Briar looked around, wondering if other -people were aware of the total assholery this guy was radi-ating.
“And what’s that?” Knox asked, his hand exerting more pressure at her waist.
“You know.” Martin brought his fist to the side of his mouth and made the motion for a blow job.
Briar gaped. Her sister actually thought she should go out with this guy? She started to leave, and she didn’t care if he insisted he was “kidding” again. She was out of here. Martin clucked his tongue. “Didn’t expect you to be so sensitive, Brianna. You’re hooking up with a guy that works at Roscoe’s. You’d have to be a little adventurous for that.”
If he was going to say anything else, the words were cut off. Knox grabbed him by the back of the neck and brought his face crashing down into the table with such savagery that chips flew up in the air and scattered out of their bowls.
“Knox!” she cried out, horrified, her hands flying to her face.
Knox ignored her and bowed close to Martin’s ear, whispering as he mashed his face into the table, “Now in what life do you think it’s okay to talk like that?” Knox turned him slightly, still gripping his neck and forcing him to glance up at her. “You don’t get to say things like that to her. Understand?”
Martin’s eyes were dazed. Faint blood dribbled from his nostril. He didn’t look coherent enough to even process what Knox was saying. Briar doubted anyone in his entire privileged life had ever laid hands to him in such a brutal manner.
A quick look around her sister’s patio revealed everyone was as horrified as she was. Even the kids had stopped running and were watching in wonder.
“Knox,” she breathed, reaching out to grip his tightly coiled arm. He was in the prison again. Barely checked violence, ready to snap. “No, Knox, no!”
Everyone had gone silent and her words sounded almost obscenely loud. A little girl sitting at the picnic table closest to them started crying. Her mother snatched her up and hurried inside the house.
Briar tightened her grip on Knox’s arm. “C’mon. Let’s go.”
Knox released him and Martin staggered back, trying to gain his feet and failing. He fell against the table before dropping to the ground.
No one else moved. Everyone stared, looking at Knox like he might suddenly turn his fists on them.
In the sudden silence, the only thing she could hear was the hiss of the grill and the rasp of her breath. She glanced at Knox to see that he was looking, too. Watching everyone watch him with a blank expression.
With a curse so soft she barely heard it, he shoved past her and wove through everyone until he disappeared inside the house.
Briar hurried after him, her heart still hammering.
Her sister called her name right before she was about to enter the house. She sent Laurel a sharp look followed by a swift shake of her head. Laurel was the last person she wanted to talk to right now.
She caught up with Knox outside. He was waiting beside her car. One look at his face and she decided to let him cool off before they talked. And maybe she needed time to digest what just happened, too. She couldn’t get his enraged face when he’d unleashed on Martin out of her head. There was murder in his eyes.
He held out his hand and she dropped her keys into his palm.
They drove back to her place in silence. Tapping her fingers along the edge of the door, she stole several glances at him. His jaw was locked in tension, his hard eyes focused straight ahead on the road. She opened her mouth at one point to tell him it was okay, but it didn’t feel right. Nothing felt okay in this moment.
As angry as she was with him for exploding like that, she felt him slipping away from her, becoming his old self. The inmate that hardly spared her a word, and when he did it was fierce and brutal.
By the time they reached her condo, she was ready to talk. He unlocked her door for her and handed her back her keys.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
She stepped inside and he followed her, closing the door behind them.
She dropped her keys on the counter and spun to face him. “What the hell was that back there? I mean I know he was an asshole but was it really necessary to—-”
He kissed her. Circled her neck with his hand and hauled her against him. There was nothing soft or tender about it. He claimed her, his teeth tugging hard on her bottom lip, and she opened for him with a moan. He picked her up, his hands guiding her legs around his waist as if she weighed nothing at all.
A few short strides and they were in her bedroom. On her bed. He fell over her and yanked her dress up to her hips with a single rough move. Everything was happening so fast. Her heart was pounding. Her blood roaring.
His mouth fused hotly to hers, not even coming up for air as she felt his hand between them, working his zipper down. He grabbed her hand and shoved it inside his jeans to close around him. “Touch me,” he ordered.
Her fingers circled his hardness, her thumb dragging over the swollen tip of him.