Page 19 of Unraveled

He chuckled, low and deep. “Do you really not know? Have you been that out of it that you couldn’t see?”

“Um…”Apparently?…

Zane clenched his arms, bulging his muscles without tightening his grip. He looked down at his chest and back at me. “Improvements.” He smiled. “You don’t need a man that’s weak. You need someone strong. Someone forceful. Someone that can take care of you and give you what you need.”

I barely caught myself from gaping. “You didthis?” I asked, taking an uneasy glance along the expansive muscles I’d just been wondering about. “Forme?”

Doubt flickered over his expression. “Of course. I wanted to be stronger so that you’d run intomyarms. So you’d only have desire in those fierce, sexy-as-fuck eyes when you look at me.”

“You thought turning your body into a mountain of solid muscles would make mewantyou? That I’d find itattractive? I’ve seenandfelt what your muscles can do,beforeyou turned them into this. I’d rather you have less.”

Hurt was evident before the rage. I’d been alone with Zane enough to know the signs of when something struck him.

“And be weaker thanPierce? Never,” he growled.

Shoving my fear down my throat, I said what he needed to hear if he was ever going to get past his delusions. “It doesn’t matter, Zane. I love Tucker more than anything.There’s no one else as long as he exists. He’s been myrockthrough everything, and he was willing to change his whole life for me and our daughter. That’srealstrength. You’llalwaysbe weaker in my eyes. I’m not broken anymore. I know what I want, and I don’t want you. I don’t love you, and Ineverwill.”

My regret was instant, his grip growing so tight on my arms that I thought they might break, and my muscles beneath his long fingers screamed in protest as Zane lifted me clear off the gym floor to shake me brutally back and forth.

“I’m not weak!” His voice boomed out around us as he shook.

Shock gripped me with disbelief as I tried to reach out, to pull my arms away from his tight hold, but his grip pinned them against me. It was all I could do to keep my head from rattling back and forth just as violently as my body.

I screamed for him to stop, but it was like yelling into an angry void, his rage completely taking over. I began kicking, aiming for the one place I had a chance of reaching that could make the torture end as I screamed, praying someone might overhear.

I kicked again and again, missing my mark over and over until my heel got caught in the pocket of his shorts.

My world grew dizzy.

“Ichanged for you!Ilove you!” he shouted as he shook me senseless.

“PUT HER DOWNNOW, HERNANDEZ!”

Never in my life had I been more glad to hear or see a teacher.

Teachers.

There were two of them.

Coach Larson started prying my arms from Zane’s death grip as Ms. Teiger held me up from behind, keeping me from dropping to the floor.

“Dinah, stay back!” I vaguely registered Ms. Teiger yell when someone tried to untangle my foot from the shorts. “Go hit the button to page the office!”

Did they mean me?

Everything spun.

Coach Larson managed to free me then, and I fell back into my teacher’s arms, my legs unable to support me even with both feet beneath me again.

“Are you okay, Izzy?” Ms. Teiger asked when I finally had my weight halfway balanced on wobbly legs.

“Against the wall, Hernandez!” I heard Coach Larson order from a few feet away.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay upright as my head spun a million different directions. “I think so. Just dizzy,” I admitted when I felt myself sway.

“What’s this?” I heard the coach ask.

“Nothing,” Zane barked, and when he tried to lunge, Coach Larson stepped in front, blocking him from anywhere near me.

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