Choosing Henley

by Anne Jolin

  Then he closes his eyes tight. I think he’s calmed down when he rips his eyes open again, slamming me into the brick wall behind us.

  “Are you saying I’m a fucking liar? I know what I saw!” He shakes my body again and my head smashes into the wall. My visions starting to blur and a tear slides down my cheek. “You’re mine, doll. No one loves you like I love you.”

  I’m terrified. It’s not the first time I’ve been scared of him, but tonight’s the first time he’s ever physically hurt me. “Don’t touch me!” I hiss, smacking his hand out of the way as he tries to cup the side of my face.

  The anger in his eyes flares again as he grips me around the throat. “How many times to we have to go over this?” he shouts.

  I claw at the hand around my neck. The alley is empty and there’s not a single person around to help me. The grip he has on my throat tightens and the edges of my already blurry vision are turning black. I can’t breathe. I’m running out of time.

  I move my hands to grab his shoulders, something I learned in a self-defense class I took with Hannah, and hold on tight. I use every bit of strength and leverage I have, connecting my knee with his groin.

  “Fuck!” he groans, releasing me to cradle his wounded testicles.

  I waste no time slipping out from my trapped position on the wall and try to run. The heel of my shoe catches in a crack on the concrete and I stumble, slowing down as I try to catch my balance. When I try to bolt again, I’m brutally yanked back by my blond hair.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Betty,” he says, his voice higher than normal from the damage I managed to inflict. “You’re mine.” He drags me backwards until I slam into a dumpster. “Forever.”

  “No!” I spit into his face.

  I reach up, trying to press my thumbs into his eyes, another self-defense move. One I never thought I’d be using on someone I called my boyfriend. He curses as I succeed in starting to gouge one eye. I have tunnel vision on freeing myself so much that I don’t notice him rear back his right fist. My vision goes entirely black as he punches me in the eye. I’d have fallen to the ground if he hadn’t resumed his hold on my throat again. The fight is draining from my body the longer I’m deprived of oxygen.

  He shakes me, my body moving limply like a rag doll. “I love you so much, Betty. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you only want me?” he whispers at me, his voice eerily calm. “You’re mine.”

  He’s psychotic. I’m going to die in a back alley because I was manipulated into loving a psychopath.

  “I’ll never share you.” He hisses. “Not with—”

  His voice is cut off and the hand around my throat brutally ripped away, nails catching on my skin as it is removed against its will. My body sinks to the disgusting alley floor, sucking in the putrid stench of pee. I don’t care though because at least I can breathe.

  My right eye is swelling shut, but I force the left open. My vision is still blurry, but I can see two men struggling. The dark-haired man hits Kyle so hard in the face that he drops to the ground. He’s not moving.

  I’m slipping in and out of consciousness when I feel strong arms lift me. I’m being carried, and it’s out of sheer will that I open my left eye. I gasp at the sight of the man holding me. He’s so beautiful, my dark savior, and terrifying all the same. Despite that, the feeling that overwhelms me most is safety. I feel incredibly safe with him. The Cinderella Man saved me.

  We reach a black car. From what I can tell, it’s an old Charger, a muscle car. He rests me on his knee as he yanks the door open before softly laying me down in the back seat. I try to say something, but he hushes me.

  “Shhh, babe. I don’t know what’s broken. I don’t want you to move, okay?” he asks. I nod. “Good girl. You’ll be okay. I promise.”

  I feel the car shake as he slams the door and then dip again as he slides into the front seat. Then the ignition rolls over and the car roars to life. I continue to drift in and out of consciousness again, my vision going black without notice. When I feel a rough hand slip into mine, I open my eye to see beautiful, grey eyes looking at me.

  “We’re almost there. Try to stay awake, okay, babe?” He sounds so concerned.

  I try to smile at him, to tell him that I’m okay, but I lose reality again, only seeing the stoplight in front of us turn green before I do.

  I’m floating again—at least I think I am. I can hear beeping and faraway voices as I’m laid down onto something soft. I blink my eye open but quickly close it when it’s met by strong florescent lights. I wait a few seconds before trying again. There are nurses hovering around me, and I see him talking to them. As he turns to go, I grab his hand.

  “Please,” I whisper hoarsely.

  He leans down, brushing the hair from my face. “I’m not going anywhere, Beth.” He softly kisses my forehead. “Your family will be here soon, okay?”

  I nod. I’m not sure how he knows who I am. He must have picked up my clutch before he brought me here.

  Something sharp sticks me in my arm before my body starts to numb. It feels amazing. The last thing I see before I go again is my dark savior’s handsome face.

