Page 9 of Captive Vows
Why would I do such a dumb thing?
It was almost as if I hadn’t been thinking at all. As if all rational thought processes had simply failed to turn on like usual. Desperation had triggered me. But now, I’d have to suffer through the damage.
Focusing on putting one foot in front of the other until I could get home to the tiny apartment I shared with my dad, I relived the humiliation of that damn instructor telling me off. How he rejected me. How he’d mocked me and even reminded me that I was too young for someone in charge like him.
A growl remained trapped in my throat at the injustice of it all. But when I reached the front door and unlocked it, I was bubbling with pent-up rage and irritation. I opened the door, slammed it shut, and rested my brow against it.
Then I let it out. Through clenched teeth, I growled and closed my eyes, wishing I could scream. I could, but then the neighbors would freak out—again—and call that domestic disputes were going on in the building. My dad was not a fan of the cops, and I knew better than to give anyone a reason to come to our place.
Breathing hard from the exertion of that growl and still feeling too wired and riled up, I fisted my hands and wished I could punch something.
“Oh, is the little kitten mad?” a man asked as he came from the direction of the kitchen.
I flinched, jarred from my anger. That wasn’t my dad’s voice. Startled at the idea that one of his friends or “business” acquaintances could be here, I spun around with my breath caught in my chest.
It wasn’t my dad. He didn’t seem to be home. But somehow, Tony, one of his supposed friends, had let himself into the apartment when no one else was here. Holding a half-empty bottle of liquor in one hand while he rubbed his crotch with the other, he approached me.
“What the hell?” I snarled.
He didn’t waste a second to pin me to the closed door. This close, I smelled his body odor faintly masked with too much cologne. The mix of scents nauseated me, as did the booze on his breath and the stink of weed he had to have smoked in here.
I dodged him, shoving my hands at his chest.
But he was quicker, slamming his hand to the door and trapping me from stepping sideways.
Panic rose. The urgency I’d hurried home with sharpened into fear. “Leave me alone, Tony.”
My dad’s friends were all assholes, jerks who would openly check me out even if my dad was nearby. They were all misogynistic creeps who didn’t respect women. Deadbeats without jobs who wanted handouts. Losers who drank too much and had nothing to give back to society.
Tony fit every one of those criteria.
“No, I ain’t leaving you alone, little kitten.” He picked up some of my long brown waves resting on my shoulder, curling them around his finger as he grinned down at me. “Now that youarealone.”
Oh, fuck.
This was just what I didn’t need. Not now. Not ever. One of Dad’s friends trying to get close when he wasn’t here fell under the category of my worst nightmares realized.
I never questioned what my dad got up to. He probably sold drugs and stupid things like that. He was too much of a conman to ever want a normal job with a steady paycheck. Yet he was too cocky to be able to stay in an unconventional position of earning income.
His friends and buddies weren’t any better. They all probably did stupid, illegal shit to pass the time. For the most part, they didn’t make a habit out of directly bothering me. I was never here to be near them. I would lock myself in my room and dance, then barely acknowledge them when they were visiting.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I replied hotly, shoving him back again.
I could be proud that I wasn’t a flat, skinny dancer. I had some curves. I had some meat on my bones. I could even call myself athletic.
But Tony had about one hundred pounds on me and was at least two feet taller. Stinking and looming large, he leaned overme as if to remind me that he was bigger and stronger. As he groped at me, I resisted and damned how helpless I was.
Again.
Hopeless.
Helpless.
And he was right.
Iwasalone. My dad wasn’t here.
“Get off me,” I shouted when he didn’t answer me. He kept pawing at me, crushing his hips to mine to wedge me against the door. Between holding my breath to avoid inhaling his godawful stink and slapping him away, I didn’t accomplish anything. My protests and slaps seemed only to encourage him to try harder. Spit from his lips smeared on my neck as he tried to kiss me.
