Authors: Susan Behon
“Let me go, Richard. This isn’t funny.”
“Did you get the roses I sent?” Richard asked that question so conversationally, they could have been chatting, sitting across the desk from each other instead of him shoving her into the furniture against her will.
Bastard.
“Yes, I got them. I threw them in the trash.” She dug her nails into his forearm, then reached back and tried to claw at his face.
Richard constricted his grip until it was excruciating against her midsection. Sarah sucked in a breath of air, trying to keep her nausea at bay. Any minute now, she was going to vomit all over her messy paperwork.
“You threw them away? Why?” The asshole whined like his feelings were hurt. “To make your boyfriend happy? I saw you with that redneck prick. Rubbing on him like a little slut. Were you
trying
to make me jealous?”
Screw this.
Sarah shouted out, “Help!” at the top of her lungs. She got the first part of the word out before Richard slammed a clammy palm against her mouth. The thumping bass of the music started up again, which would have drowned her out anyway.
“Shhh.” Richard rubbed the ridge of his hard-on against her backside. From the quickening of the foul-smelling breaths puffing against her neck, Sarah realized that the struggle was arousing him even more. “We won’t tell him, will we?” It was getting more difficult to suck in air. Black spots danced before her eyes. Richard groaned his excitement. “This will be our little secret, Sarah. For old time’s sake.”
Sarah tried to bite at his hand. It was no use. Richard had it pressed like a vise over her mouth.
“I need you, Sarah. You don’t understand. We have to get back together.”
She shook her head no.
No, no, no, no
.
He began pushing her forward, closer toward the jumbled array of papers. The words were getting blurred in front of her. Sarah stopped clawing at his arm and forestalled her descent by slamming her hands onto the desk’s surface. Her back was becoming damp from the sour-smelling sweat building up on his chest and soaking through his dress shirt.
She had to calm down and figure a way out of this before Richard went any further.
JOSH
and Chris were on their knees by the tangle of cords, winding electrical tape around the new wire splices when a feminine hand landed on his shoulder. Thinking it was Sarah, he smiled when he glanced up. It wasn’t Sarah. A woman with long black hair and a hoochie-mama silver tank top was staring down at him.
“Do I know you?”
The woman’s glossy red lips twitched up in a smirk. “No, but you will.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am…”
“Ooh, so polite. Listen to that southern drawl of yours.” She ran a bold gaze over him. “Aren’t you a tasty package?”
This was the second time he’d gotten hit on tonight. Sarah had finally distracted Kelly, and now he had this woman to deal with. He didn’t want her anywhere near his package. She was pretty, that much was true. There was just something off about her, a manic look in her heavily made-up eyes. When he didn’t respond to her come-on, she introduced herself.
“I’m Brandi. You’re Josh?”
Her long crimson fingernail trailed across the top of his shoulder. Josh pushed her hand away from him. “That’s me.”
Brandi? Richard’s Brandi?
“Where’s your boyfriend?”
She bit her lip and raised her arms to slide her fingers through her hair, settling the strands behind her shoulders while thrusting out her breasts. He supposed that from his position on the floor, the show was supposed to be alluring. It left Josh cold. He went back to twisting electrical tape around the cords. Chris kept his head down, pretending to be busy at work while listening to everything.
Brandi didn’t take the hint to go away. “So you know about my Richard?”
“We’ve met.” Josh was done talking to this woman. He could smell the stink of trouble on her like it was a cloying, cheap perfume.
Brandi took a quick interested survey of Chris, then went back to eyeballing Josh.
“Do you know where Richard is now?”
“Don’t care.” He didn’t.
“Trust me. You will.” She crossed her arms under her propped-up breasts and canted out a hip. “Richard told me he had to go to the bathroom. I saw the way he’d been watching Sarah all night, so I followed him down the hallway. I saw him sneak into her office. The door was locked by the time I got to it.” She balled her hands into fists at her sides. “I guarantee they are fucking as we speak.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Josh made it to his feet and brushed past Brandi. She grabbed him by the arm with both hands, practically getting dragged along behind him.
“He’s supposed to love
me
, not her.” Brandi tottered along on her stiletto heels. “Wait! Stop! I know how to show them! How about you and me sneak out to the parking lot and have some backseat revenge sex?”
