Free Backstage Pass: Last Call (The Backstage Pass Rock Star Romance Book 6) by Elizabeth Nelson

finally closing off the tiny space between his gross fingers and my nostrils. I couldn’t breathe and the more I struggled the harder he pressed. “I’m warning you, bitch. You better shut the fuck up or this is going to get a whole lot worse.
    I didn’t see how that was even possible, because I was out of options. They were never going to think to look out here, and Kerri was going to get her way and they were going to leave. Leave me here to Scout’s mercy. All I wanted right now was to breathe. My lungs were burning so bad and he didn’t care or notice that he’d cut off my air. He was staring hard at the direction of Axel and Kerri, body taught with anger and edge.
    Just when my vision was starting to fade, I lashed out with everything I had in a final ditch effort to get him off me and to scream for Kerri. As he slammed my head into the dirt, I thought I heard Axel scream something, but I was afraid he was too late.

     
    CHAPTER 13
     
    I came to staring up at a ceiling. It hurt to turn my head, but I blinked a few times and realized I was on my brand new couch, probably getting it all kinds of dirty. I could hear Axel in the foyer and the beep of a police radio, then the front door shut. I lifted my hand to my forehead.
    “Oh my gosh! Sasha!” Kerri threw herself onto my chest and hugged me tight. “I was so worried about you. Are you okay?”
    “What happened. I think I blacked out.” I struggled to sit up and found that my head hurt a lot less when I was upright and not underneath Kerri. I was probably going to have a whopper of a migraine in the morning, but for now it was just a dull throbbing at the base of my head. And my throat was raw. I pressed my fingers to my temple and bits of mulch fell out.
    Kerri quickly swept them off me and the couch. “I’ll vacuum all this up later.” She peered up at me, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.
    “How long have I been out?”
    Axel came over and sat beside me on the couch, then pulled Kerri up into his lap. “The cops are taking Scout down to the station. They’re going to book him tonight with aggravated assault, drunk driving, and everything else they can throw at him. But the main guy said they won’t be able to press attempted rape charges unless you file them.”
    “Oh, I’m fuckin—” I cleared my throat and it burned from the attempt. Kerri scooted off the couch and brought me a cup of ice water which I drank heartily, then started again. “I’m definitely pressing charges. Do I need to do it right now?” I wasn’t really up for leaving the house right now, but I’d do it if they needed me to.
    Kerri curled up on Axel again and I was glad we’d sprung for the oversized couch. That almost made me laugh and I couldn ’t get a grip on my emotions. They were all over the place and I knew that I was trying to avoid most of them to keep the feelings from vomiting up all over everywhere. I couldn’t believe that he’d come straight to the house. And how had he even figured out where we lived? I started to shake and Axel pulled me against his side. “Shh. It’s going to be okay. Shhh.”
    I let him hold me until I got myself pulled together, then I asked again what had happened.
    “I wanted to show Axel and I knew Jesse wouldn’t be here for another hour so I thought it would be okay if we stopped by.” She launched herself at me and sobbed into my hair and I felt like I was the one consoling her. “Oh my god, Sasha. I can’t believe that almost happened,” she mumbled against my ear.
    I pat ted her head and Axel pulled her away. “We were about to leave and then I thought I heard something in the yard. I was pretty sure it was you out there planting some final shrub, but then when I saw Scout and what he was doing to you.” Axel wiped his hand down his face like he could scrub the image away. “I flew into a rage.” He glanced down at me. “You were unconscious, but after I got done pummeling him, we found some of your twine from