Page 31 of Fastlander Fury

“I want you to like me,” she admitted in a whisper as she wiped another stupid tear away with the sleeve of her hoodie.

He didn’t say more, and leaned back as the bartender set two shots of whiskey between them. She inhaled deeply, and told him, “I’m different than I used to be. I was social, never met a stranger. Grew up poor, but it didn’t matter. I had a solid friend group. I learned to work early, and I learned to be charming. I was serving tables in restaurants by the time I was fifteen. Quit school so I could work and help my mom pay bills. I worked my way up to more and more expensive restaurants, and do you know what I was interested in when I dated men?”

“Money?” he guessed.

“Money,” she admitted, disgusted. “I didn’t want to work doubles all my life. I didn’t want to live in roach-infested houses forever. When I got a job at the best steakhouse in Kansas City, I thought my ship had come in. The bills were huge, so the tips were also big. I could make more in one shift than I could in a week at my other jobs. I kept my head down and worked. One day, a big group of businessmen came into the restaurant and sat in my section, and I saw dollar signs. They were ordering everything, the best of the best, all the drinks. Drinks upon drinks all night. They sat in my section for hours, but I didn’t mind because their bill was getting bigger and bigger. One of the men there was clearly with a date, but he kept staring at me. My manager asked if I knew who he was, and when I told her I didn’t, she got this smile on her face. She said treat him well, and he would treat me well. So I did. I made sure to cater to everything his party needed. The woman he was with seemed irritated with his attention on me, but I wasn’t seeking that attention. When she started being rude to me, I understood. I wouldn’t want my man paying attention to another woman either.” She uncrossed and recrossed her legs under the table. “It turns out Derek owned the restaurant. Eventually I figured out that meant he thought he owned me. I said yes to too much. It started small. He would come in near the end of my shift and work on his laptop at the bar. He would ask me to talk for a few minutes as my boss was closing up and the chefs were prepping the kitchen for the next day. At first it was easygoing, but he was flirty. I asked him about the woman he’d come in with, and he said he’d broken up with her. I asked him why, and he said he found someone he liked better. And I’ll admit, it was very exciting. I was nobody, you know? I was just working to make ends meet, and finally making enough that I had money leftover each week. I could pay my bills and have money to buy clothes. When you serve tables, you live mostly on tips. The paychecks are taxed, so it would be just a little bit leftover after taxes, but after a couple of months, my paycheck was thousands of dollars. I couldn’t believe it. I took my mom and all my friends out that night. And the paychecks kept coming in. Any time Derek sat in my section he would leave a thousand-dollar tip, and it was a transition that I was fine with. I was thirsty for it. Felt like everything was falling into place. He seemed nice, so the first time he put a move on me, I was ready. I was happy. He was a powerful man, and had his hand in so much in the town I’d grown up in. He was only a few years older than me, and handsome, and he made me believe he was taking care of me and always would and I…I…got caught up in it, you know?”

She dared a glance up at Gunner’s face, but he was just watching her with his head cocked to the side like some curious animal. She couldn’t read his expression. Was he disappointed in her? Was he disgusted?

“Anyway, that went on for months, but he changed over time. It was easy at first, but then he started wanting to know everywhere I was. Everything I was doing. He had me download this app on my phone that would give him my exact location, but he didn’t share his location with me. He would show up at the restaurant all times of the day and just cause tension. He would cause fights over nothing. I had to act and be perfect, but his version of perfect was reading his mind and obeying his thousand rules that he made up as he went. It seemed like the more he cared for me, the more possessive he got. He didn’t just want to take care of me. He wanted to own me. He kept tabs on everything he did for me, and used them any time I was trying to tell him I wasn’t happy. I tried to leave, and the next day my boss brought me into the office and said my position at the restaurant was in jeopardy. Not only that, but Derek would make sure I never worked in any of the nice restaurants in that town again. He and his family knew everyone. He started buying me clothes and toting me around, but even when we went out, he didn’t let me out of his sight. And if any man talked to me, even his friends, he would fly into a rage. I found out the woman he’d been with that first night had been his fiancée. He’d thrown her away to pursue me, and it had caused a huge rift in his family and business relations. He held that over my head. Said I owed him loyalty because he’d given up so much for me. And little by little, I was buying it. I was getting trapped, and I didn’t know how to get out. The first time he hit me, I swore to myself I would leave. And then four-dozen roses showed up at the penthouse apartment he’d set me up in, and the manipulation began. I had never been through anything like that. It would get really bad, and then he would be so good to me and bring me back in line. And then it would start to get bad again. I couldn’t do anything right, he would cause fights, he would go out drinking with his friends, he would show up at my place begging me to ease his demons, and then I would get hurt, and on and on and on it went.”

