Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,365

clearly in the dim light. “You take a while to warm up to someone, trust me I know.” A dark chuckle filled the room. “But worth the effort in the end. So knowing this about you made me realize that this must have been going on while we were together.”

He didn’t sound angry, but I’d found out the hard way that Jacob wasn’t like most normal people. How Jacob sounded, the expression on his face—all of that was disconnected from whatever dark emptiness existed inside him.

My knees shook. I’d also seen firsthand what Jacob’s position as a State Trooper allowed him to get away with. Just about anything he wanted to get away with, it turned out.

“It’s not what you think, Jacob.” My chest ached from holding in every breath, afraid I’d exhale too loudly and he’d take that as a sign of guilt. “There was no one else when we were together. I told you that before.”

He stood and I backed up until I was pressed against the wall.

“And I didn’t believe you before any more than I believe you now, you ungrateful bitch. Does this Prince Charming know that you spread your legs and fake your orgasms only when it suits you? That you are nothing but a cheating, backstabbing whore?” Jacob asked these questions as if he was asking me about the weather. In the darkness, his dark eyes looked dead and completely unfeeling.

He stalked toward me and I felt my way along the wall until the bathroom door was there. If I could somehow get inside the bathroom and lock the door…

“Don’t do this, please,” I said, bile rising in my throat. “You know that what we had meant a lot to me—“

I hoped that this lie might take him by surprise, cause him to reconsider. But instead it only seemed to infuriate him.

Jacob lunged and I threw myself at the entrance to the bathroom. Pain seared through my scalp as he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me backwards. I dropped my bag and wrapped my fingers around his wrist. His grip only tightened and fire exploded through me as I fell to my knees.

Tears burned my eyes when he lifted me back to my feet by my hair. I opened my mouth to scream but all I could do was whimper. He wrapped his other hand around my throat and pushed me back until I was wedged between him and the wall.

His fingers began to tighten.

“I’m sorry,” I wheezed out. Already I could feel the air cutting off. “I’ll come back with you.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Do you think I want some used up piece of trash now? The only thing you’re good for is rotting at the bottom of the river. Which is where they’ll find you...eventually.”

He squeezed tighter and through my own panic, I finally managed to scream. The sound abruptly cut off when his fingers pressed on my windpipe. He was going to kill me. The realization made my entire body go numb.

My lungs started to burn. I opened my mouth, tried to take a breath, but I couldn’t. I dug my nails into his wrist, scratched as hard as I could, but he didn’t relent. Stars danced in the corners of my vision. My skin prickled all over and fire crawled through my chest.

The rapid pounding of my heartbeat slowed in my ears.

The spots had turned to blackness and it crept across my eyes.

My hands fell to my sides. There was no feeling left inside me. I felt like I was floating. And then...I was choking on oxygen. I slumped down the wall with nothing holding me up now. Sounds filtered into my head. Thumps. Voices. With each breath my vision cleared. Feeling returned to my limbs and I pushed up on shaky arms. Two figures were tangled together in the middle of the room. Fists hitting bone. Grunts and groans. My knees shook as I pushed to my feet.

I felt along the wall until I found the light switch. Bright light bathed the room and I blinked as the brightness made me temporarily disoriented.

The two men fighting in the motel room were Madden and Jacob. I blinked again, wondering if I was dead and this was some last-minute hallucination my brain had created as I lay dying.

It made no sense. How could Madden Cross be in this room right now?

But he was in the room, and he was like something otherworldly, fighting and beating