The moment the words leave my mouth, a bright flash stings my eyes and lights up the darkness around us. It’s bright and blinding, only, before I can react, the light is gone.
Ellie gasps beside me, and she’s crouched down with her arm over her face. Instinctively, I jump across shield her behind my body. I cover her, protecting her from the danger of the unknown. No one hurts my girl.
My eyes squint, seeking the source of the flash. It’s my ears that come to life first, though. A cackling laugh echoes off the buildings of the dark streets, and surrounds us on the sidewalk with a disgusting merriment.
“Who the fuck is there?” I call out, my voice dense.
A bright red blur is slowly fading in my eyes, and the intensity of the flash that’s temporarily blinded me in the pitch-black darkness is disappearing. Ellie pokes her head around, but I ensure she’s protected with my arm holding her back.
“Stay back, baby,” I say.
As Ellie’s fingers grips into my back, I see a tiny man with wiry hair and glasses. He’s smiling brightly a few feet away from us, staring down at a camera that’s looped around his neck. His laugh is high-pitched. No shit, I’ve heard catfights that sound nicer than this horrid, wickedly painful snigger.
“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I growl, my hands curling into fists.
My heart races inside my chest, and I stand tall to protect Ellie. This man looks harmless, not to mention he’s about three feet shorter than I am, but you can never be too careful. He might be carrying a knife or a gun, or worse, he might be a Toronto fan.
“Oh! I’m going to make a fortune!” The man cries, his tiny voice echoing in the darkness. “Miles Johnson has a lady friend! And I’ve got the first picture!”
I march across and slap the camera from the man’s hand. It crashes to the sidewalk and shatters. I grab a fistful of his coat and twist, lifting his shaking body from the ground. I pull him to eye level, leaving his legs dangling like a frog in a net.
“You pricks think you can just go around taking pictures of whoever you want,” I growl, my nostrils snorting.
“Babe! Stop!” Ellie steams up beside me, her voice desperate. “You can’t hurt him. You’ve got more to lose than he does.”
The stupid man’s brows waggle in front of my nose. He’s sneering and the pathetic look on his face is making my blood boil. I grip tighter and give him a hard shake that makes his keys fall out of his pocket. I’m fuming. I make damn sure my knuckles dig into his chest with every thrust I shake his body with.
“Miles! Come on!”
Ellie tugs at my arm and fuck me if she isn’t stronger than she looks. I release my fist and let the asshole fall in a heap on the cold, hard concrete. The adrenaline racing through my veins makes me kick out at him as he reaches for his keys. Luckily for me, I don’t connect because Ellie’s pulling me away.
“Get in,” Ellie says, pushing me backwards and into a taxi.
“What about the picture?” I say, my voice hard and raised. I wince at myself and make a mental note to never use that tone towards Ellie again. When she raises her brows at me, I take a deep breath and force myself to calm down. “The picture, babe. He’ll sell it. It’ll be worth a fucking fortune.”
“So?” Ellie shrugs, her hands gripping mine across the back seat of the taxi. “Let him. It doesn’t matter.”
“But it’ll be all over tomorrow’s papers. Every website in the fucking world will have us locked arm in arm on the sidewalk on their front page…” I say, my eyes feeling as if they’re going to pop out at any second. “Doesn’t that bother you?”
Ellie looks up to the roof of the taxi as if the answer is written in chewing gum up there.
“Hmmm… Let me think about that for a second…” Ellie chimes, her face so bright I’m sure a magic spell was waved over her at birth, making her the most beautiful woman ever. “Nope. I don’t care. The people who read those gossip magazines are low-life idiots anyway.”
“Like the wanks who get the content for them then?” I growl, picturing that smug prick with stupid glasses.
“Exactly.” Ellie nods, leaning across to peck my cheek with a kiss that sends a prickling heat to my heart. “But… We do have one problem.”
I frown. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Noah reads the paper every day.”