Benny deserved someone who’d be strong enough to fight for him.
I took two steps forward. Stopped.
I wanted him to hold me again.
I wanted him to love me.
You can’t have him.
It wasn’t my voice in my head. It was my father’s. Even in my own mind he could reach me, and he always would. Benny deserved better than that.
I sniffed, wiped my tears on my crumpled sleeves, and continued walking.
Just a few steps.
Then cold hands grabbed me from the shadows.
eighteen
Harper
COLD HANDS.
Pain seared over the side of my face as it collided with brick, a cold wall at my front and a slightly warmer one at my back, trapping me there. A hand clamped over my mouth before I could make a sound.
I’d been dragged from the footpath into the alley. A mugging? Would he take my wallet and be done with me? I drew short, rushed breaths through my nose.
“Haar-py.” My nickname in a singsong voice, the wrong kind of familiar.
Fuck.
My hands pushed at the wall in a frantic burst of strength. Enough to make Tristan stumble backward, but not enough to get him off me. He came back with more force. I grunted as he crushed me back against the brick.
“You and that bastard got me banned from The Veil,” he whispered in my ear.
I tried to push against the wall again, but he was ready for it this time, pressing against me until my chest couldn’t expand enough to breathe.
“That’s really no way to thank me for getting you in, is it?”
I tried to scream at him, but the words remained trapped behind his palm.
“I’ve tried to be nice to you for Logan’s sake, and look at how you repay me.”
My hand grasped at his wrist to pry it away, my nails digging into the thick fabric of his coat, seeking skin. When I couldn’t find it, I clawed at his fingers instead.
He hissed, gripping tighter until my jaw ached.
“And as if that wasn’t bad enough, that bastard broke my fucking nose. Now, I’m not an idiot. I know I don’t stand a chance at fighting him. You, however?” He chuckled and bile rose up my throat. “Too easy.”
Alarm bells rang in my mind as Tristan’s hand moved from my back down to my hip. Then it slithered between me and the wall until his fingers cupped me through my pants and a whole new wave of panic erupted inside me.
I brought my foot down on his with as much force as the limited space allowed.
“Fuck!” he grunted. His hand released my mouth to grip my hair and use the hold to bash my head against the brick. White hot pain radiated from my temple as my ears rang.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I managed to groan.
“Oh, I’m going to do more than that,” he seethed in my ear before biting it.
