Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 5) (18 page)

Curtis unlocked the apartment door, hoping that Tessa wasn’t back yet. He wanted to put her present under the tree without her seeing it. He’d had them wrap it at the store, since he had no faith in his ability to do a decent job with paper and tape. He’d even asked for them to put a small silver bow on top.

He opened the door, saw Tessa sitting on the sofa. Her face was streaked with tears, which was bad enough, but she
also
looked terrified. When she saw him, she jumped to her feet with a cry.

“Curtis!”

The panic in her voice made him look around the room. When he saw that fucking asshole sitting calmly in a chair, he saw red, then he felt a stab of fear. What had he done to her? Had he hurt her? Curtis wouldn’t put it past him; Curtis wouldn’t put
anything
past him.

“Tessa!” Curtis shot across the room, got between her and that asshole. He grabbed her, pulled her against him. He held her face between his hands, looking for damage. “You OK?”

She nodded, hesitated, shook her head.

“Did he hurt you, baby?” Curtis didn’t take his eyes off the other man now, tightened his grip around Tessa’s shaking body. “Did he fucking
touch
you?”

“He – he –” Tessa tried to slow down her breathing. “He didn’t hit me or anything like that.”

“So what
did
he do?”

“He covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream. He said he’d take me in to the mountains, and rape and kill me.” She felt his whole body go as hard and motionless as rock. “He forced his way in here, and then he just wouldn’t leave, no matter how many times I asked him to.”

“Well. He’s leaving now.” Curtis dropped a reassuring kiss on her forehead. “You stay here, yeah?”

Tessa nodded, loosened her grip on Curtis’ hands. She imagined that she’d actually dug her nails in to his flesh, but he hadn’t given even the smallest sign of discomfort. She watched as he approached his father slowly, like an animal stalking its prey, and she shivered.

There was no love lost between these two men, and suddenly she was very,
very
afraid of what was going to happen next. Whatever it was, it had to be bad; there was no way it could be anything
but
bad.

“Out.” Curtis jerked his head towards the door. “We talk in the hallway.”

Lloyd shrugged. “If that’s how you want it.”

Curtis said nothing. He waited for Lloyd to walk out the door, then he turned back to Tessa as he discarded his coat.

“You stay here, Tessa.” His eyes were cold, dead. The eyes of a stranger. “You lock this door behind me, and you don’t open it until I say so. I don’t care what you hear, you stay put. You listening to me?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He stepped in to the hallway, shot her a final warning look. “Stay here.”

She nodded, and as soon as he shut the door behind him, she locked it. She didn’t move away, though. She stood right there, straining to hear what was happening. She heard nothing but silence.

Outside, Curtis glared at the man who’d impregnated his mother; as far as he was concerned, this asshole had long ago given up any claim to the title of ‘father’. He let the silence go on for a few long seconds, watched as Lloyd started to shift around a bit.

“So what the fuck do you want?” Curtis demanded suddenly, and without preamble. “If it’s money, you can fucking forget it.”

Lloyd Manning stared at the man in front of him, a bit taken aback at the muscles straining the t-shirt material. Fuck, the kid was a goddamn tank, and he seemed to get bigger every time he laid eyes on him. It was incredible that the small, scared kid that he so clearly recalled smacking around had grown in to
this
. It also made him cautious, careful. He got the feeling that Curtis could take him down now, and not even break a sweat while doing it.

Well, if he couldn’t get the dickhead to cooperate using blunt force anymore, then he’d just have to find another way. And that hot little piece of ass in there actually seemed to mean something to Curtis. The power of pussy was astounding, and Lloyd would use it against the kid as long, and as much, as he’d be able to.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes at Curtis. “So. Who’s the bitch? Tessa, yeah?”

Curtis tensed. “You shut the fuck up about her. Don’t you even say her name.”

“She living with you, boy?”

“None of your business.”

“Sucking you dry, huh?” Lloyd watched as Curtis swelled with rage. “Spending your money, sitting on her fat ass and watching TV while you work to provide? I hope she sucks your dick good. Earns her keep that way.”

Curtis shot forward, got his hands around Lloyd’s collar. He slammed the man back against the wall, and shook him.

“I said for you to shut the fuck up about her,” Curtis hissed. “I was clear, so you’re obviously as dumb as you look. Now. What the fuck do you want?”

