He didn’t understand what she was so upset about. She had obviously been terrified of the fool when he’d come in, and now she was upset Casey had beat his ass? Just fucking fantastic. He couldn’t win with this woman.
Case watched as the man grabbed his woman, pulling her closer to his mouth and whispering something in her ear. She paled, which pissed him off all over again. Holding himself back was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
Deciding he’d had enough, he pulled her up, gripping her biceps and demanding, “What did he say?” She rolled her lips in her mouth to chew on them. There was a new tension to her. She was stiff as a board, and her eyes had glazed over. “What did he say?” He practically yelled at her. Her flinch made him feel like shit, but he needed to know.
“Nothing,” she mumbled, not looking him in the eye.
“Fuck that, Evelyn. What the fuck did he say!” His emotions were all over the place now.
Worry.
That she would do something stupid.
Fear.
That she was in trouble.
Anger.
That she wouldn’t confide in him.
They swirled around him like a vortex waiting to suck him in and spit him out like yesterday’s garbage. He wasn’t used to the back and forth play by play that was happening to him. It was frustrating and exhilarating all at once. He loved that she had awoken this need in him to take care of her. Most people would think after the way he grew up and what happened to him that he’d be running as far and fast as he could, but what they didn’t realize was that the one thing he craved in life more than the freedom from his nightmares was a woman to complete him. Sounded girly as fuck, but it was what it was, and he was ok with it.
Now, if only he could stop fucking up so monumentally, that’d be fan-fucking-tastic.
“Why are you here?” Her whispered words brought him out of his internal ramblings.
“Are you fucking with me?” Was it just him or was the girl clueless? He’d spent hundreds of dollars on wasted beer for him and Ace as they came in every night she worked. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, and she questioned why he was there on yet another night she worked?
There was this look in her tropical blue eyes. Almost wonder but filled with hope and doubt. He had to kill that doubt. “Evelyn, I’m here for you. Every fucking night it’s you.”
She spent so long searching his eyes for his sincerity that he didn’t think she’d respond. The careful consideration that flicked in and out of her gaze made him think he might be coming on too strong. He had to keep reminding himself that she didn’t know him, that she hadn’t done a background check on him the way he had her. She didn’t watch him every night. She didn’t obsess over him her every waking moment the way he did.
Well, fuck, Case, you sound like a stalker.
‘Cause I am, you fuck.
Great, now she had him talking to himself.
It wasn’t until she asked, “What’s so funny?” that he realized he wasn’t only laughing at himself internally but externally as well.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know yet.”
“This isn’t funny.” Her tone was serious.
“It’s not,” he agreed.
“Then you shouldn’t be laughing at me,” she told him as she crossed her arms in frustration.
He grew serious when he realized she thought he was laughing at her. “Kitten, trust me when I say I would never laugh at you.” He tried to convey his honesty through his eyes.
Back to the inspection they went.
Hardy finally found his voice. “What is going on, Evelyn? I told you no boyfriends!”
“Shut up, Hardy. This is your fault,” the dancer from guard duty answered before he could rip the douchebag’s head off.
“He locked the door, boss,” the bouncer chimed in.