I jump away from Dante and gather Lunchbox into my arms. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll call you later?”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I'm leaving you here alone with him,” he murmurs right before Evan stomps onto the sidewalk, grabs me, and drags me along behind him without saying a word.
When I look back at Dante, he’s still standing by the truck with a murderous glint in his eyes.
CHAPTER 18
DANTE
How much longer am Igoing to keep letting that bastard win? He has my girl, and now he’s going to hurt her because she’s been with me all night.
My fingers flex as I walk around to the driver’s side of my truck and jump inside. Pulling out my phone, I bring up the camera app. As soon as the feed is up, I hear Essence’s pained screams and Lunchbox’s frantic barks and whines.
Fuck this.
I toss my phone onto the passenger seat before jumping out of the truck again and storming up to the front porch. With a strength I didn’t even know I possessed, I start kicking the front door until it flies open.
Evan is standing over Essence in the living room with a furious look on his face. He stomps over to me with a fist raised, but I beat him to it and punch him right in his nose.
“Ah!” he cries out, losing his balance and falling onto his ass on the floor.
Not letting up for a moment, I kick him onto his back and straddle him before repeatedly punching him in the face.
Blow after blow, until his pasty white skin is red and purple.
“Dante!” Essence cries, running over and wrapping her arms around my waist. She tries to pull me off, but when I’m this livid, nothing can break me out of it until I’ve decided my victim has had enough.
Unfortunately for Evan, he hasn’t even begun to feel the effects of my rage.
I stand up and roll my head around to ease the tension in my neck. Essence takes that moment to stand in front of me and put her hands on my shoulders.
“Dante,” she says quietly.
Reluctantly, I look away from Evan’s writhing body on the floor and into Essence’s dark brown eyes. She slowly raises a hand and runs her fingers over the stubble on my chin. The sight of her freshly bruised face and bloody nose breaks my fucking heart in half. I just don’t understand how men can put their hands on women like that.
“Enough,” she whispers.
I look past her back to Evan. My head feels light from adrenaline, and I know that she’s right, but if I don’t finish what I started, I won’t feel satisfied.
“Hey.”
Her soft voice brings me back to her, and without a word, I grab Lunchbox off the floor, scoop her up into my arms, and walk out of the house. I grit my teeth in irritation, wishing I’d kicked him in the stomach like I wanted before Essence stopped me, but that’s okay.
I’ll be back for him.
CHAPTER 19
ESSENCE
“You’re staying with me,”Dante growls as he weaves through traffic like he did the other day. “I’m not giving you a choice.”
I grip the handle of the door with one hand while holding Lunchbox in the other so he doesn’t topple out of my lap from Dante’s jerky movements.
I don’t question him, though; I just murmur, “Okay,” and close my eyes, praying Dante doesn’t kill us.
After a few minutes, he calms down enough to slow the car down, and I feel like I can finally breathe again.
I swallow the lump in my throat and look over at him. “Are you okay?”
