Pain flashed hotly up her arms and into her shoulders as his fingers dug deeper into her. Sam fought to keep the tears at bay. Her face burned with a potent combination of fear, embarrassment, and anger. However, the fear that he might actually hit her was overtaken by raw anger. How dare he treat her this way? She wasn’t a piece of meat or something he could just order out of a catalog. He didn’t own her, and she didn’t owe this rat bastard anything. This selfish bully represented every sleazy art dealer, salesman, and bar patron she had been forced to endure over the last eight years.
No more.
Her existence was hers and no one else’s. Her life, her successes, and her failures were all hers. She belonged to nobody but herself.
“You would rather stay in this hovel or go live with some pathetic old woman than be with me?”
Nonie? This bastard had the audacity to call her grandmother pathetic? The moment he dragged Nonie into his venomous tirade, something dormant inside of her sparked to life.
A low rumbling noise seemed to come out of nowhere and surround them. Samantha’s eyes tingled, and the rumbling grew louder. The sound vibrated through her chest and radiated throughout the rest of her body. Somewhere in the back of her mind she rationalized that a subway must be going by at a most opportune moment.
Okay. One point for NYC.
“Don’t you dare talk about my grandmother that way,” she ground out. Her voice sounded so odd, almost like a growl. If she didn’t feel her lips moving, she wouldn’t even believe that she was the one speaking. “Now, you take your filthy hands off of me.”
Roger’s eyes grew as big as saucers, and his face went ashen. He snatched his hands back from her arm as if she’d burned him. He shook his head furiously and mumbled something she couldn’t quite make out. She watched with smug satisfaction as he half ran, half stumbled down the steps away from her. The rumbling subsided as Roger disappeared around the corner.
“And don’t come back,” she shouted victoriously in a voice she actually recognized. Sam did a little happy dance as she slipped the key into the door of her soon-to-be former building. Time to throw out the rest of the trash.
* * *
Roger didn’t stop running until he reached the limo. He threw the door open and dove inside, slamming it shut quickly and locking it behind him. He opened the small refrigerator, grabbed the bottle of single malt Scotch, and proceeded to swig directly from the bottle.
His driver, Rudolph, who didn’t even have time to get out and open the door for him, braced himself for the tongue lashing that was sure to come next.
“I’m so sorry, sir. It won’t ever happen again, Mr. Van Dousen.” He sat perfectly still, braced for impact. However, no temper tantrum came. Rudolph glanced into the rearview reluctantly. “Will your girlfriend be joining us, sir?” He hated to ask anything about this artist chick because it always seemed to send him over the edge.
“Her eyes,” he hissed. “Her eyes. You should’ve seen her eyes.” Roger leaned forward and pointed at Rudolph with the bottle of Scotch still firmly in his grip. He rocked back and forth and continued mumbling to himself.
Rudolph cleared his throat to stifle the laugh that began to bubble up. If it came out within earshot of his employer, it would lead directly to the unemployment line.
“Yes sir, Mr. Van Dousen. I’ll just give you some privacy for the ride home, sir.”
He hit the button for the privacy divider and held back on his laughter until it closed with an audible thump. The Golden Boy had finally lost it.
For more Sara Humphreys
check out The Amoveo Legend series
Unleashed
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About the Author
Sara Humphreys is an award-winning author of paranormal and contemporary romance. The third book in the Amoveo Legend series, Untamed, won two PRISM awards, for Dark Paranormal and Best of the Best. The first two novels from her Dead in the City series have been nominated for the National Readers’ Choice Award. Sara is also a professional actress. Some of her television credits include A&E Biography, Guiding Light, Another World, As the World Turns, and Rescue Me.
She loves writing hot heroes and heroines with moxie, but above all, Sara adores a satisfying happily ever after. She lives in New York with Mr. H., their four amazing sons, and two adorable pups. When she’s not writing or hanging out with the men in her life, she can be found working out with Shaun T in her living room or chatting with readers on Facebook.
For a full list of Sara’s books and reading order, please visit her website, www.novelromance.net.
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