“Lady, get your hands off me.” Josh shook her off and strode toward the back office. Brandi tried to grab him again. Chris got in her way and blocked her from moving any closer to him. Having friends came in handy.
There was no way Sarah wanted to be with Richard. She couldn’t stand her ex-husband. If he was in that room with her, it wasn’t because he was invited. Josh could see the light streaming out from beneath the door when he got there. The indistinguishable murmur of a man’s voice could be heard from the hallway.
Josh tried twisting the doorknob. It was locked in place and wouldn’t budge. He banged on the heavy wood. He bellowed against the barrier. “Sarah, you in there?” There were some rustling noises but no response.
To hell with it.
Josh heaved his shoulder against the door and broke the casing. The sight before him made his blood run cold. Richard had Sarah pinned against the desk with his hand against her mouth, trying to unzip his fly.
Motherfucker.
Josh grabbed Richard by the collar and gave a mighty yank until the son of a bitch flew backward. Sarah spun around and kicked her ex-husband in the nuts for all she was worth. When he hunched forward, she grabbed him by the back of the head and kneed him in the face. Hard. There was a satisfying crunching sound as his nose broke. He landed on his knees, one hand cupping his junk, the other holding on to his bloody nose. The overhead fluorescent light reflected off the shiny parts of his scalp that were visible through his thinning strands of hair.
Sarah was breathing hard, taking in great gulps of air. Her shirt was disheveled and untucked from her white shorts. Her eyes were wide and glossy from unshed tears. Blonde tendrils of hair had come loose from her ponytail that was now listing to one side of her head. The area around her mouth was pink from Richard using his hand to keep her quiet. Sarah’s lips were puffy from the pressure of that prick’s fingers.
Josh wanted to kill Richard. He did. Seeing to Sarah was his first priority, though. He moved to put his arms around her to comfort her. She wasn’t having any part of it and put a staying hand up to ward him off. “Wait.”
Through bleary eyes, Richard cried, “Sarah, please listen to me.”
Sarah pulled herself together enough to rail against her ex-husband. “No! Never again. Here’s the deal. We’re done. Nothing you say or do will ever compel me to get back with you. Ever. No, means no, you sick son of a bitch. Don’t ever come near me again, or I’ll slice off your puny little dick and feed it to you, got me?”
Richard nodded, blood and tears streaming down his face.
Josh’s couldn’t give a shit less if Richard was bleeding. His concern was for Sarah. “Are you okay, darlin’?”
She nodded. “I’m always okay.”
“All right, then.” Josh hauled Richard up by his neck and frog-marched him out the back exit. He shoved the heavy steel door open and tossed him to the pavement next to the dumpsters. “You stay away from Sarah or your ass is goin’ to jail or the hospital. If you thought she fucked you up, that’s nothin’ compared to what I’ll have in store for you. What kind of piece-of-shit man forces himself on a woman?”
History was repeating itself, and thank God he’d gotten there in time. Again.
Richard scrambled up to his feet. “She’s my wife.”
“Ex-wife and don’t you forget it.” To punctuate that, Josh grabbed him by the tie and twisted until Richard’s face turned a mottled red. Then he twisted some more. Richard scrabbled at Josh’s forearm, fighting for air and trying to get loose. “It’s not so fun fightin’ against someone bigger and stronger, is it?”
Richard’s eyes bulged, and he gave a barely there shake of his head.
Josh pushed Richard away from him with a good shove, and the weasel landed on his ass on the concrete.
Richard crab-crawled farther away. “I’ll sue!”
“You’ll what? Fuck off. You’ve been warned.”
He pulled the door closed and secured the locks. When he spun around, Sarah was standing in the hallway. She’d straightened her clothes and fixed her hair. The only way you could tell anything was wrong with her were the nervous splotches of red on her upper chest. Her hands were bunched into fists, and if he had to guess, it was to keep them from trembling.
Richard Alan is a dead man.
“Do you want to call the sheriff? Seth’s gonna want to know about this. You need to file a report.”
