His eyes darken, and he pushes my shirt aside to reveal a red abrasion. “Fuck.”
“It’s just a customer,” I say quickly, like fighting the tides. “It happens all the time to girls like me. You know that.”
“Not in my fucking club, it doesn’t happen. And not to you.” His voice is threatening, and it makes me feel somehow safe because I know he doesn’t mean this toward me. Even though he should.
It’s my fault men hurt me. It has to be my fault, because they always, always do. “It’s nothing.”
His nostrils flare. “I don’t like them touching you. I don’t even like them looking at you. But this? This isn’t nothing. This is way over the fucking line. Tell me exactly which bastard did that to you, because he’s a dead man.”
My breath catches in my throat. This is everything that happened before. This is history repeating itself. The way it ended last time broke me. And it sent him far, far away. I want to rail against the inevitable, to hold him close. That’s selfish, though. To want to keep him. If he goes away, he’ll hate me even more, but he will be safe.
“No,” I whisper.
His lids lower. He leans in close, his mouth touching my temple as he speaks low. “I will find out who did this, and I will crush the fucking breath from his throat.”
“Am I interrupting?”
The crisp voice of Ivan breaks through the haze, and Blue straightens. His gaze remains intent on me. He doesn’t jump back to break apart like I do. I’m shoved against my vanity, completely trapped by two men who have power over me. I’ve fought so hard against this, against weakness, against ownership, but here I am again.
Blue speaks through gritted teeth. “Someone hurt her.”
Ivan walks casually into the room and leans against the wall. He studies Blue. “Was it you?” he asks with deceptive mildness.
Surprise and anger flash across Blue’s face. “Fuck no.”
“No?” Ivan says, not seeming concerned at all. “You seem to have taken an interest in our pretty girl.”
“She’s not yours,” Blue growls.
Ivan’s gaze flickers over our bodies, the way Blue has me pinned. “I suppose she’s not. I’m surprised someone would touch her if she belongs to you now.”
A rough sound of fury comes from Blue’s throat. “They won’t touch her again. They won’t touch anyone again, as soon as she tells me who it is.”
That makes Ivan raise an eyebrow. He looks at me. “Who are you protecting?”
Blue. He would kill for me, die for me. He’d get himself locked up for me. He’s the only man who’s ever cared about me, and I can’t let him do that. He would put his life on the line to protect me—and I will do the same for him. I don’t do it with my fists, though. I do it with my body and my lies. I protect him with everything I have, even if it hurts him too.
“It’s no one,” I say, my voice hoarse. “A man on the street.”
Ivan cocks his head. “A stranger?”
Not a stranger. “You don’t need to get involved.”
In a sudden movement, Blue slams his hand against the wall beside me. “I’m already fucking involved, gorgeous. I’ve been involved since five years ago, and God help me, I can’t fucking stop.”
Ivan doesn’t look surprised at this admission. “Even after she accused you of raping her?”
Blue narrows his eyes. “I never hurt her.”
Ivan shrugs. “She said you did.”
“She lied.”
“Then why would you believe her now?”
Blue’s gaze snaps to me. “Is that what this is? Some kind of twisted payback? Some kind of game?”
It’s not a game, but it’s better if he believes that. It’s better if he goes far away and never comes back. I shrug, copying Ivan. “So what if it is? You know I like it rough. You couldn’t give it to me hard enough, so I found someone who would.”
I see the realization hit him like a blow, that I fucked another man after him. He pushes off the wall and stalks away from me, to the other side of the room. To the other side of the moon, for how far away he feels. He runs a hand over his head. “Fuck, Lola.”
I smile, more comfortable now as Lola. As the seductress. The whore. “I told you we didn’t have anything special. I told you I wasn’t yours. You refused to believe me. That’s not my fault.”
Ivan stands and straightens his suit sleeves. “It appears we have our answer. What she does on her own time is her business. Unless, of course, it interferes with my business.” His cool gaze meets mine. “Obviously you can’t work the floor like that. You have two days to get yourself cleaned up. Show up like that again and you lose your spot here.”
He heads for the door.
“Wait.” Blue puts a hand to his forehead. “No. This isn’t fucking right.”
Ivan stops. “She told you she wanted it. You heard her.”