SAVAGE LOVE

Chapter 18

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. What was this guy on? Because it certainly wasn’t planet Earth. In what universe was it a crime to dance with your fake boyfriend’s best friend? To laugh at his jokes and be… well, friendly. I said that exact thing to him, and he frowned like I’d spoken a different language. Obviously, I had. I spoke rationally and he spoke crazy.

“Where I come from, a woman doesn’t flaunt herself like that with her boyfriend’s friends. You looked more into him than me.”

“Maybe that’s because I was! You didn’t exactly do anything to make me warm towards you. I’m sorry my acting was so s**t, but guess what? I like Kenny. He makes me laugh, and yes, I wanted to dance with him. Being with him makes me feel good about myself and it took my mind off Timothy. You? You’re about as warm and cuddly as a porcupine. Dancing with you would be like dragging a bag of cement around. My acting skills don’t stretch that far, I’m afraid.”

He grunted and paced forward a few steps to stand directly in front of me.

“I hate to remind you, sweetheart, but I’m the one who owns your ass. So if you have to stand next to me all f*****g night and act like the sun shines out of my ass then you will.”

“Actually, no, I won’t.” I folded my arms over my chest. He was acting like such a caveman. I wasn’t going to give him an inch.

“You agreed to have me as your fake girlfriend, and unfortunately for you, Mr Club-them-over-the-head-and-drag-them-back-to-the-cave, I’m known in this city. People at that party knew me, they know what I’m like. Hell, some of them have known me since I was a baby. They know I’m loyal and won’t stand for s**t like you tried pulling tonight. I grew up with an older brother who taught me to stand my ground and stand up for myself when it came to men like you. See, in my world, a woman can dance with who the hell she wants to and it doesn’t mean s**t. My mum dances with my dad’s friends all the time-”

“I bet she does,” he mumbled, and I snapped.

“Yes, she does. And you know what? My dad isn’t a neurotic, needy freak. He lets her make her own decisions, because at the end of the night, she goes home with him. She loves him. That’s what normal people do, Jackson. It’s what everyone else in that room does. You don’t like it, don’t be around them. Don’t be around me. But don’t ever tell me what to do, who to talk to, or who I can dance with. The women in your world might enjoy your caveman ways, but I don’t. Anyway, aren’t you missing the point here? I was dancing with your best friend. You know, that guy who’s always got your back. You were the one groping the stranger, not me. Don’t you trust Kenny?”

His eyes glazed over, and he seemed to shut down as I mentioned loyalty and trust.

“I don’t trust anyone. Neither should you.” He took a step closer into my space. “Kenny wasn’t the only guy you danced with though, was he?”

Was that his problem? That I’d danced with Kingsley flipping Dubois?

“Kingsley went to high school with my brother. I couldn’t be rude and refuse to dance with him. But trust me when I say, it was no fun for me, I can assure you of that.”

His eyes bored into mine as he bent towards my face to speak. “He is a dangerous man. You need to stay away from him.”

I took a step back, feeling unnerved by his closeness. “He’s a creep and an asshole, but I can handle men like Kingsley Dubois.”

He narrowed his gaze at me but shook his head.

“You have absolutely no idea about the real world do you? About the monsters that walk amongst us.”

“I’m standing right in front of one. I think I know all I need to.”

He smiled to himself at my response, looked down at his feet and then back up at me with pure terror in his eyes. “Damn right, and don’t ever forget it.”

I crossed my hands over my chest and stood my ground. “Look, I get that you didn’t like me doing the whole dancing with Kingsley thing, but Kenny? Really? He’s your friend. Why would my dancing with him be so bad?”

“It was disrespectful, Bianca.”

I almost choked at his reply. “And groping another woman in front of your girlfriend wasn’t?”

He pointed in my face as he spoke. “I was teaching you a lesson.”

I grabbed his finger and pushed it down and out of my face. “You’re a s**t teacher! Every person in that room was watching you.”

He flexed his fingers as if he was itching to punch something. “Yeah, and now they know I take zero s**t from anyone,” he growled.

I’d had enough of his style of crazy. “You need to drop the Neanderthal act and get with the twenty-first century. Maybe start trusting your friends a bit more.”

