Page 23 of Iona's Christmas
Taking the initiative, I pulled Katie’s arm through mine, and the guys took our four sides.
“One step at a time, and we will do this together. When you need to leave, say so, and we’ll go straight away,” I murmured.
Katie nodded, her body tense, and she stumbled as we headed towards the ornament department. It didn’t matter that she was surrounded by the club brothers, Katie clearly was ill at ease and uncomfortable.
I wandered around, seeking her opinion on the little specialised ornaments we picked up. We found things like a truck for Oracle, a poker chip for Romeo and Kosmic and a disco ball for Rook. Some of the others were harder to find, such aswhat did you buy for a brothel manager? Katie had managed a weak giggle over that, but we located a tiny pair of handcuffs.
We were picking up the last few ornaments when Katie froze and began to shake. Her eyes were focused on the floor, and I wondered what had happened. I caught glimpse of a man sending Katie an admiring glance and realised she’d seen him and panicked. I tugged on Spice as he approached Katie with a lusty smile on his face.
“Hey baby,” he said, and Katie cringed and collapsed in on herself.
“Back off,” I warned.
“Just being friendly to a pretty lady,” he retorted, and Katie made a wounded noise.
I noticed what was triggering her. He was okay looking, but his interest was one trigger. The second was the way he was dressed, like a businessman. That was who’d bought Katie and abused her. Rich businessmen who wanted to own and abuse women.
“I said back off,” I repeated, and my tone alerted the brothers. Within seconds, we were surrounded.
“Problem?” Noble demanded. I reached out and touched a hard barrier.
“Katie. Give me your hand,” I whispered as she curled into my side. She hid her head in my shoulder as she shook. Katie clutched my tee, and I touched her hand.
“Come on, honey, give me your hand,” I urged. I took her fingers and reached out and she felt the barrier.
“Noble is protecting you,” I murmured.
Katie snatched her hand back and clung tighter to me. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she shook badly in my arms.
I missed what was said, but the guy was moving swiftly away and looking downright embarrassed. The four of them crowdedus, but that wasn’t helping Katie, who let out a couple of whimpers. People began staring at the scene in front of them.
“Is she alright?” a woman demanded, gazing suspiciously at the brothers.
“We’re fine,” I replied, but Katie didn’t answer. A small cry of fear left her lips, and the woman’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m calling the cops,” she snapped, whipping her phone out.
“You do that!” Spice retorted and turned back to me. “What do we do?” he asked.
“Give her some space. Crowding her isn’t helping. That guy set her off. We need to get her out of everyone’s nosiness as well,” I replied.
Blue disappeared as the men formed a barrier between Katie and those now avidly watching. He reappeared with a member of staff in tow, who looked concerned.
“My friend is having a panic attack, do you have somewhere private we can go?” I asked.
“We do have a small area that is for employees only close by,” the girl said.
“Could we go there? Everyone staring isn’t helping.” The woman nodded at me and pointed the direction to head towards. I tried making Katie walk, but she wouldn’t move. She was rooted to the spot and melting down.
“What do we do?” Anubis hissed.
“I do not suggest picking Katie up; that’ll make everything worse,” I said.
“Should we call Vogue?” Noble asked.
“I don’t think that will help. We need to get Katie away from everyone. Why do assholes see a pretty girl and think it’s okay to stare at them and approach?” I grumbled as I attempted to figure a way out of this.
For several minutes, we tried getting Katie to move, but she was frozen in fear. Despite our encouragement and soothing words, Katie was lost in her nightmares again.