Oh my God, he was going to rape me and take pictures?
Like hell.
“I am not having sex with you,” I said, my voice hard and clear.
“So you can dance for strangers? You can get naked and dance around on a table for them and let a sleazy bartender take shots out of your tits, but you won’t give me something I earned?”
He was the stranger at the bar that night. He was watching Cam and me. It was him I felt staring at me from across the room.
“Sex isn’t something you earn.”
“I spent four years of my life putting up with you, thinking it would pay off, but all I got was a bad reputation and the quarterback stealing my thunder.”
So what? I’d been some game to him? Some prize to be had? Did he plan on taking my panties and waving them around school after he’d claimed my virginity?
Sleazebag.
“I’m afraid you’re too late,” I spat. “My virginity has already been taken.”
He let out a frustrated cry and leapt at me, trying to grab me. I shrieked and jumped back, reaching out and grabbing the jar full of rice. Without thinking twice, I swung it around and hit him across the face.
He stumbled backward, his hand going to his face. The glass of the jar was thick enough that it hadn’t broken, so I held it out in front of me like a weapon.
Brody looked up, the left side of his face already swelling. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“You’re the one that attacked my roommate, aren’t you?”
He snarled. “Stupid bitch. I thought it was you. The minute she opened her mouth, I knew it wasn’t.”
Oh my God. Roxie had been attacked because of me. She lived in even more fear of her ex because of me.
“How did you find out where I lived?”
He looked smug. “You wrote it on a napkin at the bar. Lover boy was too busy to notice that I walked right up and took it.”
I remembered that night. I had to give Cam my address again. Only he hadn’t thrown away the napkin. It had been taken.
My stomach turned violently and I felt like I was going to be sick. I needed to get out of there.
I threw the jar at Brody’s head and ran. I jolted past him as he knocked the jar away, and it landed on the floor, shattering. I could hear the uncooked grains of rice scatter across the linoleum, but I didn’t stop. I rushed to the door and yanked on the handle.
It was locked. He locked it when he came in.
Frustrated, I reached for the lock, unlatching it and pulling open the door.
He caught me around the middle as I was rushing out outside. I screamed, but he covered my mouth with his hand and towed me backward, my feet dragging across the concrete as he went. I kept my eyes trained on the parking lot, praying to God someone would walk by and see what was happening.
Then he slammed the door shut.
His hand was still covering my mouth so I bit him. I bit down on the tender flesh of his palm so hard that I felt my teeth grind together. He gave a shout of pain and shoved me away. I skidded forward, tripping and sliding across the top of the coffee table, and then the whole thing tipped over and I landed on the ground.
The table landed on top of me and I struggled to get my bearings to push it away. But I didn’t have to struggle long because Brody grabbed the table and flung it away. I heard some shattering and a crash, but I didn’t look to see what it was because I was too terrified by the look on his face.
Something had snapped inside him. Something had truly gone haywire. He wasn’t the same boy I remembered. He looked the same. His voice sounded pretty much the same… but his eyes… They didn’t hold the spark they used to. They were flat and lifeless… almost like his conscience had completely vacated his body.
“Don’t do this,” I begged, surging to my feet and rushing around the back of the couch to put it between us.
“That little strip tease you did for me last night turned me on,” he said, prowling closer. “You’re still as hot as you used to be. Although, that purple stripe you had in your hair… It made you look like a slut. I’m glad it’s gone.”
Slowly I backed away, trying to gradually get to the door. Once I got there, I was going to run like hell.
“Take off your shirt.”
“No.”
“Is that his shirt? The bartender’s? Is he the one you let have you? Tell me, Harlow, what’s he got that I don’t?”
My heart. Cam had my heart.
I wasn’t about to tell him that, though. Something told me that would only make things worse. There was a half-empty water bottle on the side table beside the couch. I picked it up and chucked it at him. And then I threw the TV remote at him too. I know one of them connected because I heard his grunt. I raced to the door, but once again he caught me, this time when I was just shy of pulling it open.
He yanked me back against his body. He gyrated his front into my backside. He was hard. I started to cry silently. A knife appeared out of nowhere. He brandished it in front of my face while he whispered in my ear. “You’re going to stop trying to get away. You’re not going to scream. If you do, I will kill you when I’m done.”
I’d rather die than be raped.
He grabbed me by the hair and swung me around, throwing me onto the floor. I started to get up, but he straddled me, pressing the knife to my throat. I froze and he smiled, shoving me back down.
There was a knock at the door. “Harlow, it’s me.”
I wanted to weep when I heard Cam’s voice.
