Filthy: A Bad Boy Romance Read Online Free PDF

says quietly to my back. “One more thing.”
    I stop, but I don’t turn to face him. “What?”
    “Don’t forget—you have a date with Carmine tonight.”
    I turn on him; I can’t help it. “What?”
    “The movie premiere. You remember. We planned it months ago.” He’s so calm, so certain I won’t argue with him. “He’s picking you up at five.”
    Unexpected tears spring to my eyes, and I fight to keep them from falling. I will not cry in front of him over this. Finally, when I’m certain I’ve got control again, I say, “Fine.” This time when I turn, I make it all the way out the door.
    If this is the game he wants to play, then so be it. I’ll go to the premiere tonight, but this is the last time. I’ll find a permanent way out of this house if it kills me. He can’t control me, and the only thing I can think of right now is figuring out how to prove that to him. Coming up with a way to shove it right in his face.
    He calls after me again. This time I don’t answer.
    #
    I drive for a while, not sure where I’m going. I just want to get away. The car’s nice, and part of me wants to turn it onto the highway and let it go. As if you can let a car go in the middle of Los Angeles. It’s a pipe dream, just like the rest of my life.
    After a while I realize where I’ve headed. I’m on the way to Cain’s place. Except I’m not a hundred percent sure where he lives. Yeah, I drove there last night, but I was following him, and I was so revved up, knowing what was going to happen when we got there, that I didn’t register all the turns and landmarks.
    I’m close though. I start paying more attention to the shops and businesses I’m driving by. There’s a gym on the right-hand side. The name sounds familiar. I think I’ve heard some of Pop’s assistants mention it. Like maybe this is where Pop’s fighters train. He has a stable of them, not just Cain. A half dozen, I think, maybe eight. They’re all securely under his thumb. Sometimes I think he treats them like racehorses—he has a certain amount of affection for them but doesn’t really think of them as people. They’re just assets. If one of them broke a leg, he’d probably shoot him to save on expenses.
    In any case, I pull into the small parking lot behind the gym. It’s close enough to where Cain lives that there’s a chance somebody might know him even if this isn’t his main training spot. I can go inside and ask.
    Why the hell would you want to do that? There’s no answer to the question rattling around in my head, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m on autopilot at this point. All I want to do is get away from my father. The best way I can think of to do that is to find Cain and let him fuck all that nastiness out of me. Make me feel like I own my own body again. That’s what I felt last night. I haven’t felt like that in a long time. If ever.
    I hesitate for a moment—just a moment—before I get out of the car and head inside. I’ll decide what I’m going to do when the time comes. He’s probably not even there.
    Inside, the place smells like old sweat and testosterone. Grease, a coppery tang of blood. Maybe, somewhere, an undercurrent of vomit, piss, and come. The place is basically empty, but I can hear voices from what sounds like several yards away.
    Not exactly your high-class fitness club. No, this is a place where men come to beat the fuck out of each other. And not the greatest place for me to be hanging out on my own.
    Maybe I shouldn’t have come here.
    And then I see him. He’s on a mat on the far side of the gym, sparring with a partner who’s about three inches taller and maybe twenty pounds heavier than he is. But Cain is holding his own.
    Cain is a joy to watch in action. His body moves like a weapon, finely honed, tight, trained, and beautiful. He has a level of control that boggles the mind.
    And not just in the ring. My brain reminds me of this as I let my gaze stroke over him. I really didn’t