Page 185 of Dirty Damage

For another, the reason I want to clear things up with Oleg is glaringly obvious and plastered across my face for the world to see.

Drew’s grimace confirms it. “You really want that fucker back? Even after he kicked you out like yesterday’s garbage?” His sneer morphs into a wicked smile. “You know what? No deal. I like things exactly the way they are. Even if you refuse to come back to me, I’m happy knowing that he thinks you’re my whore.”

“You bastard!”

He just laughs, all the charm abandoning his face in one go.

I’m a fool for sitting here as long as I have. Grabbing my purse, I rip out of my seat and make straight for the door, ignoring the clerk calling out my order.

But Drew can’t even let me have a clean exit. He follows me outside.

Grabbing my arm, he drags me to the back of a nearby alley, right next to the garbage cans.

“What the hell?!” I scream, trying to wrest free of his hold. “Let me go!”

“JesusChrist,” Drew roars. “Why do you have to be so damn difficult all the time?”

He throws me against the wall. I cry out involuntarily at the sharp bloom of pain as my tailbone hits the rough brick.

When I catch my breath, I look up at him through the hair fallen over my eyes. “You’re a piece of shit, Drew Anton. What happened to loving me, huh? What happened toprotectingme? To never laying a hand on me? What happened to never wanting to be like your dad?”

He was drunk when he shared that littleDrew Anton Fun Factwith me. Drunk and vulnerable and snotting into my skirt like a frightened schoolboy clinging to his mama.

But it’s clear from the flare in his eyes that he remembers.

He just doesn’t like being reminded of it.

“Don’t talk about my father,” he growls. “You know nothing about that.”

“I know more than you think,” I press on, aware of the risk I’m taking. “I know that your father was a bully. I know you werescared of him. I know that, as much as you didn’t want to be like him… that’s exactly what you’re becoming.”

He takes a step forward, forcing me against the brick wall again.

He’s done this before. The physical intimidation. The cold sneer. The unspoken threat of violence.

“Why the fuck do you have to be like this? I’m only trying to make you happy.”

“You can make me happy by leaving me alone, Drew. Please!”

His tongue darts over his lower lip. He glances over at the street. A couple of people are milling about. I have no idea what’s going on in his head and it freaks me the hell out.

“I know what’s best for you,” he decides confidently, grabbing my hand. “Just come with?—”

“I’m pregnant!”

I don’t mean to say it. It just bursts out of me, a last-ditch attempt to get rid of this man once and for all.

He pauses, clammy fingers still clamped around mine. “Wh-what?”

I nod, studying the shocked lines of his face. “Yes. I’m pregnant. Oleg is the father. That’s why we can’t be together.”

His gaze drips down to my stomach. He shakes his head. “No. No, it can’t be.”

“I assure you it is. I’m pregnant with another man’s child, Drew.”

He grinds his teeth together, twisting around for a brief moment so that all I can see is the steady rise and fall of his shoulders.

When he turns back, he’s pale. His eyes are glazed over, as though he’s far away.

---