“I already told you, I trust no one.”

“Not even your friend? Come on!”

“Especially not a friend, and certainly not a woman.”

“Well, it’s a sad little life you’re going to lead if you can’t ever find that trust.”

“Probably. But at least no one will ever f**k me over again.”

“Jesus. Whoever did it the first time did a real number on you.”

“Didn’t they just.”

“So, did you get her number? You know, for later.”

The fire came back into his eyes and he grabbed my chin in his hand, tilting my head up to look directly at him. His breath fanned my face, his full lips inches from mine. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was about to kiss me. My stomach rolled over with nerves, and I held my breath waiting to see what he would do next.

“I already told you. I don’t do hook-ups.” His breathing was becoming shallow, and I could see waves of mixed emotions flashing in his grey eyes. Anger, intimidation, violence, manipulation and was that… lust?

I moved my head back to break the physical contact and stop the electric shocks his fingers were sparking into me. The intensity I felt from this staring game of his was seriously fraying my nerves, and cracking my usual steadfast resolve.

“You could’ve fooled me.”

I wanted to challenge him. Call him out on his behaviour, because I felt so utterly confused. He was a walking, talking contradiction. One minute he was a man-w***e, with women begging to get into his bed, the next he was all aloof and untouchable. A man who doesn’t do hook ups.

“So, in your world, it’s okay to throw red wine over a guy in public?” he spat back.

I was relieved to change the direction of this argument. Thoughts of man-whoring, Micheal Douglas, and s*x was pouring into my brain against my will. I missed my boyfriend, and thinking about another man like that was wrong on way too many levels. So instead, I focused on Micheal's face when I bathed him in red wine, and I couldn’t stop myself from smirking.

“No. But if you’d bothered to ask anyone who knows me, you’d know I don’t follow their rules.”

His shoulders relaxed somewhat and he put his hands back into his pockets as he sighed. “You don’t follow anyone’s rules.”

Was he holding back a smirk of his own?

“I did what any woman in my shoes would’ve done. I’d have done the same thing if it was Timothy all over someone else. At least people won’t question whether we were actually in a relationship after tonight. They know cheating is a hard limit for me. I reacted naturally.”

He bit his lip in thought. “It may surprise you to hear this, Bianca, but cheating is a hard limit for me too. And I don’t have many hard limits, sweetheart.”

“I bet you don’t.”

He c****d his eyebrow at my flirty response. Was it a flirty response? I didn’t know. I was getting all kinds of confused by this exchange. The devil had a sneaky way of creeping into my thoughts against my better judgement and throwing me off my game.

“Let me tell you a little bit about my world, Bianca. You see, in my world, things aren’t as sweet and innocent as they are in yours. You can never second guess a man’s intentions. And when it comes to a woman like you? Well, we protect what’s ours.”

I scoffed at his ridiculous statement. “A woman like me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? You make women sound weak, like property you own.”

Why did he always have to look at me like he was reading my very soul? I found his direct eye contact beyond distracting and unnerving.

“No, Bianca. Anyone can be weak. I know weak men. I know strong women. What I’m trying to tell you is my world is violent, destructive, and a place where you have to watch your back, always. The next friend of mine who asks you to dance may not be so friendly, and Kinsgley f*****g Dubois is the last guy you should be inviting to dance with you.”

“I didn’t invite him!” I protested.

“You trust too easily, Bianca. That’s not always a good thing. Are you aware that a club across town was being used as a front for a s*x trafficking ring recently? A very close friend of mine almost lost his woman to that gang. You’d have stood no chance.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!”

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He hunched down to my level again, his face directly in front of mine, eyes burning with fire. “Tonight, I showed you how much you can trust people. You can’t. Turn your back and you get stabbed right in it.”

“Yeah, by you. Listen, I get it, you’re a guy and you don’t want to be a monk for these next three months, but at least be discreet about your arrangements. You don’t have to shove it in everyone’s face like that.”

“Now who’s the one missing the point? I had zero interest in that woman. I did what I did so I wouldn’t look like a complete loser stood at the bar on my own.”

“And yet you managed to make yourself look like the biggest sleazebag to ever walk this earth.”