“Who the hell are you?”
He was struggling to his feet, and I let my eyes sweep the room. The man was wearing a pair of pajama pants, and I spotted his dirty clothes tossed carelessly on the floor by the TV stand.
“I said, who the hell are you?” the man repeated, sounding pissed. He kept his distance, though. He probably recognized that I had twenty pounds of muscle on him and a hell of a bad attitude.
I ignored him as I stepped over to the clothing and grabbed his jeans. Sure enough, his wallet was still in the back pocket. I pulled it out.
“You’re robbing me? Seriously?”
He must have been enraged at this idea, as he went charging at me. I swung out a fist, catching him across the face before he’d been close enough to lay a finger on me. He went down hard, and I took the opportunity to flip open the wallet. There was his smiling face staring up at me from his driver’s license. It was him.
Jeff Donovan. Wife-abusing piece of shit.
He groaned from his spot on the floor, but it didn’t take long before he was back up on his feet.Good. I wanted a fight.
“Who are you? What do you want?” he was getting angrier.
I could already see a purple bruise forming on his cheek where I’d hit him. It gave me more satisfaction than a decent man would get, but I didn’t care. What I’d come here for was far from decent.
“I want retribution.”
“What to hell are you talking about? I haven’t done anything to you, man. I don’t even know you.”
Jeff didn’t try to come at me again. I was bigger than him, taller and more muscular. He seemed to know instinctively that he couldn’t overpower me like he did Erica. That thought brought my anger surging forth, and I closed the distance between us in two long strides. Remembering Erica’s broken ribs, I balled up my fist and aimed for Jeff’s side. He tried to back away, but I held him in place with one hand, my fingers digging into his shoulder as I jabbed him in the ribs three times in quick succession.
He let out a pathetic cry of pain and tried to push me away but ended up propelling himself backward until he crashed into his nightstand, where I noticed a line of coke waiting to be snorted.
“What the fuck?” he yelled, holding his side as he fumbled around for his cell phone that was also on the nightstand.
“If you’re planning to call the cops, don’t bother. They’ll take forever to get to this side of town.” I chuckled humorlessly. “I bet you thought you were pretty damn smart to stoop so low as staying in a place like this. No one would ever trace you here, even if your wife did end up in the hospital.”
Jeff froze as realization flashed across his features, followed by hot anger.
“My wife? This is because of Eve?”
“Yes,” I growled. “I’m here to show you what happens when you put your hands on her.”
I shoved him backward into the wall, making him bump his head. His eyes looked glazed, which made me frown. No way was I going to let him pass out already.
The bump on the head must have rattled his brains because he tried to take a swing at my face. I caught his fist and forced the hand open. Deciding toreallysend a message, I bent back his index finger in one quick jerk. That could be payback for her ankle.
Jeff let out a scream, but I wasn’t worried about anyone hearing and calling the cops. People stayed at this hotel because they had their own questionable shit going on, and no one wanted the La Playa PD poking around. At least Jeff looked fully awake now.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he shrieked as I went ahead and pocketed his phone, just in case he tried to call the cops again.
“You’re going to leave town tonight. Go home. File for a divorce. After the papers are sent to Erica… I mean,Eve, you will never have contact with her or Dominic again.”
My tone left no room for negotiation. He’d do what I said, or I’d make him regret it. Jeff was cradling his hand to his chest, but I could still see a fire in his eyes.
“What goes on in a marriage is between a husband and wife.”
I really hated that he kept referring to her as his wife. It wasn’t just because I hated the reminder that she was still married to this ass, it was because of the tone he used, as if he was talking about a prized possession. He might think that Erica and Dominic belonged to him, but he was dead wrong. He’d blown his chance to have them in his life in any way. It was over.
“A marriage? Is that what you call this? She’s trying to get the fuck away from you.”
“Oh my god, are you fucking her?” he let out a laugh that was bordering on hysterical. “That clever bitch, shacking up with a damn pit bull that she can sic on me when she can’t handle fighting her own battles.”
This guy just didn’t know when to quit. I shut him up with a right hook that crumpled his nose. He was on the floor again, and this time he didn’t get up. He looked pretty well defeated, but I really wanted to drive the point home. Kneeling beside him, I shoved my face into his line of sight as he was holding his nose with his good hand.