“Where was your mom in all of this?” he asked softly. “Where were your friends?”

“They were telling me I was being dramatic when I would try to leave. They would tell me I needed to try harder. His wealth was trickling down to them. He knew what he was doing. He treated them well out the gate, and then they were on his side. They would listen to whatever charming thing he said, ignore the bruises on my face, and tell me it was a small price to pay.”

“Those weren’t friends.”

“Those weren’t friends,” she agreed.

“Does your mom regret encouraging it?”

She shrugged as another wave of pain took her. “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her since I left Kansas City. If I was going to leave, I had to go cold-turkey. He would get information from the people I used to know. Their loyalty shifted to him over time. I knew it. I could feel it. I just got quiet as I listened to them defend his actions.” She inhaled deeply. “The night he broke my nose, you know what he told me?”

Gunner’s hands were fisted on the table, and a steady growl emanated from him. He didn’t say anything.

“He squeezed my jaw and made me look at myself in the mirror, and he said that I deserved it.” Two more tears fell to her cheeks. Frustrated, she dashed the damp sleeve of her hoodie over her face. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I dealt with this a long time ago. I don’t cry over this shit anymore.”

“You were bleeding?”

“Gushing. I said I really needed to go the hospital, and he told me he wanted me to remember my disobedience and the consequences every time I looked in the mirror. He said my ruined face would make sure that no one else would want me. That I was bound to him now.”

“How long from then until you left him?” Gunner asked.

“Too long. I was so scared and just…stuck. I felt trapped and I still don’t know why I couldn’t escape it. He was so deep in my head. One night it happened again, and I went to my mom for help, told her what he’d done, and do you know what she did?”

Gunner shook his head.

“She defended him. His money meant a lot to her. He was supporting her too by that time. My heart went cold to her that day. I felt so betrayed and alone, and by that night, I was packed up, had cashed out my bank account, and was searching for cheap motels. I’d been putting money away, saving, preparing to disappear. I hoped he would forget about me when he lost sight of me, but he is a hunter.”

“Stalker,” Gunner murmured.

“He’s found all of my hiding places, but I lasted longest here in Laramie with Corey. Four months of freedom here. I even started to feel safe again, but he has a big reach.”

“Had a big reach.”

She inhaled deeply and stared out the window at her car. “He’s connected. His family runs that city. He’s not a man who accepts losing, and to him, a little no-name waitress rejected him.”

“Why do you work construction now?”

She forced a smile. “They’ll pay in cash if I don’t have all my paperwork in order. He can’t track cash. If I go to a restaurant, they need my information for taxes. He always finds me.”

“Your life isn’t over, you know,” Gunner told her.

She couldn’t explain why, but those words meant a lot to her. “Do you think less of me?”

Gunner puffed air out of his cheeks and took his last shot. He leaned back in his chair and linked his hands behind his head. “I think even less of Derek, which is a feat. I already wanted to torture him. Now it’s all I’ll think about.” He stared at her for a four-count and then said, “No, I don’t think less of you. You fell for someone with more money and power than you. You’re not the first person in the world to fall into that. I paired up with my friend’s mate.”

Hallie’s face went slack. “I need to know all of the details.”

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