Page 90 of Trucker
I nodded. “He was. I mean, he hasn’t been to—what? Is now the time to worry about my hygiene?”
Taji frowned at me but didn’t stop sniffing.
She sniffed toward me again, then at Lennox and Kaos.
“What is that smell?” She wanted to know.
“What smell?” Kaos asked.
“You don’t smell that?” Taji leaned toward Esther. “I mean, it’s really strong when I get to?—”
But she didn’t stop.
“How can you not smell that?” Taji was incredulous.
When she did the same to Ryan, she quickly looked back at me before slamming a fist into the side of Ryan’s head. When he tumbled over, she proceeded to kick him repeatedly in the ribs and anywhere else her foot could reach.
“You son of a bitch!” She screamed, still slamming her foot into him. “It was you!”
“Whoa!” Lennox called.
“What just happened?” I demanded.
“I’ll kill you!”
“Get her off!” Ryan cried. “She’s going to kill me!”
“That’s the point!” Taji kicked him harder.
I reached out and wrapped my arms around her hips to pull her off him. As much as I enjoyed seeing her kick his ass—literally—she wouldn’t do well in prison.
“You bastard!” She screeched, trying to get out of my arms and back at him. “It was you! He can’t hold me back forever. I’m going to get to you!”
“Baby, I’m going to need you to breathe.” I told her, pulling her struggling body into my arms. “It’s not like we aren’t all thinking what you’re thinking when it comes to this piece of shit. But I need you to tell me what that’s about.”
“That smell.” Taji looked up into my eyes. “That sickly, sweet smell. I haven’t smelled it since that night. It was him! That night—the night I was raped—it was him.”
I turned.
Kaos put his body between me and the man now bleeding from the nose and corner of the mouth. Esther looked terrified like she didn’t know this part to Ryan’s bullshit and now she was terrified.
She looked as if she’d seen the absolute rage in Taji and wasn’t sure what she should do about it.
I didn’t care.
This man put his hands onmywoman.
He took from her something he wasn’t offered and would never deserve no matter how long he had left in his pathetic life. I wanted to tie him up by his balls and watch him dangle.
“That wasn’t enough for you.” I growled. “You got away with it, didn’t you? You got away with it but instead of just walking away, leaving well enough alone, you had to come right back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ryan told me. “She’s lying. You can’t believe this bitch.”
“Watch your manners.” Kaos told him in a voice like a simmering volcano. “Keep being rude and I’ll step out of the way, and you can deal with Trucker.”
“I-I had nothing to do with that.” Esther stuttered. “I didn’t know about any of that! You have to believe me.”
“What did I say about speaking when you weren’t spoken to?” Lennox wanted to know. “I won’t warn you again.”
