Shadow Play

17

“Are you stalking me? I saw you out my window, you know. I’m not playing some game with you, and I don’t find any of this funny.” I knew I had lost my cool, but there seemed to be no stopping me. He grabbed my hand and yanked me into a room. He slammed the door and pressed me up against the back of it with my hands firmly pinned beside my head. Our chests touched, both rising and falling with heavy breaths as we held each other’s eyes and the air in the room grew charged. Dear God who was this man? I knew I should run screaming and get the hell out of there, but his actions had stunned me and together with my dulled senses, I was rendered motionless. All I could muster was fiery indignation and morbid curiosity about the mercurial man before me. He had on a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up so that I could see the corded muscle of his forearms. Like our previous encounter, his face was expressionless except for the slightest tick in his jaw, which I was pretty sure was his version of pissed off. Up close and in better light, I could see that his right eyebrow had a scar running through it and his lips were full, but currently pressed firmly together in agitation. Oh God, I was staring at his lips. This was bad. “You’re the one in my club, who’s stalking whom?” His deep voice resonated in my chest and an unwelcome ache stirred to life inside me. I shook off the feeling and concentrated on his words, reminding me of my bristling annoyance. “I was invited here! How was I supposed to know you would be here?” “So you say. Maybe you're here with that ass on display trying to get my attention.” “Oh, f**k you!” I fumed. Every word out of his mouth stirred the fire making me more infuriated and at the same time his heated blue eyes and those full lips, just inches from mine, made a spark of lust ignite. “I thought you didn’t want to play?” His eyes lit up with hunger as he brought my hands together over my head and held them with one of his while his other callused hand caged my neck. The position was significantly more vulnerable and my flicker of desire was quickly extinguished by a flood of fear. “I want nothing to do with you, let me go,” I ground out. “You want a lot more than that—you’re just too scared to admit it.” His voice was even more raw and guttural than I had remembered and I could feel every syllable vibrate down to my core. Any attempt I made at movement was futile—he was even stronger than I had expected, his grip like iron locking me in place. “You're wrong. All I want is to get out of here. Let. Me. Go.” Adrenaline and fear did their best to burn through my alcohol induced haze and returning clarity to my thoughts. “I’ll do whatever the f**k I want to do.” There was an animal glint in his eyes as they strayed ever so briefly to my parted lips. I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage, my breaths coming in small pants. “Are you going to rape me? My friend will come looking for me any minute, you know!” Rapidly surveying the room, I discovered I was in an office similarly outfitted as the rest of the club and I wondered if Ash would be able to hear me screaming over the blaring music. “Lucky for you, I’m not interested in scared little girls.” A wave of relief washed over me when he released my arms and pulled away just enough to allow air between us. I shouldn’t have cared what he thought of me, but his comment stung and angered me. What woman wouldn't be scared in this situation? “What do you want then, because I’m really confused. I don’t know the answers to your questions—I think you must be mistaking me for someone else.” I tried to explain as my adrenaline slowly eased from my system leaving me drained and ready to be home. He crossed his arms over his chest and took a step back, still assessing me. “Ronan must have invited you here, you reek of him.” When he said Ronan’s name, his eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit and his nostrils flared ever so slightly. “I do not reek of anything! And you cannot smell him on me!” I responded while rubbing my wrists to help return the circulation. “I suppose I should have guessed you would have cozied right up to him.” All right, now I was really getting pissed. This man had a way of pushing my buttons, all of them. “What the f**k is that supposed to mean? Doesn't he work for you?” He took an intimidating step forward but I held my ground, arms on my hips, dripping in anger. “He does not work for me, he works with me. As for you, I know his type, and I’m not impressed,” he snarled. “Just because Ronan invited me here doesn’t mean you know jack s**t about me. Even if I was sleeping with him, which I’m not, it would be none of your God damned business.” His eyes glinted and he raised his chin fractionally. “Perhaps I was mistaken. If that’s the case, you might want to reconsider who you associate with.” “He’s your friend!” “I don’t have friends, and even if I did, he wouldn’t be one of them.” He pulled open the door and waited for me to exit—it appeared that I had been dismissed. With an exasperated sigh, I flew past without a second glance. I wasn’t sure I had the patience to search for Ash so I headed for the elevators and pulled out my phone but just as the elevator opened, she came up behind me. “Where the hell have you been? I was looking everywhere for you!” “It doesn’t matter, let’s get out of here.” She pressed the button for the ground floor and I leaned back against the elevator wall, eyes cast upward unseeing. “I thought we were having fun, what happened?” I could see concern in her eyes but I was too worn down to detail all the events with Ronan and Mr. Gorgeous. “Just these stupid Irish men, I think I may have to become a nun while I’m here. I’d say a lesbian but I just don’t think I can swing that way.” We both burst out laughing and Ash put her arm around me. She was more buzzed than me but I could still feel the dizzying effects of the alcohol pulsing through my system now that the confrontation was over. We giggled together and headed outside arm-in-arm to find a cab. As soon as we exited the building, we set off in the direction of a busier street where we would have a better chance of finding a cab. A couple buildings down from the Huntsman, just as we crossed the entrance of an alley, I was nearly pulled off my feet as someone grabbed my hand and yanked me some distance into the alley shadows.