Chloe almost had them when her hair was yanked back, hard enough for tears to spring to her eyes. Somehow she bit back her whimper of pain, knowing now that Dean would get off on that.
“I tracked down your car and bribed the tow truck driver to tell me where he picked it up,” he bragged. “But I didn't think you'd already be in the sack with some guy when I got here.” He yanked her hair again, hard enough that her vision almost went black with pain. “Tell me what he's doing to you. Now!”
She knew what would happen if she told him the truth. He’d hit her again. She could see how much he wanted to do it.
Oh God, it had hurt so much the first time, but Chloe knew all she needed was to get a few inches closer to the scissors. And then she’d make damn sure the tables were turned.
Permanently.
Moving her mouth up into an insolent smirk, she said, “You couldn't handle knowing how good he is. How much better than you.”
Just as she’d expected, his fist came at her. Only this time, she wasn’t afraid, wasn’t simply trying to get away like she had that horrible night when he’d come at her in his apartment. She wasn’t able to move far enough to avoid his punch, but the shock of being hit paled against the victory of grasping the scissors in her fingers a few seconds later.
His fist was halfway to her face again when she ducked, turned, and aimed the sharp tip of the blades at the man she’d once made vows to in front of her family, all because she hadn’t been brave enough to trust her own heart.
She finally trusted it, damn it. And she wasn’t going to let anyone take the love she deserved away from her.
As she nailed him with the tip of the sharp scissors right beside the dark bruise and cut she’d left him with when he’d attacked her in her apartment, Dean’s screech of pain had him stumbling back…straight into Chase’s path.
Chase’s fist landed square in the middle of her ex-husband’s jaw, the crack of bone against bone sounding loud and horrible in the once tranquil vineyard.
Dean’s eyes actually crossed as he stumbled back, but Chase didn’t stop there, just kept slamming his fist into her ex-husband’s face again and again until he looked like a bobble-head doll with his head wobbling around on top of his skinny neck.
A voice in Chloe’s head—a fairly small, quiet voice—told her she should stop Chase before he did permanent damage. But before she could, Dean’s legs fell out from beneath him.
He hit the ground hard and she expected him to be unconscious, given the loud sound his skull made when it landed in the dirt, but he still blinked up at her, groaning as a line of blood trailed from his mouth.
Chase was down on the ground beside him, his hand around Dean's throat, a moment later. “Apologize to Chloe.”
She’d never seen Chase like this, with his control frayed and torn. Yes, she’d known all along just how strong, how powerful her lover was, but it was still amazing to watch him protect her like this.
When her ex didn’t say sorry fast enough, Chase tightened his hand around his throat to the point where he started coughing.
“I’m going to give you one last chance to apologize to her.”
Dean’s eyes started to roll back in his head, but Chase wouldn’t let him pass out, shaking him until he groaned again.
“Apologize right now. Or else.”
The menace in Chase’s low-pitched voice had Dean’s eyes opening and his gaze locking with hers.
“I’m sorry, Chloe.”
She couldn’t speak, could only nod.
Dean started to pass out again, but Chase shook him. “You’re not done yet, ass**le.”
She’d never seen her ex-husband look so miserable. His face was bloody and bruised, he was crying, and he had dirt smeared in with the snot running from his nose.
“Are you ever going to come near her again?”
Chase emphasized his question by banging Dean’s skull into the dirt a few times.
“No.” Dean was sniveling now. “Never. I’ll never bother her again.”
His eyes finally rolled all the way back in his head and he went out. Cold.
Chloe was staring down at her ex-husband, lying on the ground, looking smaller to her than he ever had before, when Chase’s fingers brushed warm and gentle across her smarting cheek.
She turned her gaze to him as he pulled her into his arms. “Chloe, sweetheart. He hit you. Again.”
But she didn’t care about her own face, not when she could still hear the shockingly loud crunching of bones smashing together each time Chase had nailed Dean with his fist.
“Please tell me you didn’t hurt your hand.”
“I’m made of steel, not marshmallows, remember?” he said with a small smile. “It’s going to take more than a few punches to hurt my knuckles.” She could feel the anger, the fear for her safety, radiating off him. “Bloody hands are well worth the satisfaction of making sure he never comes near you again.”
She knew Chase wanted to do more damage to Dean to make up for what her ex-husband had done to her—not just the bruise on her cheek, but for years of controlling her...and not loving her right.
Chloe pulled both of Chase’s hands into hers and held them over her heart. “You said you would do anything for me.”
“Anything,” he confirmed.
“He isn’t worth it. He isn’t worth any more of your anger. He isn’t worth hurting your hands on his hard head when you need those fingers and knuckles working perfectly so that you can take your beautiful pictures. I want you to let the police take it from here.”
A loud frustrated breath whooshed out of Chase’s beautiful mouth. “It’s going to kill me to let him walk away, Chloe. To know that he’s hurt you and hasn’t paid for it.”
“But you will, won’t you? You’ll walk away. For me.”
She watched him battle within himself, loving him even more for the way he wanted to take care of her.
Finally, he said what she’d known he would: “Anything, sweetheart. I’d do anything for you.”
She went on her toes so that her mouth was a breath from his. “I know. And I’ll do anything for you.” She pressed her lips to his, then whispered, “Everything.”
A few seconds later, she took the cell phone he handed her and called the police, telling them to come right away. And although she wouldn’t let Chase tear Dean apart the way he clearly wanted to, she had no issues whatsoever with letting him tie her ex up with some heavy-duty rope. Tight enough that Dean came to.