15. Julius
JULIUS
She must’ve lost her damn mind. I saw her ex as soon as we walked in, sitting at a table close to the bar with a group of people.
She had no idea that I knew what he looked like, so she wouldn’t understand the fury in my eyes when I looked at her.
I barely refrained from commenting, choosing instead to see where she was going with this.
The only thing on my mind was the fact that she’d planned on coming here alone.
If I hadn’t kidnapped her the night before, what was she planning to do?
I guess there’s some saving grace in the fact that she’s brought me along with her, but I’ll have to teach her about meeting other men going forward.
He wasn’t anywhere near her, and already I wanted to rip his throat out with my teeth.
Of course, she was noticed as soon as we walked in. She could wear a gunnysack and still turn heads with that face of hers. I waited for her to take my hand or grab my arm, anything to make him jealous, but she did neither, though it was obvious we were together.
It took me a moment to realize that the woman, her ex, was sitting at the table as well. It was someone else at the table who called out to her. “Oh, hi!” She waved but kept walking, and that’s when Dale got up to make his approach.
“Jessica, who…?” From the look on his face, he was not pleased to see us together, if the way he kept glaring at me was any indication. I almost wished he’d throw a punch so I’d have an excuse to knock his head off, but I never got the chance because Yelena Belova came loaded for bear.
“Do I know you? You don’t look like the kind of person I’d associate with, so there must be some mistake.” That’s cold, brutal even. I was just going to break his face if he got in hers, but I think she just castrated him without a scalpel.
His friends laughed and threw a few jokes around, which irritated him, it looked like. He reached for her, and I grabbed his wrist and flung it away. I wonder how many people come this close to death each day without realizing it. “Who the hell are you? What are you doing with my girlfriend?”
Before I could answer, she was already on the move. “Who is this mangy beast claiming me as his girlfriend? Gross!” She walked over to the table where the new flame sat and stood in front of her.
“Eh, you look familiar, have we met? Ah, I remember, it was at the vet. You went for a yearly checkup, didn’t you? How is that brucellosis?”
Almost everyone at the table got out their phone to look up that word, and the laughter that followed made me curious enough to look it up myself. Damn, she’s vicious as shit.
It didn’t take long for the people at the table to catch on, and the whispers started, but I still didn’t know what her game was. Obviously, she knew them and had chosen this venue to serve her purpose, but what was it for?
If she was trying to win him back… I grabbed her arm and pulled her away towards our table, but made sure not to embarrass her even though I was tempted to ring her neck. “Did you just use me to make another man jealous?”
“And?”
“Are you tired of living?” She smiled in a way I’d never seen before. Not on her anyway. It was one of those sultry looks women give men before they devour them. This one reached across the table, grabbed the front of my shirt, and pulled me in for a kiss that blew my mind.
I was barely breathing by the time she let go and put her lips to my ear. “If you’re a really good boy, I’ll let you pet the kitty later.” Her lips came back to mine, and this time I was prepared. No way was she going to get the drop on me again. She bit my lip and dropped back in her chair.
“I’m suddenly starving. What about you?” She opened the menu while I sat there with my balls turning every shade of blue. This little girl! I let her look through the menu, even gave us both time to order before pulling her up from her seat and onto my lap.
“What the hell…?” Before she could finish, I buried my face in her neck and sucked the flesh between my teeth, leaving a mark that was hard to miss.
I was petty enough to look across the room right into her ex’s eyes as I did it, but surprisingly, it was his new flame that seemed just as upset as he was at my show of possession.
“You…” She swatted at me, but that just made me tighten my hold on her.
“Don’t you move!” I rubbed the tip of my thumb over the mark on her neck, then my eyes met hers. Fuck this, what is this? I felt that rip in my heart that I’d done my best to fix over the years open up again. I’m about to bleed out.
“What’re you doing to me?” How is it possible to want to love someone and end them at the same time?
Not that I would ever hurt a hair on her head, but when a man is staring his only weakness in the face, all he feels is fear.
I think it’s time I called Simon. Maybe my brother isn’t so crazy after all.
I got distracted by my thoughts and wasn’t paying close attention; that’s why I was caught off guard when she sat up, straddled me, and returned the favor, biting into my neck until she left her mark. Of course, the waitress chose that moment to show up with our appetizers.
I pulled her head into my chest to shield her, but she had other ideas.
I’m not sure why I thought she would be embarrassed.
She hopped off my lap and slid into her chair.
“Let’s eat! Thank you, Evelyn. This looks amazing.
” The waitress smiled and walked away, and that’s when I remembered the other players in this act.
I realized that she hadn’t looked over there since we sat down, so I’m not sure what she’s up to now, but I don’t trust her, not even for a second. “Umm!” She moaned around the bite of smoked trout croquette with her eyes closed. “What are you doing? Don’t you ever make that sound in public again.”
“Okay, if you say so; open.” She pushed one of the round balls between my teeth until I took it all in, leaving a trail with her fingertip along my lip. Trouble, plain and simple. She licked her fingers while smirking at me. “Why didn’t you order oysters?” Where did that question come from?
"That’s an odd question. Why would I?"
"I’m just looking out for your health, you relic. If you want to pet the kitty, you might need all the help you can get to keep up with me. She’s a very greedy girl; she likes to feast.”
My eyes went across the room to her ex. I’ll kill him.
DALE
That bitch! How dare she make a fool out of me?
She disappeared off the face of the earth after running out on me, and refused to take my calls, only to show up here tonight to pull this shit.
I wasn’t prepared for her sudden appearance, so there was nothing I could do but sit there and take the hit.
I know she’s doing this purposely to embarrass me in front of my colleagues.
No one knew that we had broken up; that was something I wanted to keep well-hidden until I came up with a plan.
Being linked with her had brought me lots of benefits after all, and the rumors I’d spread about us getting married had only multiplied those benefits tenfold.
If word got around that we were no longer together, that was sure to affect my bottom line. Now would be a bad time to lose my job, even though I planned to leave soon for my own startup. Something I was relying on my connection with her for.
I endured the ribbing from the men and women I work with and avoided the questioning looks that came my way.
I’m well aware of the danger if anyone figures out my relationship with Charlotte; our company is very strict when it comes to things like this, dating in-house is very heavily forbidden, not to mention the morality clause all executives have to sign.
That crack she made about Charlotte is sure to have people guessing, and that’s the last thing I need. How the hell was I supposed to keep pretending that the man beside her was just a friend, which is what I told them when asked?
In our time together, she never held my hand in public, claimed she hated all forms of PDA, but now she’s straddling some man in a restaurant, embarrassing me in front of my people. How could I not believe that it’s deliberate?
I folded my fists under the table before deciding to make a move. No one would believe that any self-respecting man would put up with this sort of disrespect. When one of my colleagues commented and asked what was going on with my girlfriend, I had no other choice but to save face.
I made my way over to their table and grabbed her wrist to pull her up from her seat when I felt a kick to my side that knocked the air out of me, even as I hit the floor hard. Before I could get to my feet, one of the man’s hands gripped my collar while the other plowed into my cheek.
“How dare you touch my woman? If you wanna die, just say so.” Who is this guy?
And why is there so much venom in his gaze?
How long have they known each other? That’s not the look of someone who had just met her.
But I have never seen him before, and I’d met pretty much everyone who was close to her.
“You’ve been cheating on me, you bitch.” I’d barely gotten the words out before I felt that fist hit my cheek and tasted blood in my mouth. “Death, it is then.” Those were the last words I heard before I passed out.