Striker’s Claim by Lila Fox
Chapter Sixteen
Kristina and Sally both jumped when something crashed against the door to the office. Kristina hoped it wasn’t anyone’s head.
Striker had woken up in a terrible mood, and everyone had scrambled out of his way all day. As the day progressed, he had steadily gotten worse.
She didn’t know what set him off, and she’d never seen him in this rotten of a mood since she moved in a few months earlier.
The door opened, and several men hurried out. She and Sally glanced at each other as they sat on the other side of the room playing cards.
“Where is she?” Striker bellowed inside his office. She swallowed nervously when everyone turned to her.
“Hey, K, if I were you, I’d either hustle to the office or hide somewhere until he cools off,” Stone said.
She set down her cards, stood, and smoothed her shirt down. “It will be fine,” she told them all with false courageousness.
“No, don’t go. Hide,” Sally whispered.
Kristina could tell the woman was terrified, and she wasn’t going to give in to her. “Stop worrying. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
She stopped in the doorway to the office. “Were you yelling for me?”
There were several men still sitting around the room, and Striker was behind the desk.
“Get the fuck over here,” he yelled.
“First, I have two questions,” she said and ignored how tense the men got. “One, did I do something wrong, and two, are you going to hurt me?”
She felt a shiver race down her spine when he narrowed his cold hard eyes at her.
“I don’t have to do or answer anything,” he hissed.
She nodded. “I know. I was hoping since you kind of like me, you’d answer.”
Feral’s mouth kicked up at the corner.
“I don’t fucking like you, bitch. I can’t stand you.”
Her stomach dropped. “Then why am I in your bed?”
“Because out of all the whores, you have the tightest cunt.”
She stiffened and bit down on her lip to prevent the hurtful cry from escaping. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
“I’m sure you can find one tighter than mine,” she commented and saw the respect of several of the men. “Why am I here?” she asked.
“What? In this room or in the club?” Striker growled.
“Either. Both.”
He wiped an agitated hand down his face. “I have no fucking clue.”
She felt like a ball of pain was slowly growing in her belly, and it took all her strength to hold in her tears. “So, what would you like me to do?” she asked.
He cursed under his breath. “Get out.”
She inhaled. “Get out of the room or the club?”
“I don’t fucking care,” he yelled. “Just get the fuck away from me.”
Kristina stared at him for a long moment, saddened this was the last time she’d ever see him. “All right.” She turned and walked away. She heard several of the guys cursing his treatment of her, and that made her feel better.
When she was at the bottom step, she heard him bellow. “Shut the fuck up. She’s my whore, and I can do what I want with her.”
She steadied herself with a hand on the railing, ignored the looks, and slowly walked upstairs. After she found a duffle bag in the closet, she put her clothes in it. She had no idea where she was going, so she took the basics because she didn’t want to have to lug a heavy bag around.
She zipped it up and looked around. Shit, she just about forgot about her money and her pictures of her mom. She’d set the box on the bed, opened it, and picked up the top picture of her and her mom.
“Oh, Momma, how did everything go so wrong?” A tear ran down her face, and she angrily wiped it away. A quick count of her money told her she had enough to buy a bus ticket. She’d pick a place when she got to the station. All she knew was she wanted to be away from all of it and get a new start somewhere she’d never been.
She stuffed some of the money in her pocket, some in a side pocket in the bag, and the rest in the box before she packed it away in her bag and tried to pick it up.
“Shit.” The bag was heavier than she thought it would be, but she didn’t have a choice. If she had to, she’d pull it to the station.
