Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
I send him a text.
Me: Sorry, I have to cancel.
Miguel: Are you serious? After all the trouble I went through?
Me: I’m sorry. What does he mean, “trouble”?
I power off my phone and toss it on the kitchen table that’s next to the door and put my purse on the back of the chair. I brush back my hair, soaking my hands with the wetness from the rain.
“Shit, I need a towel.” I’m about to grab the kitchen towel on oven handle when there’s a pounding on my door. It’s so violent it rattles the steel reinforced door.
I call out, “Mike, please just leave me alone.”
“Who the fuck is Mike? That asshole I saw you kissing outside?” Miguel’s voice roars from the other side of my door. I’m grateful that the builder decided to make these doors strong and durable.
“Miguel? What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?” I question, panic filling my entire being. Looking around the room.
“Bitch, I told you I went through a lot of trouble, and you go and dump me for that fucking ogre. That’s not happening.” With a turn of the knob, my door is unlocked and he’s inside before I can take two steps in any direction.
“He left us alone. Now it’s just us.” He closes and locks the door behind him without even looking, like he’s done it a hundred times, and a sinking feeling hits me.
“What the hell? How? Get out.” Miguel looks demented and nothing like the young man I saw yesterday. His eyes are darker, round, and wild. I swallow hard, unable to think straight.
“No. I’ve been waiting for my chance for months.” I was right. He’s been stalking me. “You will put out. I went through a lot of effort, and now we can skip dinner and go right to my favorite part.” I had set my phone on the small kitchen table a few feet away.
“Don’t try to call anyone.” He pulls out a device. “This scrambles all calls.”
“Please just leave me alone,” I beg.
“No.”
“How could I have ever thought you were a nice guy?” I say, narrowing my eyes at him, regretting the words I said to Mike. With everything going on, all I can think about is how I insulted him while praising Miguel.
“Because it’s what I wanted you to think. Nice guys finish last, and I refuse to be last, especially to that Neanderthal that you were panting over.” I wish Mike was here right now. My eyes move toward my knife block, but it’s going to be a run for it. He sees what I’m looking at and says, “Go for it, but you won’t get far.”
I dash, and before I can make it there, I feel the jolts hit my back. Stunned, I fall, but I’m not completely out so I move, but he’s almost on top of me, and then he’s not there anymore.
“How dare you touch a woman? How dare you hurt my woman?” Mike’s voice reverberates through my apartment.
Chapter Five
Mike
I had a hard time pulling myself away from her apartment, but I knew it was what she needed. She has to understand that I’m not the monster she’s created in her head. Yes, I beat up bastards for a living, but I’ve never put my hands on a woman in anger. Fuck, never for pleasure, either. It’s what makes me such a great fighter.
I never had a girlfriend by choice and focused on being the best by meditating and training. I’m in a higher weight class than my brother because I’m more disciplined. Not that he isn’t. He only had one girlfriend in high school and then Sammie.
Finally, I find the one woman I want to make my wife, and she is afraid of men who use their fists to problem solve. The world has a sick, twisted irony.
My phone rings as I’m about a block away. “What’s up, Mitchell?”
“Boss, this scrawny fucker was parked in a car down the street. I thought he was just being nosy between the two of you, but he just rushed up to Ms. Solis’s apartment, looking angry.”
“I’m turning around. Stay outside the door in case she needs help.” I’m there in less than a minute, taking the steps two at a time.
“We need to get in there.” He picks the lock in seconds and then pulls his gun out.
“Call the cops,” I inform him.
I’m nearly through the door when I hear him say, “Go for it, but you won’t get far.”
I see red as he goes for her. He grabs her by her hair and as he yanks it, I whip the fucker off my woman as fast as I can. “How dare you touch a woman? How dare you hurt my woman?”
One punch in the face sends the piece of shit onto the floor. I kick him in the balls and then break his arm. He screams and then passes out like a little bitch. “That’s for even touching her.” I don’t know if he can hear me because he’s out cold, and then my security comes in.