Read Online The Outlaw's Dirty Dancer by Jenika Snow - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jenika Snow
Ads: Link
own.
“Where is he now?” His softly spoken question took her back a minute.
She cleared her throat and brushed away her tears with the back of her hand. “A few years back I saw on the news that he was in a fatal car accident. Alcohol was involved.” Brick clenched his jaw so hard she heard his teeth grinding.
“Good.”
There she was again, confused. “What?”
“Good, Darra. It’s a good fucking thing that he is dead, because if he wasn’t,” he leaned in and looked her straight in the eye, “I would have hunted him down and made him beg me for death before I was done with him.”
Her stomach tightened at the threat in Brick’s voice. His stare was unwavering, and the very real promise of what he would have done to Eric was right there below the surface. She cleared her throat again, not knowing if she should continue, but knowing she needed to get this out. It hurt to replay all of this, but it also felt good to finally tell someone else. “After I went to the hospital, had to make up some lame lie as to where the bruises came from and how I lost the baby, I decided that once I was done with school I was going as far away as I could. My mom was shitty, my home life filled with a revolving door for her boyfriends when they felt like being there, and I had one more year of high school before getting out of that crappy city and starting my life over.” Darra leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “But the night of my graduation I came back home intent on getting my things and leaving, when I saw my mom passed out on the couch with her boyfriend sitting beside her smoking out of a crack pipe. He tried to coax me over, but I had one goal in mind and that was to get out of there. Seems he had other plans, though.” Darra looked down once more, not able to meet Brick’s’ eyes as those memories washed through her hard and fast, and hurting so damn bad.
“Baby…” His voice was gruff and cracked at the end, and when she looked up at him the anger and empathy moving across his face were so very tangible.
“He raped me that night, but I didn’t let it define who I am, didn’t let any of that shit define who I am. I left California, left the city I grew up in, and just took a bus to the first place I picked out on a map. I didn’t have much money, but I had been saving since I started working at fifteen years old. I didn’t care if I had to live under a bridge. I just wanted out.” She took a deep breath, because even for as ugly as her life had been, she was going to make it right. “I got help from a women’s shelter, got a crappy job, that paid even crappier, but I was doing it on my own. I even got an associate’s degree in business. I did all of that until I was able to finally stand on my own two feet and support myself. But I didn’t want to live in a city anymore, and decided I wanted peace.” She snorted at that thought, because even though Steel Corner was a mountain town, there were still parts of the city she had tried to leave embedded in it. “I’m not telling you this stuff to upset you or to garner sympathy, but because I do believe that truth is the best way to start things. How can we really know each other if we aren’t honest?”
Brick scrubbed a hand over his face and exhaled roughly. For a few moments he didn’t do anything but stare at the ground and grind his teeth. Then he seemed to get control of himself and looked at her.
He looked so big and intimidating sitting in what seemed like a too small chair. With his short sleeved dark tee, and his cut over that, she could still see every line, dip, and curve of his muscles. The scar on his cheek only seemed to amplify the hardness of his exterior, but also seemed to match the darkness she saw inside of him. Until today he had always worn long sleeved shirts, but on his left arm he had an entire sleeve of ink. But they weren’t colorful tattoos, but dark lines, twisting curves, and sharp edges.
“Where is he now?” His softly spoken question took her back a minute.
She cleared her throat and brushed away her tears with the back of her hand. “A few years back I saw on the news that he was in a fatal car accident. Alcohol was involved.” Brick clenched his jaw so hard she heard his teeth grinding.
“Good.”
There she was again, confused. “What?”
“Good, Darra. It’s a good fucking thing that he is dead, because if he wasn’t,” he leaned in and looked her straight in the eye, “I would have hunted him down and made him beg me for death before I was done with him.”
Her stomach tightened at the threat in Brick’s voice. His stare was unwavering, and the very real promise of what he would have done to Eric was right there below the surface. She cleared her throat again, not knowing if she should continue, but knowing she needed to get this out. It hurt to replay all of this, but it also felt good to finally tell someone else. “After I went to the hospital, had to make up some lame lie as to where the bruises came from and how I lost the baby, I decided that once I was done with school I was going as far away as I could. My mom was shitty, my home life filled with a revolving door for her boyfriends when they felt like being there, and I had one more year of high school before getting out of that crappy city and starting my life over.” Darra leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “But the night of my graduation I came back home intent on getting my things and leaving, when I saw my mom passed out on the couch with her boyfriend sitting beside her smoking out of a crack pipe. He tried to coax me over, but I had one goal in mind and that was to get out of there. Seems he had other plans, though.” Darra looked down once more, not able to meet Brick’s’ eyes as those memories washed through her hard and fast, and hurting so damn bad.
“Baby…” His voice was gruff and cracked at the end, and when she looked up at him the anger and empathy moving across his face were so very tangible.
“He raped me that night, but I didn’t let it define who I am, didn’t let any of that shit define who I am. I left California, left the city I grew up in, and just took a bus to the first place I picked out on a map. I didn’t have much money, but I had been saving since I started working at fifteen years old. I didn’t care if I had to live under a bridge. I just wanted out.” She took a deep breath, because even for as ugly as her life had been, she was going to make it right. “I got help from a women’s shelter, got a crappy job, that paid even crappier, but I was doing it on my own. I even got an associate’s degree in business. I did all of that until I was able to finally stand on my own two feet and support myself. But I didn’t want to live in a city anymore, and decided I wanted peace.” She snorted at that thought, because even though Steel Corner was a mountain town, there were still parts of the city she had tried to leave embedded in it. “I’m not telling you this stuff to upset you or to garner sympathy, but because I do believe that truth is the best way to start things. How can we really know each other if we aren’t honest?”
Brick scrubbed a hand over his face and exhaled roughly. For a few moments he didn’t do anything but stare at the ground and grind his teeth. Then he seemed to get control of himself and looked at her.
He looked so big and intimidating sitting in what seemed like a too small chair. With his short sleeved dark tee, and his cut over that, she could still see every line, dip, and curve of his muscles. The scar on his cheek only seemed to amplify the hardness of his exterior, but also seemed to match the darkness she saw inside of him. Until today he had always worn long sleeved shirts, but on his left arm he had an entire sleeve of ink. But they weren’t colorful tattoos, but dark lines, twisting curves, and sharp edges.
Similar Books