Sarah shook her head and rolled her lips in, biting them in an effort not to cry. He held his arms out, and she rushed into them, pressing her face into his chest and squeezing her arms around his waist for all she was worth. Josh felt the moisture of her tears instantly. It nearly broke his heart.
“N-no. I don’t want half the town knowing what happened tonight. I’ll file for a restraining order in the morning.”
“Sarah, he tried to ra—”
“Don’t say it!”
“Okay, he assaulted you. That prick deserves jail time.” He rubbed small circles between her shoulder blades. “Where did you learn that knee to the face move?”
She lifted her head up and gave a tremulous smile. “MMA. I’m a big fan.”
“Holy shit, sunshine. Remind me never to piss you off.” She was no shrinking violet. Sarah Brandon was a warrior woman.
“I need to go to my office and finish getting myself back together.”
“Wouldn’t you rather call it a night?”
“No. I have work to do, and I’m going to do it.”
“All right, darlin’.” He led her down the hallway. “How about a little timeout so you can take it easy? You want a shot of whiskey or somethin’?”
Sarah made a
yuck
face. “I’d love a glass of wine, but I don’t drink on the job.”
“I think you can make an exception here.” Hell, Josh could use a shot, and he’d only walked in on what almost happened.
“Could you get a Diet Dr. Pepper for me?”
“I’m on it. Kickin’ ass is thirsty work.” They stopped at the busted-in doorway of her office. “I’ll get that fixed. Stick a chair against the door until I get back.”
“Is the karaoke working all right now?”
“All set. Don’t you hear the music?”
Sarah’s face went blank. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” She reached for his hand. “When you go out there. Don’t tell Sophie. Not yet. I need some time.”
“All right, honey. You want somethin’ to eat?”
She shook her head.
He brushed his lips against her forehead. “Be back in a few. Remember what I said about that chair.”
* * * *
Sarah sat at her desk, trying to pretend that Richard hadn’t just had her pinned against it. She wasn’t that good at denial. She wanted to find him and kick him in the nuts again. How dare he put his hands on her? He’d lost his damned mind. Sarah had never done physical violence against anyone, but she was honest enough with herself to admit that it was pretty satisfying making Richard bleed.
She set her elbows on the blotter and rested her head in her hands. They’d started shaking again. The shock was wearing off, and she was left with the reality that the man she used to be married to was a sadistic stranger. Sarah hadn’t had a high opinion of Richard since she walked in on him cheating with Brandi. He was a cheating asshole, but she would have sworn that he was completely harmless.
Never once during their short marriage had Richard been physically or sexually aggressive. If anything, she worried that he hadn’t found her attractive since he was never in the mood to have sex. Now, she knew it was because he was getting some on the side. Hopefully, she’d done enough damage to his junk to keep him from getting hard for anyone for a good long while.
What the hell was wrong with him? Sarah’s stomach hurt from where Richard had been squeezing her, holding her against his groin.
Please, please, don’t throw up now, Sarah.
It was ironic that she used to have to seduce Richard into getting him to lay a finger on her, and now the thought of her ex-husband getting intimate with any part of her body made her want to heave. There was no way she was going to let him get away with trying to force her to…to make her—she couldn’t finish the thought.
Later.
Sarah would figure out a game plan later, as soon as she had herself pulled together. She sat up straight and went through her papers again. Aha! Julie Hanlin was the woman’s name. Her application had been right on top of the pile the whole time. It was close to ten o’clock, a little late for a phone call. She scanned over the application again. Julie seemed almost desperate for a job so, under the circumstances, a late call was better than none at all.
Sarah touched in the number and waited. Two rings in and a woman answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Julie?”
“Yes,” a cautious feminine voice answered.
“This is Sarah Brandon from the Suds and Spuds. I hate to call so late, but I wanted to offer you the server job, if you’re still interested.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Hell, yeah…I’m sorry. I mean heck, yeah, I’m interested. Thank you so much for the opportunity! When do you want me to start?”
“I know this is short notice, but how about tomorrow? Sunday afternoons and evenings are normally slow so we can get you started with training and see how everything goes from there.”
“One moment, please.” Although the sound was muffled on Julie’s end, Sarah was sure she’d heard a squeal of happiness. At least something good happened today. The receiver was uncovered. “Miss Brandon?”