Page 162 of The Grand Duel

“Gentlemen.” I look up at Bronwyn standing at his back. “All okay here?”

“Leash your dog,” I mutter, pulling my arm away.

I walk through the crowd to where Lissie stands chatting with what seems to me is the first man she could find.

It takes me a second, and another after that, to remember that if I throw hands, I’ll be out of here in an instant, and then I’ll be truly fucked.

With my eyes locked on her, I step up to her side, disregarding the man as I talk into her ear. “What will it take for you to leave this club with me right now?”

She looks up at me. “I don’t think there is anything you can say tonight.”

“I told you I’m sorry, Lis. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Why don’t you ask Bronwyn if she will put a price on firing me?”

My face falls, and all I can do is stare at her. And it’s when I see it, the redness under her eyes from where she’s been crying, masked by her makeup. Probably not obvious to anyone else, but it is to me.

A reminder that I hurt her.

Maybe even worse than I first realised.

But am I supposed to just let her be with someone else?

Because I fucking won’t.

I can’t.

She leans forward, saying something to the guy. When she steps back, she casts one last look at me, and then heads off down to the staff quarters of the club.

I stand on the spot and watch her until she disappears, the panic in my chest making it hard to breathe.

When movement catches my eye, the guy Lissie was talking to following the blond through the crowd towards the rooms, I set into motion.

They’re almost at the door of a private room when I catch the dark-haired guy by his neck and pull him back, stepping in front of him. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around and fucking leave.Now.” The words leave my chest feral and unhinged, my control shot.

“Fuck off, mate,” he tells me. “I pay my dues, just like everyone else here.”

I step forward, but I’m pushed back, security coming out of nowhere and removing me from the doorway.

If the guy hadn’t opened the door and stepped into the room, I’d have fought them.

If Lissie wasn’t in this club, preparing to sleep with some waste of space asshole, I’d have fought them.

I get a matter of seconds, and in those seconds, I decide fighting security guards isn’t the way to get her out of here.

My heart thunders in my chest at the thought of Lissie being inside that room with him.

“How much?” I say to the blond, shrugging out of the hold they have on me.

He turns, his eyes laughing at me. “Leave him be. I’ll see him out,” he tells the security guards, and they walk away. “You know, I like that you’re making a show of yourself. You always came across a little boring before. Shoes really did gut punch some life into you.” He smiles at me, ignoring the rage that consumes me. The way my jaw tics. “You like her, don’t you?”

He taps my chest with the back of his hand and walks off through the crowd.

I follow him. “She shouldn’t be working tonight. She’s clearly not in the right frame of mind.”

“She’s clearly not doing what you want her to, more like.”

“How much?”