AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did I say you could fucking move?”
Because I’ve already started for the doorway. In the face of his growled statement, I keep walking. The fact that he grabs me isn’t a surprise, but the tension in his grip is. It hurts, but not hard enough to bruise. Again, I’m just getting a taste of his frustration. He’s holding back. Why?
It doesn’t matter. No longer does he intrigue me.
When I wrench out of his grasp, he lets me go, and I don’t look back.
“I am willing to subject myself to many things, but mind games isn’t one of them,” I tell him. “You want a little whore who will jump through your hoops and cower, go take your pick from your harem. I always mean what I say, and I told you that you had me. If you don’t trust that, then we have nothing left to discuss. I don’t chase after men who aren’t interested in what I have to offer.”
“Oh, I beg to differ, Tiena,” he growls. “Word on the street is that you’re an insatiable slut, and you’ll do anything and anyone for a new purse and some pretty shoes. Your devoted mother ruse is convincing, but don’t fool yourself.”
I look back at him, and I almost regret it. It would help somewhat if he resembled how Diego would look in this instance. Furious. Enraged. A beast out for blood.
Jaguar merely looks amused. I’m not living up to his expectations, and it thrills him. It puzzles him. Curiosity makes his gaze more searing than ever, as if he hopes to burn whatever secrets I’m hiding out of my skull.
“If you want me to get your son, then you’ll do whatever the fuck I tell you to—”
“No,” I say, lifting my chin. “I am not a toy to sit on a shelf with your other dolls. You’re bored of me, Jaguar. You like your women cowering and fearful, but I don’t fear anyone.”
Not anymore.
Infected by my newfound boldness, I keep going, “I appreciate your help, but as I told you before, if you won’t help me, I’ll find someone who will. Now give me my phone and have a lovely night.”
“You really think you can walk away from me?”
I don’t let myself falter a single step in my third quest for the door. “Yes,” I say with my back to him. “If you wanted me for real, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Now enough with the dangerous man spiel. I know exactly how your kind operates, and I know a windup when I hear it.”
Does it bother him to have those words thrown in his face? It does.
“Goodnight.”
I keep moving, but I don’t hear any footsteps in my wake. Good. I force myself onward until a wide-eyed woman passes me and warily points toward the front entrance.
When I exit the main doors under the gaze of a watchman, a car is waiting for me out front. Inside it, I find my purse and my cell phone in the back seat. Only when I safely reach my apartment—somehow avoiding the view of anyone who might notice my torn dress—do I try to call Pedro.
I barely let it ring once before hanging up. Instead, I strip my dress and climb into the shower. The hot water lashes at my back, awakening the pain that remained dormant until now.
Only in the sanctity of the stall can I finally scream and cry and writhe beneath the agony. I don’t despair over it. I wallow in it and cherish the strength pain gives me. It’s a rush of a far stronger drug than adrenaline. It’s a cruel reminder of everything I’ve survived up until this point.
In a poetic sense, Lupita Sanchez is dead, and a phoenix rose from her ashes. Never again will a powerful man have me under his thumb, no more loved than a disposable piece of trash.
Not Diego.
Not Braulio Rivera.
Not Julian Domingas.
When I finally exit the shower, I find at least ten missed calls from the only man I can trust, Pedro.
“You stupid bitch,” he scolds when I finally call him back. “Don’t you ever fucking scare me like that.Dios mío.I ought to kick your skinny ass back to Mexico. What was so important you had to ignore your phone for twelve hours?”
“Pedro…” I bite my lip so hard it stings just to hold back a sob. I can’t tell him the truth. Not because he wouldn’t understand—if anyone would, it’s Pedro.He, not Tiena, was the one who helped lick my wounds and bandage my bloodied limbs. He helped resurrect the corpse of my old self Diego had left behind. He knows the risks that come with associating with dangerous men.
So no, I can’t tell him.
“Pita? What the hell happened?”
“I got held up. Did you do what I asked?”
