Her head jerked from Vic to me, her lips pursed and her neck elongated like a turkey as she jutted out her chin. She humphed and grabbed her margarita, then swung around to face her friends, some of the liquid sloshing onto the table.
Vic didn’t waste time and linked his hand with mine. Then we weaved through the tables and down the hallway toward the washrooms.
He slammed his palm on the girls’ washroom door to open it and tugged me inside.
“Get out,” he ordered the three girls standing at the counter who were touching up their makeup in the mirror. Red-lipstick blondie opened her mouth to object until her eyes landed on Vic.
She slammed her mouth shut, picked up her stuff, and hurried out, the other two girls following close behind.
He released my hand and strode to the door, turning the deadbolt.
“You really don’t like people, do you?” I asked.
Or being touched. I remember Addie saying, “Five-second rule,” when she’d hugged him.
But he’d touched me. He’d wanted to kiss me. And then he left for three weeks, and I didn’t hear from him once.
“No,” he said. His predatory approach had me backing into the counter and my belly quivering.
“The girls’ bathroom?” I said, brows arching. It didn’t really seem like Vic’s style.
“No cameras.”
Right. Callum’s security system. Vic didn’t want him watching us. “When did you get back?”
“Fifty seconds ago,” he replied, still approaching.
My heart pounded and jittered so hard, I was afraid it was going to break out and slam into him.
He came here first. He came here to find me first.
He stopped in front of me, and he was so close I had to crank my neck in order to look up at him. “Was everything okay? I mean, you’re okay? You look okay, but even if you were hurt, I don’t think you’d show it. I guess if you were shot or broke your leg or something, you would, but….” His lips twitched and I clamped my mouth shut. Okay, Macayla. You sound like a rambling hyena.
“Wasn’t on a mission.”
“Oh.”
His hands settled on my waist, and tingles spread across my skin like embers of heat. “What are you….” My voice trailed off as he picked me up and set me on the countertop.
“So you don’t have to look up at me.”
Oh. My God. This man. He was such a contradiction. Or, at least, that had been my first impression. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“The kid good?” he asked.
He never called him Jackson. Not that Jackson noticed or cared. “Yeah. He’s good.”
“Nightmares?”
I nodded. “A few.” I didn’t mention that they’d increased since he’d been gone. “He’s going to a birthday party in a few weeks. A friend from school.” It was his first one ever, and we were going to pick out a present tomorrow.
Vic’s gaze shifted from my eyes to my lips where they lingered a few seconds before slowly coming back to my eyes. “One of the guys on the team was shot. Tyler. He was in Greece with Kai, another man on the team. They flew him back last week when he was stable enough.”
“Oh God.” I placed my hand on his forearm. “Will he be okay?”
His jaw flexed. “He’s in a coma.”
Oh God. No.