Page 257 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

He parked in front of the motel, driving recklessly for the first time since he was a teenager. Racing from his truck, he was barely aware of Matthias running beside him as he headed toward her room.

He didn’t even bother calling out. The screams of pain coming from the room were making it obvious he needed to move fast. Alex slammed his shoulder against the door.

“Here! I have the key! I’ll call the sheriff.” Millicent moved toward them, but he didn’t want to wait. He’d pay for the repairs.

Pulling back, he gave the door a hefty kick, and raced inside to a sight he never wanted to witness again in his life.

With a roar of fury, he jumped toward the man daring to touch his woman.

Reggie heard someone yell. She tried to cringe back further, certain that Lance was going to kill her now. But the death blow never came, and as Reggie lowered her arms slowly, disbelief temporarily overtook her fear.

Slam! Alex’s fist pummeled Lance time and time again, giving the smaller man no chance to fight back.

“Get her out of here!” Alex yelled.

Reggie glanced around, slow and sluggish with shock and pain, as she wondered who he was talking to. It was then that Matthias appeared in front of her, blocking her view of the fighting men.

“Sweetheart, I’m going to lift you up, okay?”

Reggie shook her head, whimpering as she cringed back. She didn’t want him touching her. She didn’t want anyone touching her.

Except Alex.

“Alex, stop,” she cried, terrified. “You’ll kill him.”

“She’s right, Alex. Enough,” Matthias commanded.

“Get her out of here and I’ll stop.” She barely recognised his voice. It was so cold, so detached.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Matthias told her. “If you want that bastard to live, you’re coming with me.”

Before she could protest, she was in Matthias’s arms as he strode out of the room. “No!” She wriggled, trying to get herself free.

“Stay still before you hurt yourself further,” his stern voice ordered as he opened the backseat to the truck and placed her inside. “Look, the sheriff’s here now.” He nodded his head toward the men running into the motel room.

“He’ll kill him,” she whimpered, frantic to get back to Alex, not caring that every move she made sent fiery arcs of pain through her body.

“What do you care? Do you still love him?” Matthias’s dark gaze was glacial, accusing, and she shuddered in response.

“N-no, I never l-loved him. I just don’t w-want Alex getting in t-trouble over me.”

“Well, if you hadn’t run away from him, if you had told him about the calls from that bastard, he wouldn’t be here now, would he?”

Reggie let out a sob as she recognised the truth of his words. She should never have kept the phone calls a secret from Alex. This was all her fault.

Matthias looked at her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. He won’t kill him. Alex isn’t stupid. You’d do better to worry about the spanking that’s coming your way once this is all over. You are going to have one sore bottom by the time Alex gets through with you.”

Reggie looked at him in shock, her jaw dropping.

“Alex would never spank me while I'm injured!”

“No, he'll just wait until you're well and then wallop you. Believe me, I know.”

“What do you care?” She glared at him. “According to you, I'm a scared little rabbit who'll run for the hills if you so much as look at me!”

“Seems like the rabbit has claws. So you were eavesdropping, were you? Tut-tut, sweetie. You know, listening in on other conversations, and then running away when you misconstrue the conversation, is not the way to keep your lily-white butt from being blistered.”

“It doesn't matter,” she said tiredly, her body starting to ache and throb as the adrenaline rush subsided. “It's not like I'm going to be around much longer anyway. You were right, Alex is old-fashioned. If he was truly serious about us, he would have asked me to marry him.”

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