AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he says in a flat voice. “You didn’t need to come out here to talk to him. It’s cold, and a girl like you shouldn’t be in places like this.”
“Well, I was just about to head back inside,” I nervously say, shivering both from the cold and the fear.
I offer a polite smile to avoid setting him off, and I try to walk by him to the door. To my surprise, he lets me. I exhale a breath of relief and reach for the door, happy that I’d just been overthinking before.
My heart plummets when I realize the door is locked.
I stare at the handle for a moment, watching Tyler from my peripheral vision as he turns around and crosses his arms. I gulp and take a deep breath before turning to him. He has something planned, and I know I’m going to have to fight my way out of this. I think about all of the officers in my department who told me I'll never be able to live up to my father's shadow, or that I don't have what it takes to do this. Proving them wrong is all I want to do. I can't let that end here.
I turn to face Tyler and a sinister smile forms on his lips. I swear I can hear a dark chuckle escaping his throat. I think of my options, evaluating everything around me as quickly as I can. There are old shipping crates, a thick glass ashtray, and several garbage bags around me. The ashtray might do some damage if I can land a blow to his head. The end of the alley is roughly a hundred feet away. I’m fast, I run every day. I run marathons. Tyler clearly works out, but can he keep up with me?
I decide running is my best option. So, I take off. I try to run around Tyler, but the moment I’m within his grasp, he catches me. He grabs me by my shoulders and pulls me close to him. I struggle in his arms, trying to wiggle my way out of them, but they’re too strong.
“Where are you going?” Tyler laughs, turning me around in his arms, gripping my shoulders tight enough that I can feel a bruise already forming. “I just want to get to know you a little better.”
He lifts me as if I’m as light as a feather and pins me against the wall near the door. I cry out, desperately hoping someone will hear me, but he covers my mouth with his hand. He laughs at me while tears run down my face. My heart is racing, and I’m thinking of everything I can do to get out of this situation alive.
He brings his face closer to mine, and I bite down on his finger. Hard. I can taste the metallic tang of his blood after he drops me to the ground and yells.
“You bitch!” he groans while he waves his hand in the air.
I try to scramble to my feet, but he’s too quick. He grabs me again and forces me to look at him. A scowl has taken the place of the evil smile he had before. He’s angry and his eyes are filled with malice.
Suddenly, the side door slams open, and he turns his head away from me, quickly letting go of me. He straightens his back and hides the hand I bit behind him. Dominic stands in front of the door and glares at Tyler.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asks Tyler, quickly walking forward and standing in front of him.
Tyler is larger than him—the guy’s larger than most people—but he cowers in Dominic’s presence. I can’t tell if he’s afraid because Dominic is his boss or if it’s something else. Something tells me he has more reasons to be afraid of Dominic than I know about. Nevertheless, I’m happy Dominic showed up when he did. He’s a criminal and I know that, but I feel safe with him here.
“We were just having a chat,” Tyler says, trying to lie, probably hoping I’d be too afraid to disagree.
I don’t say anything. Instead, Dominic looks at me, sees the fear in my eyes, and pushes Tyler up against the wall. Tyler tries to fight back, but Dominic hits him and knocks the wind out of him.
“Didn’t look like talking to me,” Dominic says through gritted teeth. “Daniella, go inside.”
I rush to the door and open it, standing on the threshold for a moment, looking back. Dominic doesn’t need to look back to know I’m still there.
“Go now!” he commands and I quickly close the door and back away.
5
DOM
My blood runs so hotly through my body that I hardly feel the chill of the winter air.
Tyler is pinned to the wall, and I press my forearm against his neck. He’s gasping for air and shaking his head to tell me to stop. I’m not going to kill him even if I could. Trust me, I want to. But I won’t.
When Tyler’s face is purple, I drop my arm and back away from him. He falls to the ground, gasping for breath as he coughs and sits on the ground on his hands and knees. I thought I would leave it there, but I couldn’t. His hands were on Daniella. He touchedmywoman. He could have hurt her. Hell, he probably scarred her for life. He isn’t going to get away with it this easily.
He catches his breath and looks up at me before slowly starting to make his way to his feet. Before he can, I kick him in the side and he falls back down with a groan.
“It’s not what–” he starts saying before I kick him again. He rolls over onto his side and winces from the pain.
Yes, Tyler is twice my size. But he won’t fight back against me. He knows better than that. Just like he should have known better than to corner my woman in an alley. Besides, just because he’s bigger doesn’t mean he’s stronger.
“I don’t ever want to see you touch her again,” I seethe at him, holding back a slew of curses I want to send his way. “You don’t look at her, you don’t think about her, you don’t breathe the wrong way when she’s around. If she walks into a room, you will look away and leave. Do you understand?”
Tyler doesn’t say anything. His nostrils flare, and he’s gritting his teeth. He’s known for being a hothead, temperamental, unable to control his anger. I’m provoking him and I know that. So fucking what. I almost wish he’d give me another reason to do more to him.
