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A million rebuttals rose in her throat, but issuing them would only prolong the inevitable.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over. The divorce is final. I agreed to shared legal custody but I have physical custody and we’re not riding with you to the show. We’ll meet you out front at 6:30, like I said in my texts.” She turned toward the door leading to the coffee shop. “I have to get back to work.”
It was a mistake. Turning her back when Adam was angry was always a mistake.
She was reaching for the door when he grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her as he shoved her face-first into the brick wall.
She winced as her cheek hit the brick, as much because of the pain in her arm — the one he’d broken that still wasn’t quite the same — as the rough brick scraping against her face.
“You think you’re a big shot now, you fucking bitch?” His body was pressed against her from behind and she was horrified to realize he was hard.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. Hurting her turned him on. It always had.
Panic welled in her body, blotting out coherent thought. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the roar of blood in her veins as adrenaline coursed through her, preparing her to run or hide.
She forced herself to breathe the way her therapist had taught her.
I am safe. I am safe. I am safe.
It was so stupid she would have laughed if she hadn’t been so fucking scared. She was nowhere near safe with Adam.
She never had been.
“Let go of me.” Her voice shook, but she couldn’t help it. “You’re not allowed to hurt me anymore.”
It sounded pitiful to her own ears and she wasn’t surprised when he laughed next to her ear.
“I’m notallowed? You don’t get to tell me what I’m allowed to do to you, Ruby. You think just because you have a piece of fuckingpapersaying we’re not married you’re free? You’re not free. You do what I say, just like always.”
“Take your hands off me, Adam!” She tried to wriggle free, but his grip was like iron, her arm twisted behind her back in a way that made it impossible to maneuver.
He pressed his body more tightly against her and ground his dick against her ass. “I remember when you used to like it like this, Ruby. Why don’t you stop playing the injured party here and admit you still do?”
“Let go!” she screamed.
And then, as if by magic, he did. The pressure on her arm was released, the weight of his body gone.
She started to turn and saw him fly through the air, then stumble to gain his footing a few feet away.
For a split second, she almost thought something supernatural had happened, that she’d been saved by some kind of avenging angel.
Then she followed the line of Adam’s angry glare and saw the man standing in the alley, fists balled at his sides, gray eyes ablaze. His face was etched with angry indecision, like he was trying to decide whether to put out a fire or light another match.
When he spoke, his voice was low and cold, devoid of emotion.
“She said let go.”
3
ROMAN
He was in the danger zone, that place where his anger had turned to fury, a blood red veil dropping over everything around him.
He itched to hear the sound of bones crunching, to feel the give of another man’s flesh under his fists.
He wanted to punch, to hurt, to kill.
There were only two things that kept him rooted to the ground: the other man’s uniform, and Ruby, staring at him with wide eyes, her back against the brick wall.
