Bodyguard Beast

I broke away from him and knowing how fragile his ego was and not wanting to provoke a tantrum, I smiled tightly. “‘Let’s wait till we’re alone.”

“We are alone,” he spat. “Ignore that piece of shit in front, he’s nobody.”

My jaw dropped. I felt so shocked by the unbelievable arrogance of his words that I was too slow to even shut my mouth when he lunged forward and slipped his tongue into my mouth. My entire being shuddered with anger. I jerked my head back. “Fabio,” I tried to pull out of his grasp but his hold just tightened around me.

He refused to let me go, drawing even closer until I was cornered against the door and his body completely covering mine.

“Fabio!” I called, my voice growing sterner.

“Come on ...” he growled.

Then to my utter surprise, his hand was on my breast. I reacted like a cut snake. I twisted and shoved hard at his shoulders.

The impact of the blow shocked him and he fell backwards, his eyes widening at the unexpected attack.

I threw a glance at Angelo and picked up the tense muscles in his shoulders, and his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard, his knuckles showed white.

I didn’t need a showdown. I needed to diffuse the situation. And right now. “I’m sorry, Fabio. I’m just not ready yet.”

But he didn’t listen to me. His dark eyes were on my hips. Suddenly, his hand closed around my thighs and I was pulled across the seat towards him. He slanted his head once again to plant sloppy kisses down my neck.

I knew what this was about. I didn’t have much experience with men, but I could tell this didn’t come from a place of lust or passion. This was all about Angelo. He was proving himself to Angelo!

I took a deep breath. We had made such progress at dinner ... why oh, why was he allowing his narcissistic pissing contest with Angelo to ruin the night? “Fabio,” I warned.

But instead of stopping, his hands slipped up my thighs.

Jesus Christ! It felt like a rodent had crawled up my skin. “I said stop!” I yelled, and was about to shove him off me, when the car suddenly swerved.

He was thrown away from me against his door, and I just about managed to grab onto the handle of the door to stop myself from crashing into him. The car was now back on its straight, smooth course after that jarring swerve.

For what seemed like forever, an excruciating silence filled the space.

“My apologies,” Angelo said cheerfully. “I thought I saw a skunk on the road.”

I couldn’t breathe.

Fabio glared at the back of his head like he had made up his mind to kill him. He knew there had been absolutely nothing coincidental about that interruption.

This whole thing made my face burn with abject humiliation. My breath shuddered as I turned away from Fabio, and curved towards my door. As I stared out of the window, my eyes stung with tears.

Chapter 26

Angelo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs

I tried to let it go, but I couldn’t.

I needed to know, so despite every fiber of my being telling me I was making the wrong decision, a little while after I had dropped her off, I headed back towards her room. I hesitated outside her door, but my hand raised of its own accord and rapped on the wood.

Seconds later, she opened the door.

Her eyes widened with surprise to see me, but I didn’t fail to notice how all the glorious light in them had dimmed. From the reddened rims, it was obvious she had been crying.

“What is it?” she asked, immediately alarmed. Her worried gaze darted past me into the corridor. “Are my parents okay?”

Without a word, I marched into the room.

“What the ... hey!”

At her sharp call, I turned and noted she had also come into the room and automatically shut the door behind her.

“I want to know something,” I growled. “Can you truly not defend yourself, or is this ‘I’m a delicate little hothouse flower shit’ some kind of strategic ploy to make you appear helpless?”

The despair fled from her eyes. Burning anger and disbelief replaced it and that weirdly brought me a sense of relief.

“Is that why you’re here?” she asked furiously.

“Why else?”

“I can’t believe you came here in the dead of night to ask me this?”

“I wouldn’t call 10:30pm the dead of night, however … this is a question that needs answering. Your father told me that you have all the skills needed to protect yourself, so why can’t you fend off even one man attempting to assault you?”

She scoffed. “That one man is the man that has been chosen for me to marry. The one that I tried to escape from. The escape that I was branded an idiot for attempting. Have you forgotten all that so quickly?”