Wrong (Breaking the Rules) (26 page)

We chatted for a couple of minutes about her church group until Calvin came in through the garage. He walked over and kissed her cheek. Since her back was turned to him, he sneaked over and pulled out a carrot, dropping it into his mouth.

“Dammit, Calvin! You two are impossible. Wait until Elizabeth gets here and keep your fingers out of the food,” she admonished, shaking her finger at us. We roared in laughter and she simply shook her head at us.

After a glass of wine and discussing more of the future of my company with Calvin, I glanced over at the clock. Following my gaze, Calvin frowned.

“When was she supposed to get here?” he questioned.

“She should have been here about fifteen minutes ago. I’m going to call her and make sure everything’s okay,” I told him, pulling out my phone. He nodded, still frowning.

When she didn’t pick up, I cursed. Calvin reached down and grabbed his phone, dialing her. The phone went to voicemail again. After dialing her unsuccessfully one more time, I finally dialed Andi. Her phone didn’t pick up either. My heart started beating wildly in my chest. When I looked over at Calvin, we both jumped up from the bar and stalked out of the kitchen.

Calvin called over his shoulder, “Sandra, stay here in case she shows up. We’re going after her.”

After an exhausting day dealing with the aftermath leftover from the gala, I was more than thrilled to be having dinner with Jordan and my parents. Throughout the entire ordeal, Daddy and Jordan seemed to have found some common ground. I knew that if they’d give it a chance they would like each other.

Mom had texted me earlier, informing that we were having her special roast, and my stomach grumbled just thinking about it. Stan had been riding everyone’s asses so nobody had gotten lunch today.

I had my keys ready when I reached the door to the apartment and easily unlocked it, going inside. When I went to close the door, a foot stopped it. Before I even had time to process that, Cole came pushing through the door, pointing a gun at me. My heart started pounding loudly in my chest as I attempted to figure out what to do.

“Well hello, Peppermint Pussy,” he said, smiling at me. His teeth had started to yellow and he reeked of smoke. The hair on his face hadn’t been shaved in what appeared to be days. His once muscular physique was now flabby.

“What do you want from me?” I demanded, trying to keep the quiver from my voice. He scowled at me, taking a step forward. Instinctively, I backed up until I was against the wall.

“I want to finish what I started. You and your father ruined my life. I’d love nothing more than to ruin yours. Time was good to you, Peppermint Pussy. I want to fuck you now more than I did that day. There hasn’t been a day gone by that I didn’t imagine taking you like I should have long ago.”

I glanced down the hallway and saw that my bedroom door was open.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I took off in a full sprint towards my room. Seconds later, his heavy footsteps pounded after me. Flying into my room, I slammed the bedroom door shut behind me and turned the lock moments before he flung himself against it.

Fumbling in my coat pocket, I tried to quickly retrieve my phone. My violently shaking fingers desperately searched for Jordan’s number. I felt sick when I heard a female’s voice on the other side of the door, causing me to pause my search.

“Pepper?” Olive’s voice squeaked out from the other side. Shit, he had Olive.

“Don’t fucking open the door!” Andi shouted at me. I then heard a scuffle and some crying followed by a thud. My heart tightened in my chest.

“Open the door, Peppermint Pussy, or your girlfriends are going to each take a bullet in the head,” he seethed from the other side.

I could hear Olive crying. Quickly, I shot Jordan a text, turned the phone on silent, and tucked it under my pillow. Rushing over to the door, I swung it open.

Cole pointed for Olive to go into the room with me. With his gun still trained on us, he pulled an unconscious Andi by her hair. Olive started crying loudly, and I stepped in front of her to shield her from seeing Andi. Once he got her inside, he shut the door.

“Cole, just let them go. You can have me. Please, just leave them alone,” I calmly told him. My attempt to stay calm was shattered when he stalked over to me and put his hand around my throat.

“You don’t fucking make the rules!” he roared, tightening his grip.

