He snorted. “All a bunch of losers. Why else would they stay in that shitty little town, going nowhere? You’ll amount to nothing. You are nothing.”
His word hit her in the gut. “It’s better than staying in California, working two jobs so that you can pursue your dreams.” She met his gaze, her eyes narrowing. “What about my dreams? They didn’t involve being a waitress, twelve to sixteen hours a day just so you can take my money and drink it away in a bar and pick fights with casting directors. By the way, did your agent get a hold of you?”
“That worthless piece of shit,” Derek spat. “He’s done nothing for me since the day I signed with him.”
“He said he couldn’t work with you anymore,” Penny said.
“He never worked for me to begin with.”
“What happened at the casting call today?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“I didn’t even get to audition. The bastards filled it before I even entered the room.” He sneered. “I gave them a piece of my mind, told them what a bunch of losers they were. The assholes had the audacity to have me hauled out by security.”
Penny shook her head.
“I bumped into their little female pencil-pusher. I couldn’t help that she was unsteady on her feet. The bitch hit the wall. Even though it was an accident, they threw me out.”
“Nobody is going to work with a temperamental actor who can’t handle criticism or rejection,” Penny said.
Derek glared at her. “What do you know? You’re not even in the industry. You know nothing.”
Penny’s gut clenched. The man was getting madder by the second. “I know people can’t get away with pushing people around.”
He laughed. “Like I push you around?” He planted his hands on her chest and shoved her backward. “You don’t even have the balls to stand up to me.”
She stood her ground. “I shouldn’t have to stand up to you. If you really cared about me, you would never hit me. You’re nothing but a bully, and you can’t act.”
Derek’s face flushed a dark red, and he punched her in the belly. “Shut the fuck up! Shut. The. Fuck. Up!”
Penny bent double, barely able to breathe. She backed away and walked into the living area, pulling her cell phone from her back pocket. She dialed her mother’s number and got her mother’s voicemail. “I’m leaving LA, Mom. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“The fuck you are!” Derek grabbed her phone from her hand and flung it across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces. “You’re staying here with me.”
“Why?” Penny faced him. “So I can pay the bills while you terrorize casting directors and their staff?” She shook her head. “I’m done. This is your dream, not mine. I’m going back to Montana to get enrolled in school. You can figure out your own life from here. I’m not paying any more bills for you.”
His lips pulled back in a feral leer. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re not leaving me.” He advanced on her. “You’re mine.”
Penny backed away until she bumped into the wall. The anger radiating from his face terrified her.
Derek wrapped his hands around her throat and lifted her off the ground. “Nobody walks out on me.”
She couldn’t breathe. Penny clawed at his hands and kicked her feet, but he didn’t let go. A gray haze blurred her vision. Was this it? The end of her?
Penny did the only thing she could do.
Play dead.
In her heart, she was dead to him anyway.
She closed her eyes and went limp.
Derek’s arms shook under the dead weight. His hands loosened and finally released, allowing her body to slide to the floor.
* * *
She must have passed out. When she came to, air filled her lungs, reminding her she was alive. Slumped over on a hard surface, she found her throat hurt, and every inch of her body ached.
For a long moment, she lay still, her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, she blinked several times. She wasn’t in her bed but on the floor in the living area.
As Penny sat up slowly, memories washed over her like a tidal wave. Her gaze darted around the room, looking for Derek.
From where she sat, she couldn’t see him.
She crawled on her hands and knees around the couch and froze.
There he was, lying on the floor in front of the apartment door, her car keys clutched in his hand. He was passed out, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Her pulse quickened. She had to get out of the apartment before he woke. Staying with him wasn’t an option. Not after he’d almost killed her.
Penny continued to crawl across the floor and into the bedroom. On her way past an end table, she snagged her purse and dragged it along with her.
Once in the bedroom, she went straight for her nightstand, where she kept a spare set of keys to her car.
She didn’t take the time to repack the clothes strewn across the room. The suitcase she’d received from her parents as a high school graduation gift had been ripped in half. The jewelry box she’d received as a birthday gift from her friends back home lay smashed in a corner. Her heart squeezed hard in her chest.
Penny had to remind herself that those were just things. They could be replaced. She only had one life. Her number one goal was to get the hell out before the monster woke.
Once she found the spare keys, she looked around for a way to escape that didn’t involve going through the front door. She eyed the sliding doors that led out onto the balcony. There was a matching balcony in the living room, but she couldn’t risk going back in there and making a noise that would disturb Derek.
The apartment was on the second floor and wasn’t equipped with fire escape stairs off the balconies. It was a long drop to the ground.
Penny ripped the sheets from the bed and tied the ends together with a knot. She carried them across the floor and eased open the sliding glass door to the balcony, stepped out and closed the door softly behind her. Slipping the keys into her purse, she slung the strap over her head and one shoulder.
She tied the end of one sheet to the wrought iron balcony rail and flung the other end over the side. The makeshift rope fell down to within five feet of the ground.
Penny cast a glance toward the glass door and then climbed over the rail, held onto the sheet and stepped off the balcony.
The sheets slid through her hands a little faster than she’d expected. She hit the ground hard enough that she fell back onto her ass.
Without wasting time, she scrambled to her feet and raced for her car, diving into the driver’s seat. She was just closing the door when she heard her name roared.
“Penny!”
She twisted the key in the ignition and prayed the finicky engine would start on the first attempt. When it did, she shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking space.
Derek emerged from the building and ran toward her.
Penny slammed the shift into drive and mashed her foot on the accelerator.
Derek ran out in front of her.
She jerked the steering wheel to the left, swerved around him and almost hit another car.
Her heart pounding, she skidded sideways out of the parking lot onto the road and drove as fast as she could, zigzagging through streets with no care as to the direction as long as it was away from her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t stop until she was certain she’d put enough distance between herself and Derek that he wouldn’t catch up to her.