Page 114 of Not Your Little Girl Anymore

Chapter Forty-one

Alec

“I’ll go with you.”

Her words replay in my head like a broken record. She can’t. That’s the last thing she should do, and at this very moment, she has no choice.

Raleigh slams his forearm against my collarbone, shoving me against the wall as the gun indents into the side of my head. I’m angry.

I’m fucking pissed off that he broke into my house, shoved me against the wall, and is once again threatening me with his gun. As if it holds the only power he fucking has.

Then again, it is his only power against me right now. Because if that thing weren’t fully loaded and aimed at my skull, I would’ve had the bat meeting his head by now.

“I would put that bat down if I were you,” Raleigh warns.

Gritting my teeth, I tighten my grip on the base of the bat. “Or what?”

He shoves me again, adjusting his finger on the trigger. “Do you really want to find out?”

Summer’s eyes flick to mine. The roll of her throat is thick and harsh. “Dad, I said I will go with you. Let him go.”

He chuckles, his breath coating my face, making me cringe, disgust rolling over me. I fucking hate this man.

“I’ll release him once you get your ass down those stairs,” he retorts.

Summer fights the urge to cry. I can tell by how she blinks those pretty green eyes and how her lip wobbles out of terror. She moves slowly behind her father. I steal a slight glance of her over his shoulder.

Her delicate hands are placed over her heart as she mouths the words, “I’m so sorry.”

When she’s by the door, her father releases me. My muscles tighten, and it’s taken everything inside of me not to use this bat. But he’s quick, keeping the gun aimed at my head; he grabs my hand with his free one, pressing just enough pressure against the sensitive crease between my thumb and forefinger, forcing me to drop the bat onto the ground.

“Did you know,” he starts, getting a little too close to my ear, “if I press a little harder right in this spot, all it’ll take is for one quick twist, and it’ll ruin your career. Don’t fucking test me.”

I don’t say a single word, my eyes drifting to the small white bag beside the microwave.

My lips tug upward. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He shoves me harder against the wall before finally walking backward until he’s on the side of Summer. Making it a point to keep the barrel focused on my being.

Patience.

That’s all I need right now.

His fingers wrap around Summer’s arm in a tight grip. She winces as he shoves her through the doorway, slowly turning the gun and pressing it hard against her back. “Walk, now,” he barks.

She obeys, and I wait. Counting in my head like it’s the last thing I’ll ever be able to think. But it won’t be because the second those doors are closed, he’s in for a fucking ride.

They’re halfway down the stairs, Summer’s soft cries bouncing back toward me. It hurts. It fucking hurts that she’s in pain not only from her ankle but from the grip he has on her arm that I’m sure will bruise, and now her heart.

Don’t worry, pretty girl. It’ll be over soon. That’s what I want to tell her before they’re out the front door, but I can’t. If I do, he’ll charge back and pull the trigger without a second thought.

As soon as I hear the front door to the apartment building close, I’m running to grab my phone off my bedside table and immediately call Tyler.

The phone rings twice before he answers, and simultaneously, I’m rushing back into the kitchen.

“What’s up, man?”

Tugging the bag toward me, I shove my hand inside. “You with Chloe?”

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