Dylan (Inked Brotherhood 4)

“Are you kidding me, guard?”

Dylan says nothing. Silence spreads, tense and full of unspoken words. Will he step away and leave me to Sean? My parents did it. Why shouldn’t he?

But his hold on me doesn’t change. I look up at his face. He has the bluest eyes I have ever seen, and they’re so bright tonight.

“So this is how it’s going to be, is it? Be careful, guard. Oh, but you have a name, don’t you?” Sean’s voice drags, and I can hear the smirk in it. “D. Hayes. I can make you wish you never showed up here tonight.”

He’s threatenin

g Dylan. The realization slowly dawns on me, and when it does, I think my heart stops for a moment.

I push on Dylan’s chest, and after hesitating a moment, he relaxes his hold so I can turn around. Face Sean.

“You won’t harm him,” I say into Sean’s sneering face. “He just happened to be here. He has nothing to do with this. With you.”

“Oh, he has everything to do with this, and me.” Sean grins, obviously enjoying himself. “He got in my way, and he touched you.”

Oh God. “Stop. Stop it. Why are you so hell-bent on having me? You can have any woman you want, you said so yourself.”

“You got that right.” He rocks back on his heels. “So you must be wondering why I’d want a pitiful excuse of a woman like you.”

The words are like salt rubbing into a wound, and I wince. They’d hurt anyway, but spoken in front of Dylan… They burn.

Dylan makes a sound low in his throat, like a growl, so I start talking before he says anything else to draw Sean’s attention back to himself.

“I do wonder. So why don’t you tell me, so we can settle this once and for all.”

He snorts as if I’ve said something really ridiculous, and maybe I do sound ridiculous. I’ve never been confident in his presence—but Dylan is right behind me, and that makes me feel stronger.

“Maybe I just enjoy seeing the fear in your eyes,” Sean says softly. “How you go pale and shaky, how one memory can dig its claws in and not let you go. Don’t you see you’ll always be mine?”

I feel light-headed. I can’t speak, so I just watch as he turns around, opens the doors, and vanishes back inside the building.

“Tess?” Dylan mutters from behind me, his voice uncertain. “Are you okay?”

No, I’m not okay. Not sure I’ll ever be okay after tonight, after realizing my parents really don’t give a damn, and Sean is sick enough to come after me. That he’d force himself on me again. That he likes getting drunk on my fear.

And I’m not sure I can take the concern in Dylan’s voice, when I’ve finally decided, after all these years, that I’m done with him, too.

Chapter Four

Dylan

“Tess.” She’s shaken and pale, barefoot, for chrissakes—in the cold, in her short dress, barely covered by her coat. “Come on, let’s go inside. You’re freezing.”

“No.” She shakes her head. Long strands of hair have come loose from their twist, and they frame her pinched face. Her eyes shine in the low lights of the outdoor terrace. Has she been crying? Dammit.

My chest feels tight. The need to enfold her back in my arms is overwhelming. I haven’t held her in years, not since I broke up with her at school. She fits perfectly in my arms, her curves soft, molding to my body. My arms feel empty without her. I want…

Fuck, no. Don’t go there.

I rub a hand over my face. “Did he hurt you?” I ask.

She takes so long to speak, I know the answer is yes, and it makes my hands curl into fists.

“I’m okay,” she lies, her voice strained. Her red lipstick is smeared over her chin, like blood. What did that asshole do to her? “I just want to go home.”

“Is someone here who can take you?”