Long Shot: A Forbidden Basketball Standalone Romance (HOOPS Book 1)
Long Shot: Chapter 30

Light creeps in through one cracked lid. With my awareness comes not only light, but pain. It’s universal, all over, seeming to leave no part of my body untouched. Even my nails ache, but I have to press through this. Caleb’s never hurt Sarai, but he’s never hurt me this badly before, either.

I have to get up.

“Ramone, you did good.” Caleb’s voice comes from the hall. “You showed real loyalty alerting me so quickly about West.”

At the sound of his voice just outside the door, my beaten muscles tense involuntarily, trained to brace for a blow.

“Thank you, sir,” Ramone answers stoically, his voice pitched low and gruff.

“You’ll replace a bonus already wired to your account,” Caleb says. “I have a flight to catch. Leaving China early threw a few things off. My agent needs me in New York tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow, though.”

Fury percolates in my pores. Oddly, no fear. I’m done with fear, and I’m done waiting.

The stars and moon have aligned. The circumstances are right, and today I will strike.

The door swings open, and I go limp, close my eyes, and play possum one last time for the hunter.

I’d know Caleb’s footfalls anywhere. The sound of him approaching has struck terror in me many times. His steps are heavy and deliberate. He wants you to know he’s coming, but to feel helpless. His steps say you can run, but you can’t hide.

I’ll always catch you.

His expensive cologne wafts over my face. Even with my eyes closed, I know he’s standing over me, assessing the worth of his prize.

“Why did you do it?” he asks, voice tortured. “Why did you let him touch you? Why did you make me hurt you?”

The toughened bend of his knuckle brushes the hair away from my face, skimming a tender spot. I suppress the urge to wince, still feigning sleep.

“Andrew will be here soon to . . .” Caleb pauses in his one-sided conversation to clear his throat. For the first time, I wonder if he feels any real guilt when he hurts me. If in the husk where this psychopath’s heart used to be, occasionally there is a Lazarus sign—a reflexive heartbeat.

“Andrew will be here to take care of you,” he finishes. “I’ll be back tomorrow night, baby. I know you’ll be mad, but we’ll get past this. We’ve been through so much together.” His rough chuckle pricks my skin with porcupine needles. “Maybe you’ll have good news when I come back. I keep hoping for another baby.”

My gag reflex almost gives me away. The thought of his seed planted in me again roils my stomach, and the thought of his daughter in the next room is the only thing that has me holding on. The kiss he leaves on my forehead slithers over my flesh.

The most welcome sound is his retreating footsteps. My relief, the sound of his car pulling away.

It usually takes hours for me to move after a beating half this brutal, but I don’t have hours. There’s only now. This beating, timed with Caleb’s trip, is the perfect opportunity. I’ve had these things before, but what I’ve been missing is help. Today, though, I’ll ask for it. Ignoring the protest of my ribs with every breath, I force myself to sit up, to roll out of bed, wrapping myself in the sheet.

The debris of our fight litters the floor. A shattered lamp and glass from broken picture frames. There’s a crack in the wall in the shape of my defeat—the shape of my body slammed into the plaster.

I fought back.

It was my worst beating at Caleb’s hands, but I pray it was also the last.

I make my way gingerly over to Sarai’s diaper bag in the corner of the room. I search the small pockets, almost weeping with relief when I replace my cell phone, still where I stowed it yesterday. Footsteps approach in the hall. I clutch the diaper bag to my chest just as the door eases open.

Andrew and I stare at each other. From the horror on his face, I can only imagine how I look.

“God, Iris.” Pity dulls his eyes. “I’m sorry. Let’s get you taken care of.”

“No.” I expel the word with force.

“What do you mean ‘no?’” He shifts his medical bag from one hand to the other. “We need to get you patched up.”

“Patched up?” Disdain saturates the air between us. “Is that what you think I want? For you to patch me up so he can beat me again? Until one day he kills me? Because one day he will, Andrew. If I stay, he’ll kill me. He almost did last night.”

His glance roams my face, my battered features testifying on my behalf. Telling him I’m right.

I walk toward him, pain marking every step. I death-grip Sarai’s diaper bag with one hand and the sheet with the other. Once I’m standing right in front of him, where he can’t escape what I’m sure is the bruised, cut, and swollen topography of my face, I speak.

“I need your help.”

The doors slam shut on his expression the way they do every time I plead with him.

“I can’t.” He shakes his head and averts his gaze. “You know I can’t.”

“All I need is your cooperation, not your assistance,” I say desperately. “Just don’t stop me. Don’t shout when I run.” I pause, letting my simple request sink in before the biggest ask. “Don’t treat me.”

He looks up sharply, narrow-eyed and curious.

“You have friends who could examine me, right?” I ask.

“No, Iris. I don’t.”

“A doctor who can document this and all the things that have been done to me. I need X-rays, and tests, and . . .” I swallow shame, embarrassment, guilt—all the artificial things that have held me back from asking for help in the past. “A rape kit.”

He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I may know someone,” he finally admits. “But I can’t get you out of here. Ramone is downstairs on guard as usual. I don’t put it past him to shoot you in the back if you try to run.”

“I have a plan.” I pull my cell phone from the diaper bag. “Let me worry about Ramone.”

“You know Caleb monitors that phone,” Andrew says quickly. “He’ll intercept any message you send.”

“I know.” I type one word in and press send. “If he bothers to look, this message won’t make any sense to him.”

I stare at the word in all caps on my screen, hoping it’s enough of a distress signal to bring in my cavalry.

HOPSCOTCH.