Free Breaking Free (Siren Publishing Classic) by Grae McTavish Page A

of a raging hurricane, she drew back and unleashed on him with a jab to his pinched, aristocratic nose. The bone crunched under the blow, but she quickly followed it up with a knee to the groin and a kick to the breadbasket.
    Shocked and bleeding, Wesley landed on the floor with a hard thud.
    “Oo’ brote’ ma’ noss,” he cried from between his fingers as he tried to staunch the bleeding.
    “You bastard, never, ever lay your hands on me again!” she cried fearlessly.
    The commotion quickly drew a crowd to her door, and within minutes campus security was there.
    It was hours before they finally let her leave. She’d tried several times to reach Gabe, but he refused to answer his cell phone, so she’d finally given up and called Gloria for a ride home.
    Numbly she answered her friend’s questions.
    “He just left you there with that creep?” Gloria asked in disbelief.
    Sighing tiredly, Danny rubbed her closed eyes as she answered. “Yeah, well, I guess it looked pretty bad, what he walked in on.” She was too emotionally drained to try and summon the anger to be mad at him. She just wanted to go home and sleep. Well, that was partly true. She just wanted to go home and curl up in the safety of his arms, but that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe things would look better in the morning.
    Gloria wasn’t quite ready to let the issue drop though . “When I get my hands on that jerk, I’m going to ring his neck. I mean what would have happened if you hadn’t been able to handle Wesley?”
    Danny didn’t even want to think about that. “I don’t know. I know he has issues with his ex cheating on him, but you’re right, that doesn’t excuse it. To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Right now, I’m too tired and too mad to make any kind of rational decision.”
    “You poor thing, let’s get you home and fix you some hot tea.”
    Danny shook her head. “No tea, just bed,” she said as they pulled up behind the loft. Leaning over, she hugged Gloria. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    “But…” her friend sputtered as she climbed out of the car, but it was no use.
    Danny climbed the steps and let herself into her dark loft. Stumbling across the floor, she stripped and fell onto the bed. Exhausted and in shock, she fell into a deep troubled sleep.

    * * * *

    Gabe rolled restlessly around his bed. He was in agony. He couldn’t seem to get the image of Danny and that slimy little creep out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them there, kissing, caressing. It made his stomach churn to think of anyone touching her. It made his chest hurt to think of her betrayal. It had hurt before when his ex-fiancée had run off with his business partner, but that was nothing compared to this. It was as if someone had shoved a knife into his chest and kept twisting it deeper and deeper.
    It had been hours since his phone had stopped ringing. It had been all he could do to not answer it, but he couldn’t, not now. Not yet.
    Finally, as the first pale pink fingers of dawn had begun to reach across the sky, he gave up and wearily climbed from bed. Physical labor , that’s what he needed.
    After telling his dad he was taking off for a few days, he packed his saddlebags with some food and a few changes of clothes and took off for the mountains, turning off his cell phone, so he wouldn’t be tempted to answer if she called.
    He’d been neglecting the house he was building since he’d taken up with Danny. Now it was time to get back to work. He told himself it was because he didn’t want the lumber and other supplies he’d had delivered to get ruined by his neglect, but he knew the truth.
    Cutting, sawing, nailing, and lifting had the desired physical effect, and at the end of the day, he was finally able to sleep, but his dreams were filled with nightmares, torturous images of his sweet, beautiful Danny doing all sorts of perverted things with her spineless ferret-faced ex.

    *