“What the fuck is going on here?” The voice comes from down the bar, but it’s unmistakably male and mad.
Pink Shirt steps back, freeing me, while Number One is yanked violently backwards. Eve shrieks and falls back onto her barstool.
Pink Shirt looks like he’s about to run, but sways as if he doesn’t know if he should attempt to help his friend.
Number One’s down. A man wearing all black holds him by the neck of his shirt and shouts in his face. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but from the look on the poor guy’s face, it’s terrifying.
The man in black shoves Number One hard to the ground and turns to Eve. Only then do I catch the face of our knight in shining armor.
My heart races and I break out in a sweat. Stalking towards us with a murderous look on his face, he gets right into Eve’s space. Nose to nose, he stares her down as she looks up at him doe-eyed.
“You trading me for a *-ass, country-club boy, Eve?” Vince’s body trembles with rage.
Terror works behind Eve’s eyes as she shakes her head.
“Vince, she didn’t do anything wrong. Those guys wouldn’t leave and—”
He rakes his eyes over me, and my mouth slams shut.
“Mind your own fucking business!” All pleasantries from our first two meetings are gone.
“Vince, please, look at her. You’re scaring her,” I whisper, trying to control my voice. She’s not the only one who’s scared.
“Look, you little slut.”
I flinch as his insult cuts deep.
“I told you this is none of your business. You wanna make it your business, I can do that. You two are coming with me, and I’ll be happy to make it your business . . . all night long.”
“You wouldn’t . . . I mean . . . Dominick . . .” The vicious smile that breaks his angry expression tells me everything. Dominick doesn’t care about me. As long as I’m able to solicit myself for him, he could give a rip about what Vince does to me.
Tears burn my eyes as the reality sinks in. I’m breathing rapidly. The hurried beat of my heart pounds in my ears. I should run, but I can’t leave Eve.
He eyeballs me from my boobs to my shoes and licks his lower lip. He wraps his arm around Eve’s waist, pulling her from her seat. Her eyes are unfocused as he tugs her close to his side. His free arm shoots to me. The impact of his grip throws my body forward. He drags us through the club. I stumble to keep upright. The crowd of gyrating bodies part as he storms through the dance floor to the club’s exit.
With a firm kick, the double doors fly open, and we’re in the secluded alley behind the building. I take a sobering breath of fresh air to clear my head. I need to get us free so we can run. But how? Looking around frantically, I search for a way out, knowing I have only seconds before we’re locked in his car.
My mind surges with questions. What would Guy tell me to do? What would Jonah tell me to do? And with that comes my answer, loud and clear.
Fight.
Adrenaline floods my veins. Energy strengthens my muscles as I struggle in his grip. I pull against his hold, digging my heels into the pavement. His eyes shoot towards mine and narrow. His grip gets tighter and Eve whimpers.
I twist my arm as hard as I can, and his hold begins to slip. Twisting and pulling, a sharp pain shoots through my shoulder. Desperate to free myself, I push through the ache. Vince stops walking and I yank down. My arm slips from his hand. He grabs hold with his other hand. He let Eve go.
“Eve, run! Run!”
Blinking wildly as if she woke up from a trance, she takes off. Vince has my back, his arm locked around my waist, hand gripped on my throat. Screaming is out of the question as his crushing embrace robs me of breath. I struggle to get free and my vision starts to recede. The sound of heavy footfalls pounding the pavement behind us has me jerking in his hold.
My vision goes black as two words scream in my head.
Help me!
Twenty-one
Raven
One minute I’m choking, desperate for air, and the next I’m on all fours sucking precious oxygen into my lungs. Hearing a scuffle, I turn to see what freed me.
Shock freezes my body. Vince is on his back and Jonah is straddling him. His fists are pounding Vince’s face. His colorful arms are blurry with the speed of each blow. The sickening thud of each blow is a drastic contrast to the beauty and fluidity of his movements. Jonah’s arms swing with deadly accuracy. But Vince is out, his body flopping from side to side with the power of each punch.
“Jonah, stop. You’ll kill him.” My burning throat makes my voice a little more than a whisper, not enough to penetrate Jonah’s rage.
I crawl to him with trepidation and place myself by Vince’s bloody face.
“Jonah, stop. I’m okay. I’m right here. You have to stop now.” My voice is gentle, and it’s then that his arms slow their gory punishment.