Page 3 of Filthy Hot

But Xavier wasn’t done with me.

Instead of just letting me go my own way, he decided he couldn’t allow that. Everything always has to be on his terms, and that includes us splitting up, too. So, he’s been hunting me down, dragging me back to wherever he’s staying, over and over again the past four years.

But I’m not going to give up.

He may just have to kill me.

I refuse to accept the abuse and control. Not anymore. Not from him or anyone else. I’ve made up my mind. I am going to try and live my life, not just survive it.

I’ve spent the first half of my life in complete chaos, trying to grasp anything that gave me a semblance of normalcy, which usually came in the form of a job and not much else. Considering I didn’t have a calm, normal home life, and obviously, being with Xavier wasn’t that either.

But one day, I hope to have a life where I work, fall in love with a nice man, get married, and have children. A simple life that is a good one. I don’t need fame and fortune. I just want to live in peace. What I have with Xavier is the exact opposite of peace. What I had with my parents was the same.

I thought Xavier was going to save me from my childhood trauma. At only sixteen, I couldn’t make an informed, mature decision about myself and my relationship, and unfortunately, I chose wrong.

But what was really my downfall was expecting that someone else could save me from my own trauma. The reality was that I needed to save myself.

I chose a man who was exactly like my parents. And I’ve regretted that decision for fourteen years.

I’ll probably always regret it.

My feet move swiftly, my body on high alert as I walk as quickly as I possibly can. The ten blocks to my car feel like they take a lifetime. I just need to make it to the vehicle, start it, and drive.

I have to get out of Louisiana.

I don’t know how much gas I have left, but I know I have enough to at least take me over the border and into Texas. And I know I don’t have enough cash to get a hotel room and fill up my tank again, let alone eat.

Sweat drips down my spine as I move closer and closer to my car. Finally, I see it in the distance. That’s when I start to run. Fuck the world around me. I need to get to that car. I can feel something behind me, but I don’t look back. I can’t. I don’t want to know if he’s coming after me.

Because I already know what it is… or rather who.

As long as I reach the car first, start the engine, and drive, I’m good. Then I hear my name being called out from behind me.Fuck. It’s him. My feet move faster. Sweat doesn’t just drip. It now pours down my face, but I don’t look back.

Shoving my hand in my pocket, my heart pounding, I reach for my key as I approach the car door. He’s chanting my name now. Tauntingly. He knows how to terrify me. He’s been doing it long enough.

Fumbling, I slide the key into the lock and turn it, opening the door before I jump into the driver’s seat.

Thankfully, I have an old piece-of-shit car that still has a key entry. Locking the door first, I start the engine. Only then do I look back in the direction I came from. It’s him, and he's coming for me, all right.

He’s close, too.

Too close.

Shifting the car intoDrive, I press my foot against the gas pedal, and I hear the sweet sound of my tires squealing as I get the hell away from Xavier and whatever hold he thinks he has on me.

The reality of it is that he has nothing over me—not anymore. I was over him years ago. I’m ready to move forward with my life, to heal completely from what he’s done to me. What I’ve allowed him to do to me.

Never again.

Not ever.

CHAPTER

TWO

GNAW

“We got toomany irons in the fucking fire,” I grind out as I load up the keg into the back of the truck. We need another fucking project like we need a goddamn hole in the head.

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