Page 73 of Forbidden Hearts

Chapter 35

Alex

As soon as my shift ends, I get in my car and drive to my apartment as fast as I can. Jacob wanted me to sleep with him tonight, but somehow, I persuaded him to wait until tomorrow. He was so drunk that he actually agreed to wait.

“I can wait because you’re mine now,” he had said between slurs. “But just know that you’re not going to see your sweet mother until you’re in my bed.”

Hot tears run down my face, blurring the road ahead. I wipe them away with the back of my hand. This isn’t how I planned to spend the rest of my life. I will not live with a gun pointed at my head—or my mom’s. There is only one thing left for me to do.

I have to kill Jacob.

Suddenly, I’m blinded by a flash of bright light in my rearview mirror. The flash disappears as quickly as it appeared. Next to me, a car speeds past me in the opposite lane.

It’s too dark to see the driver, but I recognize the car, which swerves into my lane and halts in front of me. I slam my brakes to avoid crashing into it.

Alonzo gets out of his car and walks to my window. The bright moon illuminates his face. He looks pissed.

“What the fuck was that back there?” he growls, startling me for a split second. His eyes are burning with anger. I have never seen him this angry before. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

“You almost caused a car accident!” I roll down my window and snap at him. Maybe it’s not a good idea to push back, but he could’ve gotten one or both of us hurt. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong withyou? Why are you back at The Den?”

“That’s none of your business,” I say, glancing back at the road. Alonzo’s car is blocking both lanes. I’ll have to drive off the road to get around it if I want to drive away. Should I? I don’t want to see him like this.

“It was a fling, I get it,” Alonzo said. “But you have enough money to last you for the rest of the year, maybe even more. So why are you back there?”

So it was a fling after all. Glad that is settled.

During our time together, I often wondered if he saw me differently from his other girls. He was so gentle and thoughtful that I wondered if it was more than a fling. But I was always quick to reassure myself that it was all in my head. I saw what I wanted to see. Alonzo isn’t the type of man to settle down with one woman. Esmeralda was the exception. Now he’s a man of the world.

“Alex? I asked you a question. Why are you back there?”

I don’t know what to say. I can’t tell him Jacob is threatening my mom to force me to work for him. Alonzo will start askingquestions that will eventually lead him to discover the truth. That Jacob and I were planning to rob him.

This is too much.

I just want to go home and crawl into a ball and get away from this life, from these men.

“It’s not about the money,” I finally say.

“Then what?” he asks. “Are you fucking him?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you fucking Jacob?”

Is that what this is about? He has no right to be jealous.

“No,” I say.

But I know I’ll have to, eventually. The thought of Jacob touching me again sends nasty prickles down my arms.

“Don’t lie to me, Alex. I know he has a thing for you. Men like him never give up until they get what they want, especially when it comes to women.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I say. “You can believe me or not. It makes no difference to me.”

“If it’s not about the money and you’re not fucking Jacob, then why did you go back?”

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