Page 5 of The Mafia's Desire

“I get the impression that if you touched me and your boss didn’t tell you to, he’d be pissed.”

Perkins grinned. “Well, you see, he might if he gave a shit about women, but I think he hates you more than I do.”

“I understand that, but he might be the one that touches me first.”

That stopped him in his tracks. She watched him think about it a moment, and then the smile was back and her heart dropped.

“I won’t fuck you right now, but I can beat on you a bit. He can still fuck you with a few bruises.”

He was on her before she could blink. His first hit was to her face, and slammed her head back against the wall. She could see black dots in her vision until his next hit. She curled up as much as possible, but he went at her as hard as he could and laughed the whole time.

The chair she was sitting on tipped over, and she tried to scramble into the corner, but he got a kick in that took her breath.

The beating seemed to go on forever until she heard someone yell.

“What the fuck are you doing, Perkins?” Sharp said and threw the sack of food on the dresser. He pulled him away and then decked the guy hard enough to send him flying.

“Oh, Jesus,” Sharp said.

She cringed from him when he reached for her.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. If I had known he’d do something like this, I would have never left. Let me help you up to the bed.”

She cried out and shied away from him. She wanted to yell, “Don’t touch me,”but no words came out of her mouth, just sounds. Horrible sounds she couldn’t stop.

“Fuck, okay,” Sharp said. “I’ll leave you alone and get you some help.”

She didn’t want help. She wanted to be left alone.

Sara wiped the blood that trickled down her face and saw Sharp kick Perkins hard in the gut a few times as he dialed his phone.

“Hey, Boss. You need to get back here.”

She couldn’t hear what Ethan said, and she didn’t care. This was her only chance to get past Sharp and into the bathroom.

“Hey!” Sharp yelled as she scrambled, part-ran and part-crawled, toward the only safety she could see. It hurt like hell to move, but she’d had enough.

She locked the door and then struggled over to the place between the toilet and the bathtub and squirmed her way in between. She rested her head against the tub and noticed liquid still dripping down her face. She didn’t know if it was tears or blood, and at that moment she didn’t care. She needed to concentrate on breathing through the pain that radiated within her body. Her body jerked, and she groaned when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, Sara, it’s me, Ethan. Open the door, so I can take care of you.”

If she could have laughed right then, she would have. The only way he could take care of her was if he put her out of her misery once and for all. She heard them talking but couldn’t make out the words.

“Sara, come on, baby. Open up.”

She opened her mouth to yell at him, but the horrible sounds came out again, and no words. Maybe Perkins had done more damage than she thought.

“Are you away from the door?” Ethan asked.

She rested against the tub and closed her eyes. She didn’t have the energy for anything else.

There was a crash, and then Ethan was in the room.

“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Ethan yelled. “Sharp, call Dr. Peters. I’m afraid to move her.”

She flinched away from him when he knelt down and reached for her. Her movements were so abrupt and violent that she slammed the back of her head against the wall.

“Fuck. Stop. I’m sorry, Sara. Just relax.” He picked up a few towels. “I’m just going to put these around you to make you more comfortable, okay?”

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