Chapter 8 #2
shoulders. “We have thoughtless people in Caraica too, Moira.
I’ve heard worse.”
“Thanks for
being a good sport,” I tell him, giving his arm a squeeze
before I release it.
“Come on,
Moira,” Kelly calls out from the other side of the pool table.
“Quit yapping and start playing.”
I turn toward the
pool table, but Zach’s hand snakes out and catches me by my
wrist. I turn to look back at him, and his stare is intent. “What
is this man to you?”
“Well…
he’s a friend.”
“But you went
out on a date with him. He touches you a lot. Do you want to have sex
with him?”
Taking a deep
breath, I let it out. “No, Zach. I don’t want that.”
“I don’t
like this feeling I have,” Zach says with his brows furrowed in
consternation. “I don’t like watching him put his hands
on you.”
“It’s
nothing,” I assure him, although I’m pretty positive
that’s possessiveness and jealousy that Zach is feeling right
now.
“It is
something , Moira. I’ve watched many of my tribe mates
fuck Tukaba in the dirt not five feet from me. It never bothered me
to share her. But this bothers me.”
Pleasure courses
through me as I realize that for all the times that Zach bemoaned the
loss of his Tukaba to me, that she was nothing more than a convenient
vessel for his release. I thought he viewed me the same way, but it’s
clear to me now that Zach is developing some feelings toward me.
This should dismay
me because it just makes things more complicated. But on the
contrary, it relieves me, because it gives credence to the fact that
I’m developing some feelings myself where Zach is concerned,
and it also validates that what happened this afternoon is something
more than just a perverted escapade disguised as something else.
“Geez, Moira…
any day now,” Lexi calls out.
“We’ll
talk about this later, okay?” I tell Zach, and he gives me a
nod.
Moving over to the
pool table, I check out my options. I have two decent shots but we’re
so far ahead of Lexi and Kelly now, I opt for the more difficult one.
Bending over, I line up the five ball with the pocket, drawing my
gaze back to the cue ball. Before cutting my eyes back to the five, I
make the mistake of looking up at Zach. He’s watching me
intently and, when our gazes meet, I know that our talk tonight is
probably not going to be productive. I can see it in his eyes…
hungry, hungry eyes that hold mine just a moment before dropping to
my breasts, and a shiver runs through me.
Sliding my eyes back
to the five ball, I pull my cue back and let it loose.
And miss my shot by
about a mile.
Lexi and Kelly
snicker behind me, and I give Zach an apologetic smile as I walk back
over to him. He hesitantly returns it, but his look is no less
needful.
From the corner of
my eye, I see Michael return with his friend and holds out a shot
glass to me with a smarmy grin. “Here you go, Moira. I bought
you a shot of tequila. Figured it will loosen you up a bit.”
“I’m not
drinking tonight,” I tell him with a bit of ice in my voice,
because I also don’t miss out on the fact that he didn’t
offer Zach anything.
“All the more
for me,” he laughs and shoots my tequila back, followed by the
other one he was holding in his hand for himself. Reaching over, he
slams both glasses down on the table and says, “That’s
what I’m talking about. Let’s get this party started.”
I start to roll my
eye, but I’m cut off in mid-roll when Michael’s arm
shoots around my waist and he hauls me into the side of his body.
Leaning over, he nuzzles my neck, and I can smell more than just
those two tequila shots on his breath. “Any chance I can get
you to come home with me?”
Squirming out of his
grasp, which is giving me heebie-jeebies, I push away at him. “Cut
it out, Michael. What is wrong with you?”
His arm snakes back
out again to make a grab for me, a stupid grin on his face. “Come
on, Moira. Lighten up.”
Just before he’s
able to get ahold of me, Zach flies by me in a blur. Then it turns
into slow motion as Zach cocks his right fist back and lets it fly at
Michael’s face. It connects solidly with his jaw and Michael
goes careening backward, landing hard on the concrete floor. Zach’s
not finished though. In a flash, he leaps onto Michael, straddling
him at his stomach and wrapping his hands around Michael’s
throat. Bearing all of his weight down, he tightens his grasp, and
Michael’s eyes widen in fear.
It’s all so
surreal as I watch… Michael’s eyes bugging out in
distress, his fingers digging into Zach’s hands to try to get
him to release his hold. Zach’s face though is eerily
impassive. No anger, no rage… just pure calm as he bears down
on Michael and strangles him.
Philip finally jumps
into action and tries to pull Zach off, but Zach’s too big and
too strong for him. A few women nearby cry out for someone to get the
bouncers, and Philip finally gets a chokehold on Zach from around his
back.
It’s not
working though. Zach merely tightens his grasp, and Michael’s
face starts to turn red.
Oh, my God…
he’s going to kill him.
Snapping out of my
stupor, I run forward and grab onto one of Zach’s arms. “Zach…
stop it. Right now. Let him go.”
Zach doesn’t
even acknowledge me, just continues to stare calmly at Michael, who
is now turning a heart-stopping shade of purple.
I tug furiously at
Zach, tears now filling my eyes in panic. Leaning forward, I put my
own face in his line of sight so he’s forced to look at me.
When he makes eye contact, I implore him, “Zach… I’m
begging you, please let him go. Please.”
As if “please”
was the magic word, Zach releases Michael’s neck, but he’s
not done with him yet. Even as Michael coughs and sputters, his one
hand massaging his neck, Zach leans in closer to him and snarls, “If
you touch her again, I’ll kill you.”
Two sets of meaty
hands attached to two bouncers reach out and haul Zach off Michael,
but he doesn’t fight them. Instead, he just stares at Michael,
making sure he understands him clearly.
“What the
fuck, Moira?” Michael rasps. “Look at what your freak of
a jungle boy did to me. He’s fucking insane. I want someone to
call the cops.”
My mouth opens and
closes, but no words come out. I’m beyond appalled that Zach
did that, and I know had I not intervened, Michael would probably be
seriously hurt. All because he tried to grab me. A violent shudder
runs through my body, and I feel nauseous.
“All right…
you need to go, buddy,” one of the bouncers says and starts to
haul Zach out of the club.
“I demand that
you call the police,” Michael yells at the bouncers as he
stands up from the floor. I can see purple marks starting to rise on
his throat.
“Call the cops
if you want,” one of the bouncers says over his shoulder. “But
take it outside. We don’t want that shit in here.”
Looking around in a
panic, I lunge for my purse and look at Kelly and Lexi, who are
standing there with their mouths hanging open. “Make sure
Michael’s okay, and whatever you do tonight, please talk him
out of pressing charges. Zach does not need that right now.”
“Moira…
I don’t think you should go home with him. He’s
dangerous,” Lexi says with concern etched deep in her eyes.
“I’ll be
fine. The situation just got out of control,” I tell her as I
turn away.
Kelly is the one
that reaches out and grabs me. “No, Moira. This is stupid for
you to go home with him. Did you just see that? He would have killed
Michael if you didn’t get him to stop. He could hurt you.”
I give her a
tremulous smile and tell her, “I promise, I’ll be fine.
Zach would never hurt me. Just trust me on that.”
I spin away from my
friends and hear Lexi call out, “Call us when you get home,
okay?”
I give a hasty wave
over my head and run out of the club so I can find out what the
bouncers did to Zach.