Page 186 of Dirty Damage

“Drew…?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head and says it again. “It doesn’t matter. You’re pregnant and alone. You need someone to take care of you. You and the baby. And since you clearly can’t be trusted to make the right choices, I’ll have to make them for you. Whether you like it or?—”

“No, you fucking asshole, get off of?—”

I catch only a glimmer of movement.

Then I feel a sting so sharp that my vision goes dark.

I try to shake it off, but the world has exploded in dark little stars. I sag against the dumpster, which is the only thing that keeps me from plummeting to the ground.

He hit me.

He hit me.

I can still only see vague, blurry outlines. Drew stands over me, huge, horrible, staring at his hand like it acted without his permission.

Then, with a horrified, cowardly whimper, he turns his back to what he just did and runs.

His outline blurs into the mouth of the alley and disappears.

I taste blood.

My face aches.

Maybe this is how it was always meant to be.

54

SUTTON

I wish I could say I went straight to the police. Aren’t they supposed to protect women like me from men like him?

But I saw my mom try that enough growing up. It never went well for her. Why would it go well for me?

Even more embarrassing is that my second thought was to call Oleg. I can only imagine how horribly that would turn out.

ME: Oleg, I’m so sorry to call like this. But my psycho ex, the one that framed me and caused our break up—yeah, that one. He cornered me again and slapped the shit out of me for refusing to pass your child off as his.

OLEG: Get the fuck away from me, liar.

ME: Please don’t do this. I care about you.

OLEG: Your mistake. Our contract was never about feelings. I wanted your womb, not your heart.

ME: But what about your baby?

OLEG: How do I even know it’s mine? For all I know, this is another ploy that you’ve cooked up with your boyfriend to try to steal from me. You’re no princess. You’re just a peasant playing pretend.

Back at Mara’s, I pace up and down, feeling as though the noose around my neck is tightening.

I know with absolute certainty now that Drew isn’t just going to let me go. If another man’s baby wasn’t enough to make him lose interest, I’m not sure what will.

I jump a foot when my phone buzzes with an incoming message.

DREW:Hey, that went really wrong. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.

My heart clunks loudly against my ribcage. This must be a new record. He doesn’t usually apologize until the next morning.

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