Page 31 of Hidden By His Side

Ramiro stepped on Derek’s hand, the shriek of pain not nearly enough, but a start. He ground that hand into the sidewalk.

“Get off!” Derek bellowed, unable to pull free.

Ramiro added more weight as he crouched, gripping the asshole’s dark hair and jerking his head up. The edge of the man’s mouth glistened with drool from the pain.

The pain hadn’t even started yet.

Ramiro forced Derek to look at him. “Tell me what you said to Summer.”

Derek blinked, his eyes narrowing. “I remember now. Summer works for a Rodriguez.” The smile that spread on the prick’s face needed to be erased. “She’s been fucking you, too, hasn’t she? Lying slut.”

Punching the man in the face wasn’t as satisfying as Ramiro had hoped. He watched blood fly from his cracked nose, dotting the sidewalk. At least the smile was gone.

Ramiro ground his heel into Derek’s hand. “Say that again.”

The idiot was too drunk to think clearly, or he would have kept his mouth shut. “I always wore a condom. She had to be sleeping around. That makes her a sl—”

Ramiro aimed for his cheekbone, hoping it would crack as easily as the nose. The force of the impact had the man falling back.

“Summer wouldn’t sleep around.” It had taken her a year after sleeping with him to try to have sex again. A year of her eyes begging Ramiro to reconsider. When she’d finally moved on, he’d gotten blisteringly drunk with Diego. He’d never forget the way he’d felt that night.

She’d been with a handful of men since then. It took her months to trust the guys enough. And it took everything in Ramiro not to kill each one she’d been with.

He was a hypocritical psychopath when it came to her. He wanted her to be with someone better than him, but he hated each and every man who got to touch her. The one in front of him was turning out to be the worst yet.

“It’s not mine!” Tears streamed down Derek’s face. “It can’t be mine.”

Ramiro wanted to shake him. “She deserves better than you.” He stepped closer, blocking the glow of the streetlight, casting a shadow over the man. “Why did you even come here tonight if you want nothing to do with her?”

Derek’s head dipped toward the sidewalk. “She’s already knocked up. Might as well fill that hole while I have the chance. You came here tonight thinking the same thing, didn’t you?”

Ramiro crouched again as fury flooded his body. “It’s going to be a pleasure killing you,” he admitted, jabbing him in the throat.

The man’s eyes bulged as he failed to breathe. The follow-up punch to Derek’s already broken nose resulted in a wet moan of fear. Ramiro grabbed for his flailing arm. Snapping the wrist brought a shriek of pain.

“Don’t, Ram.”

Ramiro would recognize Summer’s voice even in a screaming crowd. The pain in her words made him pause. She still wore thesimple skirt paired with a T-shirt. Her feet were bare, proving she’d rushed down without a thought for herself.

She didn’t think of herself enough.

“You should go back inside,” he said. “You don’t have to see this.”

“I don’t want you to kill him.” Summer’s eyes dropped to the sidewalk. “Please?” she added, her arms wrapping around herself.

She’d said the same about those teenage rapists back when they’d first met. Ramiro pretended to listen back then. He could pretend again.

His palms weren’t bloody. He rose and rested them on her shoulders, rubbing warmth into her arms. “No one gets to say the things he said about you.”

Her eyes shifted to Derek’s cowering form. “He doesn’t believe the baby is his.”

Derek continued to pant and shake, cradling his wrist against his body. “Your boss is crazy! He said he was going to kill me.”

“I’m sorry,” Summer murmured.

“Don’t apologize to him.” Ramiro hated that the prick no longer looked scared.

Summer shook her head, her arms tightening around herself. “You don’t want this baby?” she asked Derek.

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