“Take it back!” my voice was rising.
He got closer. One of his hands was at the bricks at the side of my head, the other one was at his hip, his chest was nearly against mine and his head was tilted to look down at me.
“Vance means something to me,” I told him.
Um… not the right thing to say.
“You barely know him,” he said.
“I barely know you,” I retorted angrily.
Strike two. Definitely not the right thing to say.
“I’ve had my c**k inside you. I’d say you know me a f**k of a lot better than you know Vance.”
At that nasty comment, I put my hands to his abs and pushed hard. His body jerked but moved back into my space instantly.
“Don’t be coarse,” I clipped.
“Roxanne –”
“He rescued me from the sink! He took me to the hospital! He got me clothes when I had to get rid of the ones I was wearing because I couldn’t bear to keep them on a second longer. He got me a shower because I hadn’t had one in days.”
“Roxanne –”
“No, Hank –”
“Roxanne, be quiet.”
“No!”
His hand went from his hip to cup my jaw and his face dipped so close; it was al I could see. “Don’t you think I wanted to be the one to rescue you from that f**king sink?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous.
My stomach clenched as I realized what had brought on his anger.
I stared at him and final y kept my mouth shut.
“Do you have any f**king clue how hard it was to wait for Vance to cal in witness reports, every f**kin’ report worse than the one before? You runnin’ from a bathroom at a gas station, bloody, screamin’ and fightin’ to get away. Tied to a steering wheel. Eatin’ fuckin’ chips with your wrists bound.
Christ! ”
The last word was an explosion. I winced and jerked as if it had a physical impact on my body.
He pul ed back and took his hand away from my face but He pul ed back and took his hand away from my face but I grabbed it and tugged on it.
“Hank, listen to me,” he was looking at the wal over my shoulder, trying to regain control. When I said his name, his eyes moved to lock on mine and I felt a shiver run through me at the anger stil there.
I went on. “After he found me, I asked Vance to take me back to Chicago.”
At that, Hank’s eyes flared.
I shook my head and continued. “He wouldn’t do it. He said he wouldn’t do it because he respected you and you’d sent him after me. He said he wouldn’t do it because he didn’t want to make you show him how you’d react if he didn’t bring me back to you.”
I watched him work to get control, a muscle moved in his jaw. Al the while, he kept his beautiful eyes on me.
I felt the burning in my nostrils and took a deep breath to keep the tears at bay.
When I saw he had control, I whispered, “I’m glad it wasn’t you who found me. I couldn’t have… I wouldn’t have been able to live with it if you saw me that way.” At that, his arms slid around me.