Page 13 of Damaged

Without me.

A blaring horn ripped me from the memory. I looked to see that a little red car was just inches from my knees. “You gonna fucking move or what, kid?” a man shouted from the driver’s side. The car’s engine was loud. It sounded as angry as its driver.

I quickly moved out of the way but not before I heard the driver call me a stupid little bitch.

I knew what those words meant, and I instinctively began walking toward the restaurant. By the time I reached the door, Dalton was there, holding it open. His eyes kept shifting from me to the driver of the car who’d yelled at me.

And he wasn’t happy.

I didn’t know if he was mad at me or the driver, but I didn’t really care. Just feeling the warmth that radiated off him made me feel safe for the moment. If he was pissed at me, he’d just take it out on me later when we got to his house.

Wait, was I really considering continuing on with him?

He’d lied to me.

I wanted to laugh because my entire life had been a lie, so what did Dalton’s matter? I needed to be smart about my decisions, and the reality was that Dalton could have turned the car around while I’d been asleep and taken me back to the lodge. If he’d wanted to hurt me, he could have done it in the car or any side road that we’d likely passed. He wanted me for sex.

Sex and nothing more.

It was a fucking harsh reminder of my situation. I wasn’t free. Not the kind of free I wanted to be, anyway. I’d merely traded one captor for another.

I dropped my eyes as I walked past him because Ivan had never liked it when I’d looked at him or any of the men who’d worked for him in the eyes. Of course, he’d never opened a door for me either, so the very first thing I did when I got inside the crowded restaurant was come to an abrupt halt. I felt Dalton at my back but thankfully he didn’t slam into me. If he had, I probably would have hit the floor.

“I can’t do this,” I blurted as I spun around. “I… I have to… I can’t…” For the life of me, I couldn’t complete a sentence. I could feel my bruised cheeks filling with heat and tears stung the backs of my eyes.

Yep, definitely not free.

Even if Dalton and his offer had never existed, I might have physically had the right to go anywhere and do what I pleased, but I was still being held hostage by my own mind. I could smell Ivan’s sweat and body odor; I could feel his roughened skin against mine as his weight held me down?—

“Silver, open your eyes,” I heard a familiar voice demand.

I squeezed my eyes closed even harder as a wave of relief went through me.

Dalton.

Not Ivan.

A restaurant.

Not Ivan’s semen-encrusted sheets against my body… the semen that had dripped out of whatever part of me Ivan had chosen to mark me with the sticky proof of his release.

“Dalton,” I whispered because I needed to be sure that I was where I thought I was.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he practically growled, but not in a scary way. Okay, well it was kind of scary but for whatever reason, I didn’t think it was meant for me.

“Wait here,” Dalton murmured as he released the door so that it was now my back holding it open. I had a clear view of the outside, where all the cars sat, as well as the inside of the restaurant.

“Dalton—” I began as the terror in my bones climbed yet another notch.

“I’ll be right back,” he assured me, his fingers briefly trailing down my lower back. “I’ll be in sight the entire time,” he added as he began walking away from me. But it wasn’t his car he headed to. Instead, he went to the gas pump where the little red car sat. Dalton walked straight up to the driver and began speaking to him. I had no idea what he was saying but when I saw the tall, skinny man glance at me and then rapidly shake his head, much of the fear that had been gnawing away at me from the moment Dalton had woken me up evaporated.

It was replaced by warmth.

Warmth and something else. Something in my belly that made it feel like it was doing little cartwheels.

Cartwheels.

How the hell did I know what those were?

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