Lloyd grasped Curtis’ hands, tried to twist them off his neck. He was shocked that he couldn’t budge the kid. So it had finally happened: his son was bigger and stronger than he was. He was also enraged, and Lloyd knew full good and well what kind of damage could result from that level of power mixed with anger. Time to back down. Just a bit. But he now knew where Curtis was weak – that blonde bitch was Lloyd’s ace in the hole.

“OK, OK.” Lloyd gasped, coughed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she meant anything to you.”

Curtis gave him a final shake, backed up. “You have ten seconds to tell me what you want.”

“Money.”

“Thought so. Forget it.” Curtis turned. “Bye.”

“You
sure
you want to say no to me this time, boy?”

Curtis didn’t even answer. He started to walk away.

“Maybe I can go and ask Tessa for some money, huh?” Lloyd drawled. “She seems to be a sweet thing. You think she’d want to give me some cash if I asked nicely?” His eyes gleamed. “I bet she’d give me even
more
if I asked her
not
-so-nicely.”

Curtis froze, then he spun to face the loathsome creature that was his father. “You stay away from her, I swear to Christ.”

“How you gonna make me?” Lloyd said in a low voice. “You here all the time, kid? You
with
her all the time?”

Curtis clenched his hands. Fuck, how he’d love to just beat this prick in to the floor… but he wasn’t like his father. He
wasn’t
. He’d deal with this another way. A smart, calm, non-violent way.

“You confident that you want to threaten a woman, Lloyd?” he said quietly. “I’m sure that’s
exactly
the kind of thing that your parole officer would love to hear about, huh?”

“My P.O. don’t give a shit what I do. So long as I show up for work and don’t get in to bar fights, I’m golden.”

“Yeah?” Curtis took a step closer, was gratified when Lloyd took a step back. “You sure you want to test that theory?”

“You’d really rat me out?’

“In a heart beat.”

The older man peered at Curtis now. Yeah, he was good pissed, and that was how Lloyd wanted him. Curtis was furious, and that made him off-balance, less observant. Perfect. Time to make his move.

“OK. Fine.” Lloyd turned as if to go. “Fuck you.”

Curtis said nothing. He watched as Lloyd walked down the hall, turned the corner. He released a breath, fighting to calm down. He could only imagine the look on his face right now, and he didn’t want Tessa to see him like this.

When he felt this angry, he always,
always
imagined that it was his father’s blood coming through, thick and metallic. In these moments, he thought that he was Lloyd’s mirror image – and he had no desire for Tessa to see that monster in the man that she slept next to.

Slowly, giving himself time to come back fully, he approached the door. He raised his hand, gave a gentle knock. He heard movement inside.

“Curtis?” Her voice was tremulous, and his heart squeezed to hear that fear. His arms tightened with the need to hold her, comfort her.

“Yeah, baby. It’s me. Open the door.”

He heard the lock click, then the door swung open. He stepped forward, and caught her to him.

“Easy now,” he muttered. “It’s OK, baby.”

She nodded against his chest, and Curtis was about to lift her chin to meet his gaze when he felt an explosion of pain in the back of his head. He slumped, almost fell.

“Curtis!” The panic in Tessa’s voice kept him on his feet, just barely. “
Curtis
!”

Without turning around, without even looking, Curtis knew that Lloyd was back. Worse, Curtis couldn’t see straight, couldn’t even raise his head, so Tessa was in grave danger. The kind of danger that ended with trips to the E.R, and that was if you were fucking lucky.

Dimly, Curtis heard the door slam behind him, felt Tessa ripped from his arms. She screamed, the horrible sound tearing through the black fog clouding Curtis’ vision and mind. He sucked in a hard breath, then another. He blinked and his sight cleared now, cleared totally, and what he saw enraged him beyond any reason or reckoning.

That fucking asshole had Tessa pulled up tight against his chest, his hands around Tessa’s throat. She was struggling with him, fighting to get away, and even as Curtis watched, Lloyd casually raised his right hand, fisted it up, smashed her in the cheek. She gasped, a harsh, hurt sound, and stopped moving. By some unimaginable miracle, she stayed on her feet. She also spat in Lloyd’s leering face, earning herself another blow.

