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How had I never seen it before? Aphrodite was bat shit crazy. And I didn’t use that term lightly. I always knew she was a little offbeat. But after thirteen years of working in strip clubs, it’s the nature of the beast.
I couldn’t look at Tater. She said she knocked him out with a tranquilizer. But until I could touch him, make sure his heart was still beating, I wouldn’t rest easy.
“I’m not into women. So you can’t say that we belong together when that’s not the way I swing.”
Aphrodite leaned in close. Her insanity blazed with unholy light in her pale green eyes. “Oh, that doesn’t concern me. I know you’d love the way I fuck.”
I wasn’t going to back down. And I could only think that I needed to keep her talking. “Honey, unless you’re hiding a dick in those pants, no I wouldn’t. I like men far too much.”
Aphrodite’s hand cracked against my right cheek. The blow snapped my head back. Pain exploded in my cheek. I bit my bottom lip to contain my painful moan.
“Don’t be crass, Moira. It doesn’t suit.”
Save me from the pearl clutchers. And she was even crazier than I initially believed if she was that concerned about propriety when she’d been a stripper. “I run a strip club. It’s the very definition of crass.”
“You won’t be doing that anymore. I can tell you that.”
“And what am I supposed to do for money?” She couldn’t be serious.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about money from now on. I’ve taken care of everything. I have a nice little spot picked out for us. You’ll love it.”
“No, I won’t. This is my home. And I’m with Ben, anyway.”
She gripped my chin and narrowed her eyes. “Lies. I heard you break up with him.”
She confirmed that she’d been listening to me, studying me. I shivered, feeling like an ant under a microscope. “I only broke up with him because of you. Because I didn’t want him to get hurt. The moment the police catch you, which they will, I’m going back to him.”
“Like he’d take a whore like you back,” she sneered.
“I’d rather be his whore than be with a psychotic bitch like you any day of the week.”
Aphrodite snarled and punched me in the stomach twice. Air expelled from my lungs as I gasped at the jagged pain. How had I never seen the psychopath beneath the veneer? She gripped my hair so tightly I worried she’d rip it out by the roots and got up in my face. “That wasn’t a nice thing to say. I’m going to enjoy beating that sass out of you.”
“And you think that will endear you to me? That I won’t hate you with every breath I take?”
“You’ll learn to love it.”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. I’ll never love you. I’ll never enjoy being abused. And I won’t stop fighting you or trying to escape. I’ll fight you every minute of every day until I’m free.” Or dead. But I kept that part to myself.
She rose to her full height, glaring with her lips in a disgusted snarl. “So be it. You know, Moira, this is all your fault. All you had to do was love me.”
“I’ve loved plenty and been loved in return. But I could never love a crazy, psychotic bitch like you.”
Aphrodite growled and spat. “You stupid cunt.” She reached for the gun she’d set on the counter.
A shot rang out, and Aphrodite went down screaming. I jerked in my chair as some of her blood splattered on me. She wasn’t dead. But blood gushed from the wound in her leg as she flailed on the floor in agony.
Big, strong hands cupped my face. “Look at me, babe.”
The familiar deep voice startled me. I tore my gaze away from the gruesome sight. Arctic blue eyes greeted me. I burst into tears. “Ben. You’re here. How?”
He cut my restraints and pulled me into his arms. “Hush now. I’ve got you.”
“Tater.” I tried to turn and check on the pup.
“Is fine,” another male voice said as his visage came into view. It was Owen.
“We’ll get him checked out. But first, I’m getting you out of this room.” Ben scooped me up and carried me into the living room.
