Page 166 of My Heart Still Beats
Where did they come from? Rita lunges at Garrett and sinks her tiny teeth into his leg.
“Fucking dog!” Garrett yells, kicking at her.
I let go of her leash. “Run, Rita! Go!”
But she doesn’t leave me. She takes a shot at David next, but one woman and one scruffy dog are no match for two men. Garrett punches me in the face.
Pain explodes through my head as blood spurts from my nose. The coppery liquid crawls down my throat, and I swallow it down along with the nausea.
“I hope you like prison!” I shout at him. I grab for my phone, but it slips through my fingers.
“I hope your boyfriend likes it too!” he yells back.
I spit a glob of blood out of my mouth. “You drugged me, you asshole. You laced my alcohol with ketamine, and it caused a reaction with the Echinacea I took for my allergies. I almost fucking died, Garrett!”
He looks me up and down and then rolls his eyes. “You don’t look dead to me. Now you’re going to drop those charges.”
“At least let my puppy go!” I yell at David. “Please!”
“She’ll just slow us down,” Garrett says. “Let the dog go.”
“Fine.” David releases a wriggling Rita, and she runs back toward my apartment.
I pray silently that Laura or another neighbor will find her until I can get back to her.
And Iwillget back to her.
I won’t let these two degenerates get the best of me.
I tug against Garrett’s strength, looking for a weak spot. His groin, if I can get to it. I’m wearing stiletto pumps. I can do some damage with those.
“Let me go!” I yell.
“Not until you drop the charges,” Garrett says.
“I can’t. It’s the DA’s call. Not mine.”
“Without you as a witness, there’s no case.”
He’s right, of course. Nothing is worth this. Nothing is worth anything happening to Ben. “Fine,” I say. “I’ll drop it. But you have to swear never to come near me again.”
“I’m only too happy to abide by that request, you little bitch.”
“You have to let me go first,” I say.
“Nope. You’re calling the DA right now. Here in the stairwell. Tell him you’ve changed your mind, and you’re withdrawing your complaint.”
“My phone is—”
“It’s right here.” David shoves it in my face. “But you’re not calling here, where anyone can walk by. We’re going back to your apartment.”
“The hell we are.” I wipe more blood from my aching nose.
They drag me back into my place, anyway.
Rita scurries inside and into her kennel. Poor baby is scared to death.
Garrett’s face is red with anger as David shoves my phone into my hands.
