Page 94 of Altered

He kept his focus on the needle in his hand, like it was the holy grail, as he filled it with the poison he'd been flushing through his veins for months.

Frozen to the spot, I watched in horror as he readjusted the clasp he had clamped around his arm before aiming the prick of the needle to his skin.

Suddenly everything burst to the surface, and the pain I had been drowning in these past two months exploded out of me.

I was done.

So fucking done.

"Don’t you even think about putting that shit into your body in front of me!" I screamed as I rushed over to where he was slumped and literally kicked the needle out of his hand with the toe of my sneaker.

Jordan's head snapped up, and I honest to god had never seen fury in a man's eyes like I did in that moment. "You stupid fucking bitch!"

Too angry to care about the names he was calling me, I lunged to where the syringe was laying on the carpet.

"Hope, stop!" Jordan roared as he scrambled to his feet. "Don’t you fucking do it –"

"Too late," I snarled as I reached down and grabbed the plastic end of the syringe.

His hands came around my throat as my back hit the wall with a thud. "Give it back," he demanded, glaring at me with eyes black as coal. "Now."

"Or what?" I shot back, holding the syringe as far away from our bodies as I could stretch. "You'll hit me? Choke me?" I squirted every drop of poison onto the floor and screamed, "Rapeme?" Tears filled my eyes as I finally confronted him with my pain. "It wouldn’t be anything you haven't done to me already!"

"Liar!" Jordan choked out before shoving me roughly away. "I wouldneverdo that to you!"

"How would you know?" I screamed. "When you're drunk and high twenty-four goddamn seven!" I tossed the needle on the floor and glared up at the stranger in front of me. "I told youno," I told him, trembling from head to toe. "Ibeggedyou tostop!" He flinched from my words, but just like him that night, I didn’t stop. "You forced yourself inside my body without my permission that night and you took away mychoice!"

Shaking his head, he backed away from me like I had just scalded him.

And I had.

With the truth.

"I'mpregnant!" I screamed, tears flowing freely down my face. "And if, by some misfortunate chance, this baby is yours, I want you to know that you willneverget a chance to do to him what you've done to yourself…" my voice broke off and I inhaled a choked breath before adding, "what you've done tome."

Sinking down on the edge of the bed, he looked up at me like he was just seeing me. "Hope –"

"I'm leaving, Jordan," I yelled hoarsely, completely broken from all of it. My entire body shook from head to toe as I hurried out of the room and down the staircase.

"Hope!" Jordan called out as he chased me down the stairs. "Hope – please wait!" His hand came around my wrist once more and I blew up.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, yanking free from his hold. Throwing open the front door, I swung around and hissed, "And If you even think about following through on your threats, I'll report you for what you did to me."

Rain was pelting down heavily outside, but I knew I would rather drown in the downpour than spend one more second inside that house

I was done.

Completely fucking done.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I inhaled a deep breath and ran into the downpour.

****

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jordan

"Or what? You'll hit me? Rape me? It wouldn’t be anything you haven't done to me already!"

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