Curtis forced himself to stand in place, to evaluate all his options here. No way he was letting this prick take Tessa out of the apartment; he’d die before that happened. He met her eyes, and he saw tears and hurt, but he also saw real anger. His girl was as furious as he was, and that gave him hope. Maybe between the two of them they’d get a handle on this.

But how? Fuck, man. Think.

Tessa recovered from the second punch, and now she started to stomp on Lloyd’s feet and kick at his shins. Pissed off, he sighed, shook her hard enough to rattle her teeth, then spun her to face Curtis.

“Stand still, bitch,” Lloyd growled in her ear. “I have no problem knocking your fucking head off your shoulders, believe me.”

“Listen to him, baby.” It killed Curtis to agree with this prick, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Tessa, and not antagonizing a man who’d hurt her just for fun. “Just stay calm, yeah?”

Right away, she stood totally still and silent, watching Curtis for instruction. Her trust in him almost took the knees out from under him, but he managed to give her a smile.

“It’s gonna be alright,” Curtis said gently. “I promise you.”

Tessa nodded, knowing that he’d do anything at all to
make
this right. She hated having this man’s hands on her, hated his sour whisky breath on her skin, but she’d do anything Curtis said. Even staying here in the arms of the most vile creature she’d ever had the misfortune of meeting.

“Now.” Lloyd was relieved that the little slut had stopped wriggling around. “This all could have been avoided. You know that, right, kid? All’s you had to do was give me the fucking money.” He shook his head sadly. “But no… you had to bust my balls. And so now here we are.”

“How much?” Curtis hissed at him. “How much to make you fuck off?”

“Uh, well. Let’s see.” Casually, almost as if he had no idea what he as doing, Lloyd slid one hand around Tessa’s body, cupped her breast. She froze, her face twisted in rage and disgust, but she didn’t budge an inch. “Let’s say – what? A thousand?”

Curtis’ eyes were ice. “You’ll take a check?”

Lloyd guffawed. “I had no idea you were so funny, boy.”

“So… I need to go to the bank machine, huh?”

“Sure.” Lloyd gestured expansively. “I’ll just hang out with sweet little Tessa in the bedroom, yeah? Get to know her a bit.”

Curtis had no idea he was going to do what he did until it was already done. Later, after the dust settled, and he had time to think back on these three or four seconds, he
still
didn’t know what had possessed him.

Maybe it was the fact that Lloyd had removed one hand from Tessa’s body; maybe it was his direct, and unveiled threat to Tessa. Maybe it was the years and years of abuse that Curtis had suffered under this man; maybe it was the continued fear and uncertainty that Curtis felt every time Lloyd appeared at his door. Maybe it was a desire to inflict some damage of his own; maybe it was the need for personal revenge, pure and simple. To make Lloyd pay for what he’d done to Curtis’ Mom, even just in some small way.

Whatever it was, it was beyond Curtis’ ability to stop it. Without a single thought, without any real plan, he launched himself at Lloyd. He closed the distance between them in less than a second, and he felt nothing but deep satisfaction when his fist connected with the side of Lloyd’s head for the first time in his whole life.

Fuck, this feels good.

Tessa gave a cry of shock, fell to the floor. Curtis shot her a quick look, saw that she OK, returned his attention to Lloyd. The punches flew fast and hard now, no reprieve and no pause. Bones crunched under his fists; some were crushed. And the blood flowed…
God
, how it flowed. Within seconds, Lloyd’s face was a pulpy, flattened mess, and he was only standing because Curtis was holding his shirt-front in a death grip. But Curtis still didn’t stop punching his father.

Tessa watched in horror as the man that she loved and trusted methodically beat a man to death right in front of her. She scrambled to her feet, reached for Curtis’ raised arm.

“Curtis! Don’t –”

He snarled, wrenched his arm away from her. He delivered three more punishing blows to Lloyd’s face, and Tessa heard something snap. Sure that he was going to kill him now, sure that he was going to go to jail for the rest of his life, she grabbed him again.

“Stop! Babe, please stop…”

Her big mistake was that she stepped forward just as Curtis drew back. His elbow smashed Tessa full in the face, and she flew backwards with a shocked scream. She hit the wall hard, hard enough to knock the breath out of her body. She fell to the floor again, without a sound this time.