“Tell him to go away or I’ll kill him,” Brody whispered, scraping the knife over the surface of the delicate skin on my neck. I felt a warm rivulet of blood swell and then drip down my skin.
I drew in a deep breath. “Now isn’t a good time, Cameron,” I called.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his voice concerned.
Brody jabbed the knife into my skin again and I whimpered. “I’m just not feeling well, Cameron,” I yelled. “I’ll call you later.”
Please, God, let him realize the reason I called him by his full name—a name I never used—was because I was in desperate need of help.
“Okay, call me when you feel better. I’ll come over.”
“Sounds great,” I said, trying to sound cheerful but failing miserably.
We both sat there for long moments, listening to the sound of his retreating footsteps. My heart fell. Fresh tears rushed down my cheeks. He didn’t realize. He was leaving. My chance at getting out of this was gone.
Brody gave me a sick smile and pulled the knife away from my throat and used it to slice open Cam’s T-shirt. Air brushed over my now naked, exposed chest. His rough hands grabbed me, squeezing.
I tried to buck him off and he laughed. “Oh yeah, baby, that’s it. I like it when you wiggle beneath me.”
I went stock still. I wasn’t sure what to do.
He picked up his phone and I heard the little sound of the recorder coming on. “Tell everyone how good I feel,” he instructed, training the camera on my bare chest as he reached out and twisted it roughly. I cried out.
There was a huge bang on the door and the wood cracked and splintered as it crashed in and hammered against the wall. Brody cursed and stood up, brandishing the knife once again.
“Watch out, Cam!” I cried, sitting up and scrambling away from Brody.
Cam’s eyes glanced at me and widened. Then they narrowed and he looked back at Brody. “You sick son of a bitch…”
He lunged at him as Brody took a swipe at him with the knife. I cried out, but Cam dodged it, chopping down on his wrist and knocking the knife away. It clattered to the floor and Cam kicked it underneath the couch.
Brody swung, hitting Cam across the jaw, and his head snapped back. I got to my feet, looking for something else I could use as a weapon, and Cam and Brody went after each other like savages.
The sickening thuds of their fists would likely haunt my dreams for weeks. Cam delivered a series of blows right to Brody’s f
ace and blood spurted from his nose. Then Brody ducked low and ran at him, literally driving the top of his head into Cam’s abdomen and bulldozing him into the wall.
“Cam!” I screamed and grabbed up the lamp on a nearby table. The cord ripped from the wall as I ran, and I brought it up, quickly swinging it down and hitting Brody solidly in the back of his head.
He crumpled to the floor, landing in a heap of arms and legs.
Cam bent down and looked at him. He was out cold so he felt around for a pulse.
Please, God, don’t let him dead. I hadn’t wanted to kill him. I just wanted him to stop.
“He’s alive,” Cam said, and a sob ripped from my throat.
Police sirens rang out in the distance.
Cam pulled the shirt over his head and pressed it to the cut on my neck. “What the hell did he do to you, baby?”
The gentle tone of his voice was my undoing and the dam broke, bringing forth a tidal wave of tears. He pulled me against his chest, holding me tightly to him and whispering words of love into my hair. “It’s over now, sweetheart. He’s not going to hurt you ever again.”
I pulled back. “It’s my ex-boyfriend from high school. I started a rumor about him years ago and he found out. He was here to—” My voice broke.
“Shhh, it’s all right now. I know why he was here. He’s lucky he’s still alive.”
Police cars screeched to a stop near the sidewalk and shouts rang from below. I could hear the officers pounding up the stairs, and then I heard Roxie and Adam screaming my name from across the parking lot.
I glanced back down at Brody, who was still unconscious on the floor. I felt guilty that he suffered over my lie. I felt guilty that I never thought about how he might feel. But still, breaking into my house, stealing my barrette, attacking Roxie, coming to the club, and then ultimately trying to rape me (and freaking recording it!) was not okay.
I prayed he got the help he needed and that he was locked away while he got it.
Cam looked down at me, his eyes searching my face. “I shouldn’t have left here this morning.”
“You’re a lot earlier than I thought you would be.”
“I cut the lesson short. I had this… bad feeling.” He glanced at Brody. “Now I know why.”
“I was afraid you didn’t get my signal. I thought you left.”
“I understood perfectly. You did good; you did real good.”
The police stormed inside, taking in the damage and my bloodied, ripped clothes. They moved into action, cuffing Brody and studying the scene.
“Thank you for coming back,” I told Cam, looking up to stare into his Hershey-colored eyes.
“I got you,” he whispered, pulling me close once more. “And I’m not ever letting you go.”
