Page 66 of Alluring Darkness
The crowd parts before me as I stalk across the floorboards until I reach Raina and the two guys. Since their attention is solely focused on her, they haven’t spotted me yet. I barrel past and position myself between them and Raina.
“Touch her and I’ll rearrange your fucking teeth,” I warn, my voice coming out low and vicious.
They clearly don’t know who I am, because the one on the left snorts and elbows his companion, who snickers.
Suddenly, I wish I had brought that gun from the range. Or one of Kaden’s blades. Or Jace’s bats. But I suppose I’ll just have to beat them to death with my fists instead.
The one who snorted flashes me a grin full of challenge. “I’ll touch whoever—”
I slam my fist into his jaw. His head snaps to the side from the force of the hit, but I don’t stop to admire the sight. Instead, I ram my other fist into his companion’s stomach. Air explodes from his lungs, and he drops to his knees immediately.
The first guy has recovered enough to try to swing back. I bring my hand down on his wrist, forcing his arm downwards before he can hit me. Then I smack my boot into the side of his knee.
He cries out in pain as he crashes down on the ground. I kick him in the chest, making him topple backwards and slam back first into the floor.
People around us are screaming and scrambling out of the way, but I barely hear them as I drop down so that I’m straddling the guy’s chest. And then I ram my fist into the side of his face. Again. And again. Blood sprays from his mouth as his head snaps from side to side with each strike.
Two steps away, his companion has finally recovered from the hit to his stomach. Fear floods his face as he sees what I’m doing to his friend, and he starts crawling away across the floor.
Stopping my assault, I instead reach out and grab his ankle. With a firm yank, I pull him back across the floor.
“Please,” the guy underneath me croaks now that I’ve stopped pounding his face. “Please, I’m sorry.”
“Yes, yes, we’re sorry,” his friend blurts out while trying to yank his ankle out of my grip. “We’re sorry, we’re sorry.”
I glance behind me to see that Raina’s body is now tilting precariously to the side. A few more inches and she’ll topple right out of the chair. Her unfocused eyes are still searching the ceiling.
A snarl rips from my throat. I don’t have time to deal with these fucking idiots.
Leveling hard stares on both of them, I growl, “If you ever so much as look at her again, I’ll carve out your eyes.”
Before they can sputter out a reply, I get to my feet and spin towards Raina. The sound of rustling clothes and scuffing shoes behind my back informs me that the two guys are scrambling away from me.
In the dead silent bar, I can hear the door being shoved open as they no doubt run outside. But my eyes are focused on Raina as I stop in front of her.
However, before I can say anything, the bartender appears right next to my shoulder. Based on the way he’s wringing his hands when he speaks, he apparently knows who I am at least.
“I apologize for their behavior, sir. They will never be allowed in here again. Please, what can I do to make up for this?”
“Delete the security footage for tonight,” I reply without taking my eyes off Raina. “Make sure everyone in here knows that this never happened. And put two bottles of water in the Range Rover outside.”
“Yes, yes, consider it done.”
While he hurries away to follow my orders, I reach out and gently grip Raina’s chin. Her eyes slide in and out of focus as I tilt her head back down so that she’s looking at me instead.
“Raina,” I say, my voice low.
She squints at me, as if trying to figure out who I am. Then a light goes on behind her eyes. “Hey, it’s Small Dick Energy.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or strangle her.
“You’re drunk.” Grabbing her wrist, I start pulling her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
She tries to pull her wrist out of my grip while muttering, “I’m not going anywhere. I want another shot.”
“If you don’t do as I say, the only shot you’ll be getting is a bullet between the eyes. Now let’s go.”
Yanking her up from the chair, I start towing her towards the door. But she only makes it one step before her legs start wobbling and she stumbles to the side. Releasing her wrist, I whip around and grab her by the hips to stop her from toppling over.