Page 68 of Doc

I waited until she bit down on her lip and nodded. Then, taking a deep breath, I walked toward Monk. When I was close enough, he grabbed my arm, yanked me through the doorway, and then slammed and locked the door.

I looked him in the eye. “Why are you doing this?”

He shrugged but answered me anyway. “Got fucking tired of living by Trip’s rules. Met Bronx a few months back, said he liked my style. We’re gonna start our own fucking club.” He jerked me close to his face. “And guess who’s gonna be one of our whores?”

I couldn’t deny the fear that his comment instilled in me. “Over my dead body. Liam will come for me.” I was confident about that.

His laughter revealed that he wasn’t worried about that happening. “We’re counting on it. Along with some of his fucking brothers. Gonna hurt that club by taking out some of their finest for destroying Bronx’s MC and hurting his brother.”

I had nothing to say in response. How did one club destroy another? I knew one thing, though—if Liam’s MC had destroyed Bronx’s club, it was because they’d wanted to rid the world of scum.

“I thought Bronx wanted me to look at his brother?” I reminded him.

His eyes dropped to my lips, and he licked his. “Yeah. But having you this close makes me think of other things you can do. You smell good.”

When he lowered his face, I knew what his intentions were, and I sharply turned away from him. That angered Monk, and he used both hands to pull my body against his. I cried out at the brutality in his hands, struggling to get away, which only angered him more. He pushed me so hard against the kitchen counter that it took the breath out of me.

“Take your hands off me!” I demanded.

“Might as well get used to it, bitch!” He snarled back, bending over me in order to reach my lips. Because his hands were wrapped around my upper arms, I was able to reach up and rake my nails down his face. With a grunt, he jerked back. Murder filled his eyes, his lips all but disappearing in rage.

“Fucking whore! You’re gonna regret that!” He grasped a handful of my hair and jerked my head back.

“No!” I screamed when his other hand squeezed my breast. I screamed again when he pinched my nipple hard, and then I heard my blouse rip. “Get off me!” I screamed.

“Monk!”

He whipped his head around but didn’t move away from me. “You said she was mine!”

“When the time is right,” Bronx responded. “Now get the fuck off her so she can check on Tag.”

Monk took his time straightening away from me. Even more slowly he released my hair, but before he removed his hand from my throat he gave a threatening squeeze, an unspoken promise of what I could expect from him. Relieved when I could finally step away from him, I sucked in several breaths, my heart pounding.

My arms hurt, my back hurt, my throat hurt.Everythinghurt from the few seconds that Monk had man-handled me. He’d been brutal, and I knew there would be marks on my body. It occurred to me that I was going from one animal to another, a more dangerous animal. I didn’t know where I found the courage to meet and hold Bronx’s menacing glare, but I did.

He hadn’t broken me yet.

“He dies, you die.”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed, but it held little humor. First, I was to be traded for Liam, next I was going to be one of their whores, now I was being threatened with death if his brother died. They couldn’t seem to make up their minds about what their intentions were for me. The longer we stood there staring at each other, the darker and more threatening Bronx’s expression turned. I could see it in his eyes, he was trying to figure me out, and it was clear that he wanted to see a frightened woman in front of him.

Oh, I was every bit of that inside, but I was determined that he wouldn’t see that side of me until he’d broken me. I had to remain strong.

There was a broken thirteen-year-old girl who needed me.