Oh, God. Oh, God.
Don’t show him you’re scared. Give Sophie time to get away. He squeezed her arms and she had to bite her lip to hold back a scream of pain. Was it possible for him to break her arms like this? God, it hurt. Tears filled her eyes. Her heart raced.
He leaned in. “Don’t you, bitch? Want a bit of Jerry to tame you.” He started humping her, pressing his dick against her stomach.
“What I want is for you to use a breath mint once in a while. Deodorant wouldn’t hurt either.”
It took him a moment but then his face registered what she’d said. “You bitch!”
“Yeah, we established that. I’m a bitch. And you’re a dumb fuck who needs to get a clue. Leave Sophie alone dickface.”
She knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it escaped her mouth. But sue her, fear made her mouthy.
“You cunt!”
“Oh, you learned a new insult. Well done. If you let me go, I’ll get you a gold star.”
He let out a roar, let go of her hands to draw his fist back. Ria closed her eyes, prepared for a world of pain when she heard several people yelling.
“Police! Let . . . go! . . . her go!”
She couldn’t hear everything with so many people talking at once. But she heard enough to know the good guys were there.
Thank fuck. Trembles rocked her body. Talk about fucking timing. She sucked in a breath as Jerry didn’t move.
“Police. Let . . . woman go!”
With a scream of pure steroid-induced rage, Jerry swung. Ria pushed herself to one side as he slammed his fist into the wall next to her head. It went straight through the drywall. Holy shit. Then he let her go as the police continued to scream at him. She stopped trying to figure out what they were yelling. It didn’t matter. She leaned back against the wall, trying to remember how to breathe as the cops got him down on the ground, hands behind him before they searched and cuffed him.
“Miss? Miss . . . all right?”
Breathe. In. Out. Fuck. Fuck.
“Ria! Oh . . . Ria!”
Suddenly, Sophie was there. Leaning into Ria. She put her arm around the shaking woman, holding her close.
“Oh God, Ria. I . . . he was . . . to kill me.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Her voice sounded like it was coming for miles away, and she realized she was close to passing out.
A male face moved into her vision. Shit. She realized then she had her right ear pressed against Sophie’s body. She turned her head.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Are you . . . right, miss?” The officer gave her a funny look.
She cleared her throat and reached up to run her hand through her hair, wincing as her arms protested the movement. Crap, she looked down at the angry red marks on her wrists. She was going to be lucky if she didn’t bruise.
“Miss . . . what . . . okay?”
Shit. She was completely missing what he was saying.
“She’s deaf in her left ear,” Sophie told him.
The officer’s face cleared, and he gave her a look filled with . . . pity. Wonderful. She grimaced. She thought about telling him where he could stick his fucking pity but figured it was neither the time nor the place. Sophie was a mess and from the way she still held her arm, she was going to need medical attention.
There were questions to be answered and she didn’t have her hearing aid. She could read lips pretty well, but not when she was shaking and felt like hurling. So, she figured it was best the cops knew why she was acting oddly. Still, she didn’t have to put up with someone’s pity.