Trashy (Take It Off #10)(25)
Author: Cambria Hebert

My stomach tightened and this sick feeling came over me. I did not want to see him right now.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “And what the hell have you been following me around for?”

He acted like he didn’t notice my bitchy tone. But I knew it was an act. “Can I come in?”

“No.”

The corners of his eyes tightened. “I just wanna talk, Roxie. I came by last night. I asked you to call me.”

I snorted. “You didn’t come by,” I snapped. “You were creeping around like some weirdo.”

He sighed and pushed past me into the apartment. I thought about taking off my shoe and giving him a good whack with the heel. I didn’t want him here. “Please go.” I didn’t shut the door. I left it open and kept myself rooted right beside it.

Craig turned. His hands were casually draped in his jeans and he rolled his hips forward as he walked closer. Damn him for looking so good. Damn me for noticing.

“I miss you, baby,” he said, his voice low as he stopped just in front of me. “You look real good.”

It wasn’t going to work. Not this time. I wasn’t going to fall for this. He might be my first love, the keeper of a lot of my firsts, but he wasn’t going to be my only.

“It’s over, Craig. We aren’t getting back together. Stop calling me. Stop following me. You aren’t welcome here.”

“Roxie.” The way he spoke my name was almost like an admonishment, like we both knew that what I just told him was a lie. Like we both knew when he turned up the charm, I’d come rushing back into our old patterns.

I lifted my chin and stared at him. I looked him straight in the eyes, not wavering at all. I wanted him to see it. I wanted him to know this time was different.

He must have seen what I intended.

Unfortunately, it pissed him off.

His baby blues went flat and hard. At his sides, his hands fisted. “It’s him, isn’t it?” he intoned.

“What?” I asked, standing my ground even though I wanted to take a step back.

“Are you fucking him?” Craig growled, angry. He was a possessive guy, and it wasn’t really in a protective sort of way. It was a selfish, controlling kind of possession he harbored.

“No,” I said, recoiling. I knew he was talking about Adam. Adam was the only other man I’d ever really looked at since high school.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me!” he snapped and shoved me against the door. Because it was open, the force of my body pushed it back and it banged against the wall.

“I’m not!” I insisted. He was pinning me against the wood, his hand on my throat. I felt his fingers wrapped around me and I knew I was only one hard squeeze away from not being able to breathe.

My body wanted to tense up. My heart was beating so hard it hurt. Panic pushed through my blood vessels, wanting to take over my entire body.

But I couldn’t let it.

Showing him I was scared only made it worse.

If he was going to hit me, if he was going to threaten me this way, then I would act like I didn’t care. I wouldn’t bow down to him. Not ever.

“I saw you,” he growled, shoving his face right up to mine. The putrid scent of lingering liquor on his breath made my stomach churn. God, I hated that smell.

It was the scent of anger, abuse. If Craig had been drinking before he came here, then this wasn’t going to end well. It wouldn’t matter what I said. Talking him down was almost impossible when he was drunk.

I never knew alcohol could make a person mean. Even though I worked in a bar, I was now severely uncomfortable with drunk men. They were unpredictable. It brought out the truth in them… It brought out their dark sides.

It was always something I could keep hidden, the way my body reacted around a drunk man. At the club, it was always under control. Adam wouldn’t put up with any kind of disrespect, and everyone knew it and the bouncers enforced it.

But I wasn’t at the Mad Hatter. There was no bouncer to make sure Craig behaved.

“What the hell were you at the club so early for today?” he accused. “All alone in that building with him. With the boss. How long have you been doing him?”

I shook my head.

He pulled me away from the door and then slammed me back into it. My shoulders took the brunt of the hit and my back stung.

“I’m not sleeping with Adam!” I insisted. “He’s my boss. He gave me a promotion.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

“A promotion, huh? You’re a little slut. Blowing the boss for more cash. You’re nothing but trash.”

Anger lit through me. How dare he talk to me like this! “Get your hands off me,” I growled, looking right into his eyes.

His hand tightened around my throat, threatening to crush my windpipe. “Come on, fucker,” I taunted. “Do it.”

His eyes flared. Instead of doing what I challenged, he yanked me away from the door again. My feet skidded across the floor as I tried to gain some traction. His hand left my throat and he gripped me by the shoulders. His fingers cut into my arms even through my clothes, and I winced.

“You’re mine. We aren’t done. No one else is allowed to touch you,” he hollered. He began to shake me, like he could somehow talk some sense into me.

“Stop it.” I gasped as my head rolled on my shoulders with the force of his shoves.

“I swear to God, if I see you with him again, I will fucking kill him.”

Fear like none other slammed in to me. The thought of him hurting Adam made me physically sick, and I gagged. How dare he threaten Adam! It was sad, but I’d grown accustomed to his threats against me, but threatening someone else because of me… this was new.

He continued to shake me. My teeth rattled. I reached out to steady myself, taking fistfuls of his T-shirt. “Stop,” I stuttered, grasping him.

Craig gave me one last shove, and I heard a snap. I stumbled back when he let go of me, and I glanced down at my hand. The gold chain he always wore around his neck was dangling from my palm. It had been caught in the shirt when I grabbed it and his shove made the chain break.

Horror filled me. Oh no.

I looked up at Craig. His eyes were wide and angry. His nostrils flared as he looked at his broken possession. Then he tore his gaze away from it and pinned me with a hot stare.

“It was an accident,” I swore. “You shoved me.”

Craig gave an angry shout and snatched the chain out of my palm. “You’re going to pay for this.” He snarled and grabbed me by the front of my shirt.