Page 33 of Broken Daddy

Do not react. Do not.

“Here, Devi. I’ll pick up the glass,” Silla said, interrupting them.

Oh, thank God.

Silla could be loud. She said exactly what she thought. But right now she was Devi’s hero.

“You go have a break. Mac’s orders.” Silla sent Hayes a slightly wary look.

Devi should try and reassure her. But she was too rattled. She was still shaking. A reaction to everything that had happened. But she also thought it was a reaction to him.

Lord.

What was going on with her?

She rushed away without a word to him, heading into the staff room. She sat at the small, rickety table for a moment. But she couldn’t stay still.

She needed something to do.

Walking into the kitchen, she glanced around for something to clean.

Then she noticed the overflowing garbage bin.

The kitchen had closed an hour ago and Sandy had gone home. It was Andy’s job to clean up and take the garbage out. But he’d left twenty minutes ago.

Without throwing the garbage out.

Devi thought about going to find Mac. But by the time she did that, she could have taken the garbage out. And she had been looking for something to do.

Should she have thanked Hayes?

She should have, right? But she didn’t want to go back in there and see him. He’d seemed almost . . . angry with her.

You didn’t do anything wrong.

Sure, kneeling down to pick up broken glass with your hands was a dumb idea.

But she hadn’t been thinking straight.

Picking up the bag, she twisted it and hauled it behind her as she headed out the back door. A shiver ran through her as she hit the cold air.

Drat.

She should have put on her coat. She wasn’t thinking very clearly tonight.

Setting the bag down, she shoved up the lid of the dumpster and swung the bag up into it.

As she was setting the lid back down, she was suddenly grabbed from behind. A meaty hand went over her mouth, smothering her scream as she was drawn against a large body. A wave of body odor hit her, making her gag.

Holy crap.

What was going on?

She kicked back with her feet, trying to escape. Grasping hold of his hand that was over her mouth, she tried to pull it away.

“Gonna teach you to reject me, you little bitch,” the guy said as he started to drag her down the alleyway. She made herself go limp, trying to make his job harder for him.

Her mind raced. Panic threatened to take hold, but she fought it back. It wasn’t the first time that Devi had been in a situation like this.