  When I wake up hours later, surrounded by loved ones, he is gone. If the nurses hadn’t seen him, I’d have felt as though I dreamt the entire thing. He didn’t leave a name. Only the paperwork detailing an in-progress restraining order was left on my bedside table.

  Cinderella disappeared into the city night, and I owe him my life.

  I want to thank my beta readers, whom are also my friends. Nikki Mccrae, Elizabeth Thiele, Wendy Colby, Jackie Lynch, Melissa Gill, Kristi Webster, Tracey-lee Shane, Alexandra Godfrey, Jennifer Inglehart, Midian Sosa, Larni Phipps and Michelle Ramirez. Thank you for your excitement, your honesty and your endless supply of encouragement. Thank you to Heather Carver for proofreading this book and Desire Slover for pimping it all across town. I adore and love each and every one of you!

  Mickey Reed, you are a godsend. Without you my characters would do nothing but growl at each other! I thank my lucky stars to have you as my editor and as my friend. Thank you for taking a chance on me and always being in my corner. I love you girl.

  Thank you to my brilliant formatter Stacey Blake from Champagne Formats. Your work never ceases to amaze me, you are quite frankly a genius! My words never look more beautiful than they do when you are finished with them.

  A huge thank you to the queen of sexy men and my fellow hockey fan, Ellie from Love N. Books. It has been a blast working with you and Scott Hoover Photography. I look forward to many more projects together.

  Melissa Gill at MG Book Covers you spoil me rotten! Not only with your amazing cover designs, but with all the little things you do without me even asking. Most of all, you have blessed me with a beautiful friendship and I am so thankful for you. Oh, and I’m thankful for this smokin’ hot cover too!

  Thank you to Ly Quintana from HEA Bookshelf for promoting Choosing Henley to the world. You are an absolute sweetheart and I think our partnership has so many great things in store for the future!

  A great big kiss on the cheek, slap on the ass and bear hug for my indie girls! Kristi Webster, my love bucket, you make me smile daily and without you I would never be where I am. I would never be writing these books. Elle Jefferson, my partner in crime, sometimes I wonder if we have the same brain. When you aren’t cracking me up, you’re pushing me forward and I love every second of it… Even the parts that don’t include Cam Gigandet. Marie Garner, my smarty pants, you keep me grounded and remind me constantly to follow my dreams. Each of you ladies inspire me, encourage me and support me. I am thankful and blessed to call you my friends. I wouldn’t want to be on this wild ride without you.

  A thousand times thank you to my husband Jacob. Thank you for supporting my dream even if that meant there were no clean clothes, lots of take-out dinners and a messy house. Thank you for making sure I ate and got enough sleep so I wasn’t a zombie for my day job. I am incredibly blessed to be loved
by you.

  I’m twenty four years old. I was born and raised in Ladner, a small farm town just outside of Vancouver, Canada. I grew up riding horses, shooting guns and riding in trucks. I’ve been married to my handsome redneck husband for a year and we are parents to our chocolate fur baby, Bear. No kiddo’s yet! I am completely and utterly obsessed with country music, you will constantly find me stalking iTunes. If you don’t find me on iTunes, you’ll find me on Netflix because I am a self proclaimed movie junkie. Yes, that means that I quote them constantly in daily conversation and my characters do too! You couldn’t keep me away from a good action movie if you tried. I’m also a planning nut. I love to plan parties, events, trips – you name it! I don’t know if that’s considered a real hobby, but it is for me.

  We were fortunate enough to travel a lot as a family growing up, and I think that helped spark my love of reading. I’m half Viking, my mom is Danish, and her entire side of the family still lives in Denmark. We’d visit them almost once a year, every year and it’s a nine hour flight. That’s a lot of uninterrupted time to read (or in my parent’s case, entertain four children – Yikes!). Somewhere along the way my love of reading, became a love of writing. I wrote short stories when I was younger, and although I majored in Business Management at college, I took as many English electives I could get my hands on.

  During the day I work at my family construction company wearing a variety of different hats and at night, I write! I had never thought about writing books before, but after a few suggestions that I should try, I decided to give it a go. I loved it instantly! Having always been a creative person, it felt amazing to harness all that energy and use it to tell a story. Now, quite frankly it’s all I can think about, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m grateful to have developed my love of reading into a passion for writing. You’ll be seeing many more books from me in the future!

  Y’all can follow me on,

  Website – www.annejolin.com

  Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorannejolin

  Twitter - @authorannejolin

  Instagram - @annejolin

  Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8388273.Anne_Jolin

  Xo.