I gasped for air and frantically tried to claw at his hand to release me, but he was too strong.

“Let her go!” Olive screeched, her tiny frame trying to pull him off of me.

“Bitch, you better back off right now or I’ll shoot her!” he spat at her.

Defeated, she stumbled away, sobbing loudly. Releasing my neck, he spun me around and pushed me onto the bed. I frantically sucked in air, momentarily stunned from being choked. When I felt him fumbling for my pants, I weakly attempted to fight him off.

The coolness of the barrel against the back of my neck made me pause in my struggles. My breaths were ragged from lack of air and exertion. Olive continued to wail from her crouched position beside Andi. Cole yanked off my coat.

“You fucking ruined my life, Peppermint Pussy. I had a football career ahead of me and your fucking dad killed it. I’m a fucking loser now because of you and him. When I fuck you, I hope it hurts. And before you can recover, I’m going to do it again. When I’ve had my fill, I’m going to shoot you in the fucking head.”

Anger rushed over me. This asshole just wouldn’t go away, and it pissed me off more than it scared me.

“Cole, do you think getting your dick wet is going to change anything here? You’ll still be a fucking loser. You are a fucking dog that needs to be put down,” I spat angrily. He was going to kill me anyways. Might as well say my piece.

“Bitch!” he screamed and began yanking down my jeans. I squirmed and struggled, landing a kick to his crotch. He stumbled away briefly before he charged back at me, grabbing a handful of my hair.

“You can kill me but you won’t get to rape me alive,” I panted, still struggling.

Even though he was a lot larger than me, he wasn’t as strong as he once had been as a teenager. He flipped me back over onto my back and struck me with the side of the gun, making me immediately see stars.

When I finally blinked them away, I realized he already had my pants halfway pulled down. He no longer had the gun in his hand, so I seized the opportunity to attack him. Sitting up, I shoved both hands into his hair and yanked as hard as I could. Halting his task with my pants, he grabbed my wrists and jerked them away. As he twisted my wrists behind me, I felt my left one snap, sending agonizing pain searing up my arm. I wailed in agony.

The anger faded as tears of pain took over. I stopped my struggle in hopes that he would release my screaming wrist. He let go, laughing at me.

“Maybe I should break the other one too. See how you fight then?” he asked hatefully.

Tears streamed down my face, but I maintained my own furious glare, refusing to let him see me in a weakened state. I would die fighting him off.

Pushing me back down onto my back, he jerked my shirt up to my neck and bit my nipple through my bra. Yelping in surprise, I went to swat at him but pain seared through my wrist again, stopping me.

He continued to pull my pants the rest of the way off. My eyes flitted over to Olive and Andi. I saw Olive quietly pulling her into the bathroom, and the door softly clicked behind them. When two big hands jerked my knees apart, my eyes flew back to Cole. He’d somehow managed to get his pants down as well.

It was over. He was about to rape and kill me. Anger built up again, quelling the fear. Summoning up all of my strength, I pulled my leg from his grasp, kicking him hard in the throat.

“Fuck!” he gasped, stumbling away from me.

I rolled off the bed and away from him, crying out when I landed on the floor with my hands underneath me. Scrambling to my knees, I started to try to bolt from the room when his arms latched around my waist from behind.

I thrashed wildly in his arms as he forced me back over to the bed, throwing me facedown onto the mattress. He was still stronger than I was, but I would still fight while I could.

“Stay fucking still!” he screamed, completely enraged.

Ignoring him, I kept bucking and twisting. Both of his hands found my throat this time. Instantly, I was gasping for breath but still attempting to pull his hands from me, digging my nails into them as hard as I could. The pain in my wrist was excruciating, but I continued to fight madly.

Darkness began eating at the edges of my vision. My lack of air was quickly weakening me. The clawing soon gave way to soft slaps in an attempt for him to release me. Finally, my hands just rested on his when I finally blacked out.