Page 31 of Fight
“I helped fix you up,” he confirms. “Arthur came to me complaining about an issue with a strip club owner, and I told him to take care of it. I didn’t ask enough questions, so I feel partially responsible for this.”
“You gave him the go ahead to crash my car, chase me down the road, and knock me out?” I ask incredulously, scooting away from him. I may very well need to make a run for it, but I doubt I’ll get very far.
Mafia bosses are paranoid as fuck, so I’m sure his house is locked down tight. “They stripped me, hurt me, cut me, and beat the fuck out of me.”
Remembering how Arthur hit me explains why my face feels puffy and it hurts to talk. Did he strangle me at some point? Memories are moving in and out, feeling hazy yet clear.
Trauma doesn’t always make sense, though, so I stop trying to unravel it all for now.
Tommy swallows hard as he looks down at me, shaking his head. “You know I didn’t, babe,” he mutters.
“Don’t call me that. You don’t fucking know me, and I don’t know what you do or don’t know. I also have no idea what you have a blanket approval on,” I yell at him, immediately regretting it as I feel a cough threatening to bite at me.
God, clearing my throat hurts too, and I’m reminded of how much I screamed in the van.
Maybe ignorance is bliss.
“Hey, where did you go?” he asks, bending down to look me in the eyes.
“None of your fucking business,” I rasp. “You should have better control of your people.”
Tossing the small amount of water in his face, I pull off the tape systematically to pull out the needle. How hard can it be?
“Wait, Cerenity,” he begins, making me shake my head as I yank out the needle. “Goddamn it, you need that!”
“I need a lot of things,” I mutter, scooting to the opposite side of the bed to push myself up. The world spins around me and my ears ring, and I feel myself fall back to sit. “Nope, that doesn’t work for me.”
“What doesn’t work for you?” a deep voice asks, his breath against my cheek as I squeal and lunge to get away from Tommy. “Not so fast, Bluebell.”
Grabbing me around the waist, he drags me with a grunt across the bed, tossing me over his shoulder. The droplets that were on his face fly as he shakes his face like a dog, which unfortunately also tosses me around.
My stomach lurches, making me gag as he walks.
“Fuck, I’m a dick. I’m sorry,” he says quickly, moving me until he’s cradling me in his arms. “I don’t know what the fuck to do with an injured omega.”
Gasping as I try not to puke, I shudder. “Then let me go, you overgrown Neanderthal,” I wail. It’s not the growl it usually would be because I feel like utter shit.
“I can’t,” he mumbles as he continues to walk into the bathroom. “You’re a mess of bumps and bruises, and I have to clean up Arthur’s mess.”
His words make me freeze as I realize he’s walking me to the bathroom. Is he going to drown me?
Screaming, I hit him across the face and struggle harder as Tommy yells.
“What the fuck? Cerenity, what did I say?! Stop!” he yells.
I know he knows my name because of our work with The Omega’s Haven, but nothing about this is adding up. I get him to drop one of my legs, which makes me painfully aware of how little I’m actually wearing, but I still manage to get a decent kick in. Struggling and twisting, I almost lose my shirt as well before I’m free and running for the door.
“Why are you so difficult?” he roars as he stomps after me.
“Drowning an omega that you saved is counterproductive!” I yell back at him as I catch myself on the door frame.
“What?! I wasn’t going to drown you,” Tommy groans, throwing up his arms in annoyance. “Cerenity! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Eh, I’m sure I’ll live through worse,” I grunt as I push myself away from the door to keep walking. “I’m out.”
“You can’t leave,” he says, following me down the hallway.
“Give me one good reason why I can’t?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder as I walk. My flight response is screaming at me, I’m exhausted, and I just want Auggie.