SAVAGE LOVE

Chapter 17

I let my rigid shoulders sag slightly. So, he was a Dom. What did that matter to me? At the moment, he was the only friend I had that was in on this whole situation, and I had a feeling I’d need him for my survival.

“So… do you both? I mean, are you both-”

“No. He’s not into that scene.” kenny nodded over to where Micheal stood leaning up against the bar, scowling at us. “I showed him what it was all about, but it was never his thing.”

I was shocked. If either man appeared dominant, I’d have said it was Micheal. Maybe I did have a closed mind.

“That’s shocked you, hasn’t it?”

I nodded, but it hadn’t changed my opinion of the man himself. Micheal Douglas was still a loathsome, sadistic loan shark and man-w***e. I was swimming in the shark pool, and I had to keep my wits about me if I was going to survive.

“Bianca Green? Is that you?”

A tall guy, dressed as impeccably as the rest of the men here, stood to the side of us on the dance floor. His weasel features hadn’t changed since childhood though, and he still smelt of desperation and way too much cologne.

“Kingsley ? Kingsley Dubois? Wow, I haven’t seen you in years. How are you?”

kenny and I stopped moving, but he still held me to him as I acknowledge

d Kingsley , but prayed he’d go away as fast as he came.

Kingsley Dubois was that guy in high school. The one most women tried to avoid in the corridors and at every party. Rumour had it he was the biggest sleaze out, who couldn’t take no for an answer. I’d been lucky, though. He was in the same year as my brother Franklyn, so I’d been way too young for him. I was just a kid back then. From the look of his smarmy face tonight, he hadn’t changed much. He looked me up and down and spent a little too long gazing at my chest, before he looked back up at my face.

“I’m doing good, really good. Better for seeing you tonight though, Bianca. Can I cut in?”

kenny looked at me for a reaction. I could tell if I said no, or gave him any indication that I wasn’t okay with it, he would’ve shot Kingsley down. I nodded, but the short sigh I gave was enough to tell kenny to stay close by. He could tell I wasn’t one hundred percent down with it.

As kenny stepped back and Kingsley stepped up to grab me around the waist, a waft of his cologne invaded my senses and I couldn’t stop myself from sneezing. I was able to cover my face with both hands and save my embarrassment. kenny chuckled. He got it. I stifled a laugh myself as Kingsley frowned.

“I hope you’re not coming down with a cold, Bianca. It is quite chilly in here with the air con, and that dress you’re wearing…well-”

He stepped back to admire my dress, and the body filling it, no doubt. Goosebumps erupted over my skin. Not the good kind either. This man was bad news. I looked over Kingsley ’s shoulder to where kenny stood, and he raised his eyebrow in question. He wanted to know if I needed saving. I couldn’t brush Kingsley off yet though, that would have been too rude.

“I’m fine. So, tell me, Kingsley , what have you been up to since high school? Franklyn only really stays in touch with a few of the guys from his year. I haven’t heard anything about you.”

Kingsley took this as his red flag to bore me for the next five minutes, telling me all about his role in his father’s business. He filled me in on every minute of his life, including his last relationship and how long he’d been single for. All details I had zero interest in. Mind you, it was hard to concentrate when I was so mega conscious of the fact that his hands, splayed on my back, kept creeping further and further down towards my ass. Kingsley obviously hadn’t changed. He was still a sleazebag with the grabbiest hands in the city. I didn’t know how much longer I could wiggle out of his hold and keep it P.G thirteen. So I gave kenny the wide-eyed look that said, ‘help, I can’t keep this octopus off me any longer.’

“You’re making me feel jealous now,” kenny said, as he stepped forward and took my hand from Kingsley ’s shoulder, draping it over his own and reclaiming me.

“Oh. I didn’t realise you were together.” Kingsley didn’t look in the least bit remorseful.

“Yeah, like that’d stop you,” kenny whispered as he manoeuvred me well away from Kingsley ’s grasp.

“Sorry?” Kingsley looked slightly pissed off. I think he’d heard.

“I said-” kenny’s face went bright red with anger, and I knew he was going to repeat himself word for word, so I stepped in.

“It was lovely to see you, Kingsley . I’ll tell Franklyn you said hi.”

Kingsley grimaced and walked off the dance floor, but his putrid aftershave took longer to disappear.

“I’m not saying his cologne is overpowering,” kenny said, gesturing to a piece of artwork sat on a windowsill, with two stuffed birds in a white gilded cage. “But those birds were alive before he walked in.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Don’t knock it. At least it serves as a deterrent for all womankind. No woman in her right mind would want to stand too close to him for any length of time with that stench.”

“She’d probably pass out. Although, from what I’ve heard about Kingsley Dubois, he’d quite like that. He’d use it to his advantage.” kenny’s jovial mood altered slightly.

