Chapter 35
As the clock ticked past nine, the loud energy around the tables slowly settled down.
The newer prospects loaded the big industrial dishwashers, their voices muffled behind the metal doors, while the older ones drifted back to the bar – the sharp steady click of pool balls echoing soft through the room.
I slipped quietly from my seat, taking a slow steady breath to calm my still-racing heart. My cheeks were warm pink, the name Tamer still thrumming through me like something solid and real.
Needing a moment to catch my breath away from all eyes, I turned and walked along the quiet hall leading to the rooms.
The corridor lay bathed in soft dim light from the amber lamps set into the posts. The air was cooler here, smelling faintly of old wood and the sharp clean scent of the night outside. I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes to breathe slow and deep.
Then a heavy deliberate step broke the quiet.
My heart jumped hard right up into my throat. I didn’t even need to look to know who it was – that weight, that pull I felt all through my body whenever he was near, told me he was there before I even saw him.
Rage stepped into the hall, pulling the big doors shut behind him, cutting off the noise from the rest of the place.
He stood in the soft amber glow, vest undone, his black shirt pulled tight across every line of muscle.
He walked slow and steady towards me, eyes fixed only on me, never wavering.
Stopped just a couple of feet away, so close I could feel the heat rolling off him, trapping me between him and the wall.
Up close you could see even clearer what he’d been through. The dark bruise high on his cheek, the cut split at the corner of his lip, his knuckles wrapped tight, stained and frayed. Neither of us spoke at first. The silence hung thick and charged, full of all the things we hadn’t said yet.
“You keep staring, Tamer,” Rage rumbled, his voice dropping low and rough, just for me. Hearing him say that name like that sent a shiver right through me. A slow wicked smile pulled at his mouth.
“I’m looking at what you did for me,” I whispered back, my voice steadier than I felt.
I held his gaze, refusing to look away. “Rose told me everything. How you sat in that coffee shop for hours, drinking stuff you hate, just to keep watch over me. How you’ve lived your whole life shut away from everyone. ”
Rage froze, chest heaving slow and hard under his shirt. That hard outer shell cracked just a little, something raw and open showing through. He stared down at his wrapped hands, jaw clenched tight, pink rising high on his cheekbones.
“Rose talks too much,” he muttered rough, shifting his weight like he wanted to turn away. “I ain’t nothing but a brute. Didn’t want to scare you, sweetheart. Just… wanted to keep you safe. When I heard they were coming for you… I’d have torn that whole place apart before I let them get close.”
But I wasn’t scared. Not even a little bit.
“I’m not frightened of you, Rage,” I said clear and sure.
Before I could think, I stepped right up to him, closing that last little space between us. My hands came up to rest light against his chest, feeling the wild fast beat of his heart right under my palms.
He drew in a sharp ragged breath, his whole body going still as stone under my touch.
“She told me something else too,” I whispered, looking right up into his eyes. “That love here isn’t slow and careful. It’s fast. It’s wild. Like a storm.”
Something fierce flared bright in his gaze, his jaw setting hard.
“Aye,” he rumbled, voice low and rough and dangerous. “I don’t know how to play nice. The second I saw you… I knew I’d burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt you. If I claim you… I ain’t ever letting go. You ready for that, sweetheart?”
“My name is Tamer,” I smiled soft and brave, curling my fingers into the front of his shirt to pull him closer. “And I’m staying. Claim me, Rage.”
Something in him snapped. He let out a deep growl low in his chest, spun me round so my back hit the wall, and slammed his hands flat either side of my head. He didn’t wait another second. He crashed his mouth to mine, hard and hungry, like he’d been starved of me his whole life.
It wasn’t gentle. It was exactly like he said – a whirlwind, all the pent-up want and feeling he’d carried locked away for so long finally let loose.
I tasted copper and him, and I melted right into it, tangling my fingers deep into his hair, pulling him closer still.
I surrendered completely, and he knew it.
When he finally pulled back just a little, we were both breathing hard, his eyes burning bright and wild. He brushed his thumb soft over my lip, gentle all of a sudden, and my heart felt fit to burst.
“God, you’re something else, Tamer,” he murmured rough and warm. “You’re mine now. Everyone knows it. No one would dare come near you, they’ll have to go through me first.”
I laughed soft and bright, leaning my head back against the wall to look up at him. Standing here, held safe in the arms of the beast who was only gentle for me, and I wasn’t scared anymore. He took off his leather vest and draped it over me.