Give Me the Bad Boy: A Darker Romance Collection by Jenika Snow

Author:Jenika Snow [Snow, Jenika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jenika Snow
Published: 2023-10-01T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Poppy

I was home ten minutes after leaving the bar, and I was exhausted, not because I’d worked especially hard, but because of the events after the fact.

All I could keep thinking about was Butcher beating the living hell out of that man. And even though it was a darkened alley with the muted yellow light washing over the dirty asphalt, I’d seen all the blood, like spilled ink across his face and on the ground.

And his face… God, the drunk’s face had been swollen and a mess, wrecked and distorted.

I tossed my purse onto the Formica breakfast counter, kicked my shoes off, and leaned against the door. I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly, my entire body aching. The side of my face hurt, the feeling of the blood rushing beneath the surface causing this warm, thumping sensation below the wound.

I pushed away from the door and made my way down the short hallway and into the bathroom. After I turned on the light, the flickering glow filled up the small interior a second before it stayed steady. This apartment was a piece of shit, but the rent was cheap, the landlord happy to get paid under the table—which meant no paperwork. With my current situation, what more could I ask for?

I’d deal with filth to stay safe.

So I lived in a severely archaic one-bedroom hovel with outdated decor and appliances, my neighborhood sketchy, and with the occasional sound of gunshots in the distance. Why? Because all that meant was I was even more hidden.

I turned and faced my reflection, the girl staring back at me definitely having seen better days, but then again, this wasn’t the worst I’ve ever experienced. Having a drug addict for a mother meant she brought questionable men to the house. And when they drank too much, they got a little too grabby, a little too violent with her. With me. I had my fair share of bruises because of her drunken, cracked-out boyfriends.

But I learned early on to fight back, because when you fight back, they knew you weren’t weak, weren’t a victim. But Henry… Henry was different. Henry was dangerous. And it’s why I ran. Because I knew if I stayed, not only would he take what he wanted from me; he might very well kill me for having the strength to fight back.

I pushed away from the sink and walked over to the bathtub, turning on the water and holding my hand under the spray for a suspended moment. I felt it go from cold to warm, and finally to hot.

This was my happy place... sitting in a bathtub with nearly unbearably hot water, letting my arms and legs just float. I’d pretend I was weightless, that nothing else mattered.

And it didn’t in those moments.

After putting the stopper in the tub and watching it fill up for a moment, I made my way into the bedroom to grab a change of clothes. The flash of headlights moved in through the window, making it almost seem daylight in my room for a few seconds.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.