“Do you know him?”

“I know of him. Now, he’s a guy who gives assholes a bad name. Stay away from him, Bianca.”

“I intend to,” I replied with conviction. “He’s gross. He seriously creeps me out.”

“Me too.”

kenny’s easy manner and sense of fun was infectious. I enjoyed being around him, and it helped to take my mind off missing Timothy. Before speaking to kenny, I’d been carrying a lead weight around in my stomach. Fearing the worst about Timothy and all that he was going through. However, being with kenny made me feel lighter, less on edge. It wasn’t to last.

“Twinkle toes, we need to get a drink before we both pass out.”

He spun me round one last time before we both left the dance floor and turned to face the bar. I went to walk forward, but bumped into kenny’s solid back as he stopped dead in his tracks and cursed under his breath.

“Shit.”

“What?” I peered around him as he winced.

“I think I f****d up.” He looked down at me and grimaced. “Sorry.”

I had no idea what he was on about until I looked back at the bar and saw Micheal Douglas with some random blonde woman draped all over him. She was stroking his chest and rubbing herself up against him, and there was a lot of flesh on show to rub, believe me. She licked her ruby red lips as he whispered something into her ear and batted her huge eyelashes as she laughed. Without missing a beat, he turned straight towards us as we stood watching and gave me the most savage, evil smirk.

I wasn’t jealous. I had no reason to be jealous. This was Micheal Douglas, and this was what he did. But in front of my aunt and uncle, and other people here who thought we were together? That was what bothered me. He was disgusting and he was making me look like a weak-ass girlfriend by virtually making out with another woman under my nose. Why would he do something like that? Didn’t he realise that by ridiculing me this way, he was undoing all the good work he’d done tonight? People wouldn’t trust him, and they certainly wouldn’t support him if he treated his girlfriend like this. That girlfriend in question was me, and these people all knew me. They knew my family. They knew I wouldn’t put up with crap like this from anyone. There was only one thing I could do.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the two of them, but when he ran his hands up her thigh and under her short skirt, I lost it.

“Excuse me.”

I pushed past kenny. He tried to make a grab for me and call me back, but I was too fast.

A passing waiter was carrying a tray of drinks, and I grabbed the biggest glass I could see. Without a second thought, I walked right over to where Micheal and his lady friend stood and I took a deep, fortifying breath.

“You. f*****g. Asshole,” I snapped, and threw the drink in his face, part drowning the other woman as I did. I felt no remorse. In fact, it felt bloody great.

A whoop went up behind me as I turned on my heels and stalked out of the room, and out of the building into the cool evening air.

I smiled to myself, picturing Micheal’s face as the red wine splashed over him and stained his white tuxedo shirt. If the room were questioning the validity of our relationship before, they’d be in no doubt now. I’d never stand for cheating. Even if it’d been Timothy all over that woman tonight, I’d have done the same thing. So I’d played my part of the dutiful girlfriend perfectly.

“What the f**k is wrong with you?”

I heard Micheal shouting, literally bellowing behind me like a mad man. But I wasn’t about to stop and have it out with him in the street. I jumped into a waiting cab and told the driver to put his foot down, leaving the angry ogre to his party and his new friend.

Maybe I should’ve headed back to Timothy’s apartment, but I didn’t. I think the wicked side of me was looking forward to throwing it down with Micheal when he eventually came home. I hadn’t expected him to charge through those doors minutes after me, though. His face was so red he looked like he might burst a blood vessel at any moment.

He slammed the door shut with so much fury it felt like the apartment rattle, and

I flinched in surprise. His presence made trickles of fear run down my spine. I rubbed my chest to calm my nerves and took a deep breath before I looked him in the eyes. Boy, was he pissed, and he wasn’t afraid to show it either.

“You are a f*****g crazy woman. What the hell was that?” He stood with his hands in his trouser pockets, his muscles taut, and his eyes blazing with fire. He was a formidable force when he was angry like this, but I was fuming too, and I wouldn’t let him intimidate me.

“I’m crazy? Me? I’m not the one that’s just f****d up their reputation tonight, and for what? To secure your next hook up?”

He growled and pulled his hands out of his pockets then ran them through his hair, tugging in frustration.

“I don’t even know where to start with you.” He held onto the back of his neck and shook his head. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I wasn’t looking for a hook-up. That’s not what I’m about.”

Yeah, I wasn’t convinced about that. After all, he did take great pleasure in telling me he’d had hordes of women begging to get into his bed when I first met him. I doubted that’d changed in the week since he’d met me.

Or maybe he’d lied.

“And secondly, I wasn’t the one making a fool of myself on the dance floor,” he growled. “Looking like a flirt, a tease, and f*****g up my business in the process.”