Page 19 of Kicked in the Heart

“I warned you but you didn’t listen. You should have quit, the Legends don’t need you,” a gravelly voice said in her ear as arms wrapped around her. Opening her mouth to scream, herassailant covered her mouth with his gloved hand. The glove smelled of gasoline, making her gag.

She twisted, trying to get her arm free so she could grab her pepper spray. The hand over her mouth moved and she bit down on it.

“Motherfucker!”

Her assailant punched her in the stomach and she doubled over from the pain. Wrapping her fingers around the pepper spray in her pocket she turned and tried to get it out of her pocket. Struggling to pull it out and bring it up, she felt a hand grip her wrist, so tight it felt like her bones were rubbing together.

“Nope, not gonna happen,” her assailant growled out. He squeezed her wrist harder until she dropped the spray. “Can’t have you using that now, can we?”

“Let me go, asshole,” she screeched as she fought against his hold. He dragged her across the parking lot. She wished she’d worn something other than her chucks, the soles were slick and gave her no traction in the snow. Her feet skittered across the snow-covered concrete, not giving her any hope of getting away from him.

“What do you want from me?” she asked trying to buy herself some time as he fumbled for his keys.

Somehow, his arm loosened around her and she broke free. She took one step and he grabbed her by the hair, yanking her back toward him. It felt like her hair was ripped out by the roots.

“You’re not getting away that easy,” he said as he shoved her toward his vehicle. He shoved her again and her feet slid out from under her. With a bang, her face hit the fender and her vision went grey as she heard someone yelling her name.

“Rocky, can you hear me?” She focused on the voice, clawing her way back to consciousness.

She raised her hand to try and rub her forehead to relieve the pain. She felt something sticky. She looked at her fingers. They were covered in red. Was she bleeding?

“You’re okay, we’ve got you.”

She opened her eyes and found Trey on his knees next to her. A groan and then a crunching sound. “Told you not to move, fucker!” she heard Butch say.

“What?” she asked, trying to sit up.

“You stay put, you might have a concussion,” Trey said. “I can hear sirens, the ambulance should be her soon.”

Butch stared down at her, shaking his hand.

“Damn, Butch, did you break your hand?” Trey asked him.

“I don’t think so. Would have been totally worth it though,” Butch growled.

Butch

Looking down at her, his stomach twisted and the urge to go beat her stalker until he was unrecognizable washed over him. The right side of her face was swollen and blood had run from a cut in her eyebrow down her cheek.

Rocky shivered from the cold and probably shock. Butch shrugged out of his coat and laid it over her on top of Trey’s. Where the fuck was that ambulance?

“Did he get away?” she asked, her eyes filled with pain.

Why did that make him want to wrap her up and keep her safe from the world? “Don’t worry, he’s not going to hurt you anymore,” he said as he took her hand. God, it was freezing.

“Is he dead?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“No, but he’s going to wish he was. I know I broke his nose and I might have broken his jaw,” he said with a grin. “Fucker hurt you, you’re bleeding.” Where had that urge to protect her come from. That was new.

He saw the firetruck turning into the parking lot. About time they got here.

With a final whoop, the firetruck pulled up and screeched to a halt. Three firemen jumped off and grabbed their kits, hurrying over to Rocky. Trey sent one to check on the stalker.

The cops pulled up seconds later. “Who is the victim?” they asked looking from Rocky to the stalker. Butch was relieved when Trey went to talk to the cops, he wanted to be with Rocky. He knew he would eventually have to talk to them. Hopefully the creep wouldn’t press charges against him.

Butch stepped back as the fireman assessed Rocky’s injuries. One looked up at Butch and saw him clenching and unclenching his hand.

“I want to take a look at that hand, you might have broken…”