
Confusion flashed in her eyes as she stared back at me, not moving to my outreached hand. “No… No one. Mark can’t help.”
“What the fuck, Andi? What’s going on?”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Blood transferred to her hand and she stared at it as if she didn’t realize she was bleeding. “My date wasn’t with a client from S&R. There’s just so much you don’t know.”