EPILOGUE
Four years later…
I pulled into the little parking lot and grinned at the sight of Cam’s bike parked beside the white building. I rushed inside the surfboard shop only to find the space behind the counter empty, so I hurried through into the tiny office in the back. It was empty too.
“Cam?” I called out.
I pondered all the custom surfboards hanging on the wall as I waited for him to appear. He was so incredibly talented. Every board was unique and every one had a personality of its own.
I spun in a little circle, taking in the freshly painted walls and neatly organized display of wetsuits. He was finally living his dream. Pura Vida Board Shop was already a success, and I knew it would just keep on growing.
“Cam!” I called out again, impatient to feel his lips on mine.
When he still didn’t respond, I gazed out the large front window and across the street toward the public access stretch of beach.
I grinned and raced out of the shop and across the pavement, tearing up the wooden steps and onto the walkway that led to the sand. The wind pulled at my shirt and I spotted him out in the water, sitting on his favorite surfboard, with a student beside him.
I rolled up my jeans, kicked off my flip-flops, and pushed my toes into the sun-heated sand. I felt his eyes the minute he saw me, and I lifted my hand and waved. He grinned and leaned into the guy who was with him, and I saw his mouth moving.
I watched as he expertly caught the next wave and rode it all the way in, jumping into the ankle-deep water beside me as his board washed up on shore.
“Hey,” he said, hooking me around the waist and pulling me right up against his soaked chest.
I squealed and pressed myself closer. “You look good out there.”
“You look good in my arms.”
I giggled. “I went in the shop first. You need to hire someone to sit behind the counter.”
He sighed and nuzzled my cheek with his nose. Wet strands of his hair clung to my skin and I wiggled around in his hold. “Replacing the girl who used to do it is impossible.” He sighed.
Up until several days ago, I’d been the girl behind the counter of his shop. I loved working there, being by the beach all day, making out with my boss on my lunch break, and watching him make the most beautiful surfboards I’d ever seen.
Even though I loved it, I had my own dreams to follow.
“I start my new job on Monday,” I said, excitement unfurling inside me.
He pulled back and grinned down at me. “Your office is going to be packed with a bunch of young college guys who just can’t decide what to do with their lives,” he said, pressing a hand to his chest and talking all dramatically.
I smacked him in his very toned stomach. “I doubt it.”
He snorted. “You’re the hottest career planner I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah?” I murmured, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Well, I’m taken.”
He reached up and pulled my left hand down to look at the incredibly sparkly diamond gracing my finger. I still pinched myself whenever I looked at it. I was so unbelievably lucky to have someone like him.
“I can’t wait to make you my wife,” he said as he pressed a kiss to the ring he placed there just a few months before.
“Not much longer now.” I sighed. We were going to have a wedding right here on the beach at sunset. I was going to wear white and no shoes, and Cam was going to wear a suit with an ocean-blue tie. In just two short weeks, I would be Mrs. Cameron Malone.
“Your job going to give you time off for our honeymoon?” he asked, his eyes straying to his student in the water.
“Of course. I didn’t accept until they agreed.”
His eyes came back to mine and he smiled. “Good. Now go sit your cute little ass over in the sand and quit distracting me from my job.”
“Want me to go sit in the shop?”
He shook his head. “I want you right here with me.”
Even after four years, his words still caused me to melt. I turned to go sit when he caught my hand and towed me back.
“Not so fast,” he murmured, giving me a soft kiss. “I love you.” He spoke right against my lips.
“I love you, too.”
He kissed me again and then made a growling sound. “You. Me. Tonight.” Then he wagged his eyebrows suggestively. His eyes softened and he kissed the tip of my nose. “Forever.”
I couldn’t think of anything better.
THE END
You lucky dog, you. Not only did you just read TEASE, but now you get a super exclusive sneak peak of TEMPT, the next Take It Off novel by Cambria Hebert!
Turn the page and enjoy!
TEMPT
Sneak Peak
1
Scientists, philosophers, or whoever the group of people who sat around a desk and made up the list of the Seven Wonders of the World were wrong. There aren’t seven. There are eight.
Number eight being men.
The reason men weren’t added as a wonder of the world? Because men probably made up the list to begin with.
Even knowing trying to figure out a man, trying to have one in my life was a fruitless effort didn’t stop me from having a relationship
. It also didn’t stop me from getting hurt.
Just when I was getting over that, my grandmother died.
So basically, I felt like I’d boxed about ten rounds, the entire time holding my own, and then I was knocked out. Cold.
And now here I was, wandering through the insanely large, insanely busy Miami International Airport so I could get on some plane and fly off to Puerto Rico because my grandmother’s dying wish was for her ashes to be scattered over the ocean there—the place where she met my grandfather over fifty years ago.
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