Yeah, that’s right. Keep going.
“You really don’t want to threaten me… This is the last time I’ll ask nicely. Give me the woman.”
“You ass—”
“Fuck no.” The other guy grabbed his friend’s arm, effectively cutting off his words. “That’s Stryker.”
His friend blinked and shoved Evie forward so abruptly that she flew down to the ground, crying out in pain. She lifted her face to look at me, and fear, stark and vivid, glittered in her eyes. Panic welled in my throat as I crouched down to help her.
The two guys took off down the alley and disappeared around the corner.
Fucking pussy assholes!
“Can you stand?”
“I don’t know,” her voice wobbled, and tears streaked her face.
“I won’t hurt you. I only want to help.” Before she could do anything, I had her up in my arms. She snuggled into me as my heart pounded with a mixture of fear and relief.
Evie rubbed her face into the curve of my neck and I nearly stumbled when she inhaled. Her arms slipped around my neck, her fingers threading through the hair at the nape.
“I won’t hurt you,” I repeated, my voice a whisper against her ear.
The tension was gone from her face when she met my gaze. Her arms tightened around my neck. “I know, Stryker.” She offered a wry smile. “I had a feeling that you were one and the same.”
I frowned as I carried her back inside the bar, wondering what she’d meant.
We didn’t have more time to discuss what she’d meant as Julio was rushing down the hallway. When he saw that I carried Evie, his eyes widened before he ushered me into his office.
“Is she all right?” he asked, panicked.
“She’s fine,” Evie reassured him while I placed her on the desk, the only place where Julio hadn’t stacked papers.
“I do things a bit backwards.” Julio shrugged. “I have to get back. Busy again. There’s a first aid bag in that cabinet.” He closed the door on his way out.
I met her gaze before I did a once over to see where she was hurt. Her knees looked to have taken the brunt of her fall and, as she held her hands out, I realized she’d scraped the palms of her hands, as well.
My anger at those assholes was seething inside me and I wanted revenge against them. I would love to chase those fuckers down and let my fists tell them just how mad I was. But Evie was more important than my revenge so I tamped my anger down…I’d save it until I met them again.
She was a small thing, at least to me she was. Fragile. Her wince caught my attention though, and brought my eyes up to hers. She was hurting.
Opening the cabinet, I grabbed the first aid kit and placed it beside her. I was familiar with a lot of the stuff inside, having had to be patched up plenty of times in the first few years of having a ‘leash’ around my neck.
I set a few things aside and moved in closer to her. My eyes unable to leave her face for long. “I know I promised not to hurt you, but I have a feeling I’m about to when I clean your knees.”
“I trust you, Stryker.”
I closed my eyes and had to swallow a few times to hold my emotions in check. She made me feel so much more than I knew what to do with.
The touch of her hand to my cheek had my eyes snapping open with surprise. She smiled and taking hold of my wrist, brought my hand closer to her knee. “Please. Let’s just get this over with.”
I nodded and started to clean one of her knees, my hand unsteady but after a deep inhale, and a slower exhale, I quickly cleaned both of her knees, and palms, while I tried not to hear her audible gasps of pain. I was as gentle as possible and I hated causing her more pain.
Her eyes stayed on mine the whole time, my face, my chest, my hands…and lower. I tried not to react to her gaze on my body, but I wasn’t sure I succeed because my dick throbbed behind my zipper. All it would take was one more glance downwards and she’d see just what her closeness did to me.
Standing between her legs, I met her searching gaze and quickly looked away, feeling heated. “What did you mean?” I asked to hide my embarrassment. I’d never been this close to a woman before, and with how much I craved to really touch her, I was afraid that I might give in to that need.
She cupped my face in her palms and urged me to meet her gaze. “Mean about what?”