Body and Soul (Vanguard Towers #3) - Aiden Bates Page 0,14

where Ian had hit me.

For a moment, the fear of what the three men might do to me froze me in place. I could have done what they wanted. Floated off above myself and watched as I pleased them, like I’d done for worse men. Ian was right, I was well-practiced at letting my body do things while I emotionally detached from the experience.

Ian stepped toward me, cradling his cheek, and I snapped back into my body.

“No way to get home, babe!” Ian laughed and reached for my shirt buttons again, like it was a done deal. “May as well stay here with us.”

“Go fuck yourself.” I threw my head back then smacked it forward to smash straight against Ian’s nose.

Blood exploded, the three of them cried out in shock, and I landed a heavy punch to Justin’s gut. He doubled over, and Grant backed away gasping with his hands up in surrender. I bolted for the front door and scrambled at the fucking complicated antiquated locks, sure they were going to come up behind me and be on me any second.

With my pulse roaring and my nerves firing, I threw open the door and bolted out into the street. I ran as fast as I could and burned through my fear within a block. I looked back before I rounded the corner. No one was following me. I’d gotten out of there. I’d survived. Again.

I stopped beside a huge privet hedge and struggled for breath. My head was spinning, but I could think kind of straight, between surges of anger oscillating from rage at Ian to rage at myself. I’d trusted Ian. Fuck!

I took off again, running toward the subway, but remembered there was something missing. My fucking wallet.

“Shit!” I shouted into the street. I was stuck. I had no money, no way to get home. My phone was an old-ass piece of dirt great for taking photos to paint from but didn’t have any cash apps or Uber.

But it did have the capacity to place phone calls…

I sat on the edge of the curb and glanced back at the way I’d come, still half expecting Ian to appear around the corner. Either crying and begging for my forgiveness, or furious and determined to drag me back there.

He’d fucking hit me. I remembered it with a sharp sting and brought my fingers to my cheek. I hissed and pain shot through me, as though for the first time again. Fuck. Well that was fucking that. He’d been crossing my boundaries for months, but this one had no wriggle room. Yeah, he’d been dominant and mean, and the sex had been getting rougher, but he’d never hit me before. Deal breaker.

And I was stuck in his suburb.

I fiddled with my phone and scrolled through my contacts list.

I couldn’t call my brothers. I was too ashamed, too angry, and they’d almost certainly do something to Ian one of us —at least me—would end up regretting.

Maybe I could ask Seb or Wyatt to come get me…but I didn’t want to put them in the precarious position of having to lie to the others about it.

Scrolling… scrolling… And I kept coming back, my shaky thumb hovering over the name of the one person I knew who could give me a ride and maybe a place to get cleaned up before I headed home. Someone who was always calm, who wouldn’t make a huge deal of it… and who I knew would always be there for me. Special Agent Ryland Masters.

6

Ryland

I drove from the Vanguard Tower toward my house and told myself it was fine. But the feeling of intense disappointment was unsettling to my body and my psyche. Brax hadn’t answered his door when I’d knocked after dropping off Hunter. It had been a long ten-hour day and I was exhausted, frustrated, in no mood to banter or smile or flirt… and yet I couldn’t stop myself from wandering down the hall and rapping my knuckles against his door.

When he didn’t answer, I’d assumed he was with Ian, or maybe—preferably—out with his brothers. Hunter had been bummed working late meant he couldn’t join Derek and Seb at the movies. Maybe Brax was with them. I hoped to hell he was, and not with that bleached blond fucking asshole. After our altercation in Brax’s apartment, the idea of Ian’s hands on him made me feel ill to my core. I wondered if I was just jealous of anyone who might have the honor to