A little voice in my head screams that I’m selfish, that I’ll be leaving soon anyway so I shouldn’t care. I push the voice away and focus on the predatory stare of the man in front of me.
He stalks toward me, his head tilted, chin dropped. He looks like something out of a horror movie, but I force myself to see Lucas behind his cold stare. Strain to see the broken boy I’ve come to care about.
“You’ve got balls. I’ll give you that.” He steps so close the toes of his boots hit mine, and the smell of beer is thick on his breath. His knuckles run up my inner thigh, dipping beneath my skirt. “I think I better check.”
I smack his hand away and he groans, his eyes practically rolling back in his head.
He presses the palm of his hand to the door behind me, leans in, and traces my hairline with his calloused fingertip. It’s gentle, and for a moment I pretend it’s Lucas. His touch glides along my temple, slides down my cheek, and I shiver under the barely-there caress. He cups my jaw, his thumb running along my quivering lower lip. “Scared, Shy Ann?” He purrs my name and it’s like fire and honey dousing me in gooseflesh.
“No.” My voice cracks on a whisper.
His hand moves to the front of my neck and he tilts my head back, holding me so my lips are just a breath away from his. “You really are one beautiful bitch.”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?” He runs the tip of his tongue along the seam of my lips while his hand grows tighter around my throat. “This is what you want, isn’t it? What I found you begging Luke for?”
“You’re not Lucas.”
He frowns and anger flickers behind his molten-gray eyes. His grip tightens.
“Lucas would never hurt me.”
He pulls back, his eyes flaring with heat. “You sure about that?”
My mind scrambles for something to say, anything that will remind him I’m human and not a source of torture for Lucas. That I’m worth protecting.
Gage protects Lucas. I need for Gage to see me as safe. As an equal. Someone strong and capable, yet harmless. My weakness seems to fuel his anger. I have to be strong if I’m going to get him to bring Lucas back.
“You never answered my question.” I gasp as my airway tightens. “Why did you save me from Dustin?”
That seems to catch him off guard. He blinks. “Mistake.”
“Liar.”
He grips me tighter and my hands fly to his; fingernails claw his wrists to get him to release me. “Watch that mouth, Shy Ann, or I’ll fuck it.”
I blanch at the harshness of his words. His gaze darts around my face, lips curled back over his teeth, as if he can’t decide to kill me or kiss me.
My vision swims and darkness closes in. He won’t do it. He won’t. Whatever Gage is, at the heart of him he’s Lucas and he’d never hurt me.
Please, Lucas. Please . . .
He tenses. “Give in!”
My eyes flutter. Pulse roars in my ears. “No.”
His jaw ticks before he releases the pressure but leaves his hand on my neck. I gasp, sucking in precious oxygen and trying to stay on my feet. His thumb rubs circles on my throat, his attempt to soothe. “What did I tell you about underestimating me?”
Victory washes over me. He’s had the opportunity to kill me twice, and he hasn’t. “You . . . are a coward.”
His eyelids flicker and for a second I wonder if my insult was enough to send him away. “Yeah, well . . . I’ve been called worse.”
He puts distance between us, an unspoken truce, even if only for the time being. I double over, bracing my weight on my knees. I breathe, allowing all the blood in my head to flow back into my body.
“We need to get Lucas home, Gage.” I sound like a damn lunatic! “I can’t leave until my shift is up and—”
“Not leaving you here with that crazy slut.”
My head jerks up at the sound of his growled response and I catch him grimacing. His mouth twists in disgust as if the words were poison on his tongue.
A slow smile pulls at my lips as sanity escapes me and leaves me with a strange, crazed pride. “Aww, Gage. Are you saying you want to protect me from the big bad scary girl?”
“Hardly.” He pulls off his baseball hat and runs a hand through his thick dark hair before popping it back on. “She causes trouble for you, it could blow back on Luke.”
“Shy, you in there?”
My brother’s frantic knocks sound against the door.
My eyes dart to Gage’s, who seems totally unaffected.
“Yeah, Code, we’ll uh . . . we’ll be out in a sec.” I rush to Gage, whispering, “If you’re gonna stay . . . here . . . you better put on your best Lucas mask.”
He smiles, but this time it’s not the creepy evil kind but the amused kind. He nods.
I give Gage one more stern look before I turn and unlock the door, opening it enough for Cody to slip into the room. He eyes us both, speculation dripping from his gaze. “Everything good in here?”
“Of course.” I throw my shoulders back.
He narrows his eyes. “Okay. I told the bartender lady that you got sick. She said you can take off. The mood Samantha’s in, I’m not leaving you here with her.”