Chapter Twenty Four #3
The bartender plopped two beers down in front of us.
We each took one, clinking the bottles against each other in a cheers.
Our eyes stayed locked as we sipped our drinks, the tension building and building, like a volcano about to erupt.
We were in a crowded club, surrounded by a sea of people who were so close we could hear their conversations over the loud music.
Yet it was as if we were the only people in the room.
In the entire world. Nothing could break that moment—
“Hi!”
The voice was feminine. High-pitched. Coming from directly behind me.
This bitch.
Lukyan’s eyes didn’t move. Didn’t waver. The woman might as well have not said anything. His attention was completely on me.
“Hi!!” she tried again, this time louder. More forceful.
I turned around and took a step so my back was flush against Lukyan’s front. His hand came around and grasped my hip possessively.
“Hi!” I returned, the smile on my face anything but fucking friendly. “Do we know you?”
“No. But I have a feeling he”—she pointed a long, stiletto-shaped fingernail right at Lukyan—“will want to know me.”
“I want to rip that nail off your finger and use it to slice your throat. It’s not that sharp, you see, so it would take a while. And would hurt. A lot.”
The woman blinked, slightly shocked, and then laughed as if I’d been telling a joke.
I wasn’t. I was dead fucking serious.
“I can see why you like her. She’s got fire. But she can’t give you what I can, baby,” she said, gliding a finger down in between the valley of her breasts.
They were nice breasts. Big and full and round. But not better than mine.
I hooked a finger through the metal ring on Lukyan’s collar and yanked him forward so his head was right beside mine. “You see this? This means he’s mine. You understand?”
A haughty look crossed her face. “What if he doesn’t want to be yours?”
“He does.” That, I had the utmost confidence in.
“Does he speak?” she asked, inclining her head toward him in the hopes of getting him to finally acknowledge her.
“Not to you.”
Lukyan smirked. He was bent slightly forward, but he didn’t look uncomfortable. He looked like he was having fun. Enjoying himself.
“You sound worried.” She flicked her beautiful, long dark hair over her shoulder and stretched out her slender neck.
I had to give it to her. She knew her most flattering angles.
“A little advice, honey.” Oh, you did not just fucking honey me.
“If you have to fight this hard to keep him, he doesn’t want you. ”
She couldn’t possibly know how much her words would trigger me. That I did have to work hard to get him there with me. To finally have him. What she said could possibly hold some truth to it, and I didn’t fucking like it.
Anger rolled through me, blackening my vision. I lunged, my hands reaching for her throat. Lukyan’s arm instantly wrapped around my middle to stop me, and my feet left the ground as he picked me up.
“Let me fucking go!” I yelled, trying to scratch the bitch’s eyes out.
Her eyes widened, and she backed up immediately to stay out of my reach. Whatever she saw on my face told her she’d pushed me too far because she continued to back away as I thrashed in Lukyan’s ironclad hold.
It angered me further. I wanted to kill her.
“Jesus! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” she shrieked, horror in her eyes.
“Come here and I’ll fucking show you,” I growled.
The people around us started to give us a wide berth, almost creating a circle with us right in the middle.
“Calm down, baby,” Lukyan whispered in my ear. “It’s okay.”
Oh, is it? Is it okay? Is it okay for some random woman to question our relationship like that?
I continued to fight him. “Why are you saving her? Do you like her or something? Is that it? You want her?”
He chuckled deeply, the sound sending shivers down my spine. “Fuck, you’re so fucking crazy, and it’s such a goddamn turn on.” He took one more sip of his beer before placing it down on the bar, all while still holding me off the ground with his other arm.
The strength he was exhibiting was not lost on me.
“Time to go.” He turned and started walking toward the exit, me still caught firmly in his grip.
“No. No! I want to cut the bitch first. Just once! Let me cut that pretty fucking face of hers,” I snapped, twisting to try and turn around.
“Nope. We’re in a crowded club. You can’t just go around cutting people.”
He was being irrationally unreasonable right now, and it wasn’t fair. I had anger to let out, and I wanted her to be the outlet.
I thrashed. I snarled. I acted downright fucking feral.
“You really weren’t kidding about being spontaneously violent, were you?” He laughed.
No, I bloody wasn’t. Once I was in the mood, I barely registered anything going on around me, the drive to hurt someone almost all-consuming.
I barely noticed all the attention I was drawing.
Barely noticed the looks of fear and horror on people’s faces as Lukyan carried me away.
And I sure as shit didn’t notice the man at the back of the club with his phone to his ear, watching us.