Page 168 of Twisted Truth

“Don’t you dare touch me,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Come on, Ella. For old time’s sake. No woman I’ve been with fucks like you do. I just want one more taste.”

He takes another step and I thrust my right arm forward with the small pepper spray bottle I’ve been hiding in my hand and squeeze the trigger. The spray hits him in the face, but he’s close enough that he swings his arm, and knocks the bottle out of my hand.

“You fucking bitch!”

He waves the gun around as he tries to open his squinting eyes. I take advantage of the pause to grab the taser out of my purse. He’s still flailing, waving the gun like a madman, and I don’t know if this a good idea or my worst idea ever, but I rush at him and touch the taser to his neck. He hits my arm away just as I press the button, so it only makes a small amount of contact as it shocks him. His arm twitches and abangsounds through the small room as the gun goes off.

I scream and drop to the floor on instinct.

“YOU STUPID WHORE!” Kyle roars, slumping to the floor, rubbing at his eyes and twitching from the pain of the taser.

Kyle twitches again and the gun falls from his hand. I crawl over to him, then pick up the gun and toss it away, but before I can put some distance between us, Kyle grabs me by the hair.

“You’re going to pay for this!”

Pain bursts through the side of my face as Kyle punches me along my jaw. Stars burst across my vision and my ears ring as I crumple in a heap on the floor. Dizzy, I try to crawl away from him but he grabs hold of my wrist, he kicks his leg out and hits me dead in the ribs. I cry out in pain and yank my arm, desperate to get out of his hold. He kicks me again and I curl inon myself, the breath knocked out of me, pain exploding through my side.

Kyle gives my wrist a hard tug and pulls me toward him and I kick out my own leg this time, and hit him in his side. He hisses and drops my wrist, but grabs me by the roots of my hair again.

“I hate you,” he hisses. His eyes are half closed, and red and swollen. “This is all your fault. All of it. It didn’t need to come to this.”

He punches me again and this time when I slump to the floor, black dots swim in my vision. I blink slowly, my ears ringing again, my thoughts slow and swirling in my mind.

Away. I need to get away.

But I don’t. Instead, I freeze and stay down as Kyle nudges me with his foot.

“Serves you right, cunt,” he growls under his breath.

He must think he’s knocked me out. He groans and curses as he climbs to his feet, and I take that few seconds of distraction to scramble away. I hurry for the bottle of pepper spray and snatch it up. Kyle notices what I’m doing and dives for me, but he’s too late. I spray him in the face again, but this time we’re so close that some of it backfires onto me. I cough as it hits my nose and mouth. My eyes burn.

Kyle drops to the floor again and I pick up the dropped taser. With him writhing in agony from the clear shot of pepper spray to the face, I tase him, this time hitting him square in the neck, with no interruptions.

I back away, rubbing at my burning eyes and collapse to the floor, crawling around and using my hands to look for my phone since I can’t fully open my eyes. Just as I find it, the door bursts open and Asher, Robert, Jenkins, Waters, and three other security officers rush inside.

The security officers descend on Kyle and Asher rushes over to me. He lifts me straight from the floor into his arms.

“Ella,” Asher gasps. “Baby, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I-I’m okay.”

I can’t speak more than those two words. Everything hits me, and the adrenaline that was surging through my veins since the moment I stepped into the room dies, and my body gives out. My entire body shakes, but it also feels like I was hit by a truck, and I can’t even move.

I tuck my face into Asher’s neck and try to drown out the chaos around me. The fire alarms are no longer going off, but sirens are wailing outside the hotel, people are shouting, and police officers rush into the room.

Out of the corner of my eye I see the security officers move away so the police officers can take over. Two of them cuff Kyle then lift him up and hold him between them as they drag him out of the room. Another officer retrieves the gun from the corner of the room, as well as my taser and pepper spray. One of them starts to ask me questions, but Asher practically snarls at him.

“Ms. Hale is not answering any questions tonight.” His voice leaves no room for argument. “You are welcome to come by my penthouse tomorrow when she’s sorted out. You can ask your questions then.”

The officer opens his mouth like he wants to argue but thinks better of it and simply nods. Asher’s security team surrounds him as he makes his way out of the room, still carrying me.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Asher says against my temple.

Relief floods my entire system and even though I know things are strained between Asher and me, I can’t deny the visceral reaction my body has to being in his arms.

“You’re safe,” he whispers. “You can let go.”