“Come on. Quit being a cock-tease.”
Okay, she’d had enough. She had no sympathy for guys who couldn’t take a hint and didn’t respect when a girl said no.
He yanked her toward him again, so hard this time she practically fell forward. She had to brace her hands on his chest just to steady herself, but instantly pushed away.
“You’re hurting my arm. Let go.” So many people were around, and the music was so loud that it wasn’t surprising no one was helping. No one probably even noticed the interaction.
“You are a cock-tease, aren’t you?” he said with annoyance in his voice. “Swaying your ass, grinding all over me. You’re nothing but a little bitch—”
And then she saw the expression on the guy’s face change. His eyes widened as he looked over her shoulder, and she knew from feeling his body heat that Rory was behind her .
She turned around, and the guy finally let go of her. Her wrist hurt, would probably be bruised from how hard he’d held it, but she wasn’t worried about that right now. Rory looked pissed. He held a clear plastic cup of water in his hand, but the longer he stared at the guy who had touched her, the tighter his hold was on the cup. And then the plastic crumpled in his grasp, water spilling over his hand and landing on the floor.
Rory had his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back behind him. She’d seen him get into a few fights at parties they’d attended, mainly because drunken guys started shit with him, trying to be stronger.
They always lost.
And then Rory was going after the guy without even talking to him. He slammed his fist into the side of the guy’s face, and the other man fell to the floor instantly. Rory picked him up by the collar of his shirt, his biceps straining from the force, from the power. Lena felt like she should stop this, but the guy had brought this on himself. She had no sympathy for guys who thought they could take from unwilling women.
Rory hauled him off the ground and punched him in the face once more before letting him go. Blood sprayed out of the guy’s broken nose, and his lip was also split. He pulled himself off the ground, wiped his hand over his mouth, and looked at the smeared blood.
People started moving back from the violence. Rory went after the guy again, but she knew she couldn’t let Rory get in trouble over this, and security would be coming any minute. She rushed toward him and grabbed the back of his shirt. But moving Rory when he was intent on something was like busting through a steel wall. It was impossible.
“Come on, Rory. He’s not worth you going to jail over.” She tried to pull him away, but he shrugged off her hold.
“No, Lena. This motherfucker put his hands on you.”
“Do you really want this to be how the night ends, with security hauling your ass out and the cops throwing you in jail for the night?” she asked, trying to get through to Rory.
He stopped, looked over his shoulder at her, and the rage she saw on Rory’s face was like a blast of cold air. She’d seen him like this before, and even if she knew he’d never hurt her, Lena couldn’t help the chill that moved through her.
“This fucking asshole needs to learn he can’t be a little motherfucker and touch women when they don’t want him to.” Rory rolled his head around his neck, lifted his hands, and cracked his knuckles. Lena looked over his shoulder to see the guy had already pulled himself off the ground. He had blood all over his shirt and the bottom half of his face.
“You’re right, Rory, but I thought we had plans tonight?” Of course sex wasn’t what she wanted to tempt him with to stop beating on a guy, but they really needed to get out of here now. “I think he’s learned his lesson.”
Rory stared at her for a moment, and then she saw the tension leave him. He wiped his knuckles on his pants, cleaning off the blood. “He deserves a lot fucking more, Lena.”
She wasn’t arguing that point. Rory was like a walking, talking ad for masculinity and testosterone, and when he was pissed, nothing short of a miracle could derail him.
Tonight was clearly a night for miracles.
She saw security coming toward them, and she knew they needed to get out of here now. Lena spotted the people she’d come to the club with, but they lifted their hands, obviously knowing they had to go before things got even worse.
And then Rory snapped into action. He took her hand and pushed people out of their way as they headed toward the front doors. The bouncer at the front didn’t stop them, and when they were outside, heading toward his truck, she knew that although Rory was dangerous and violent with anyone who crossed him, he was the only person she’d ever love, and the one person who would protect her above all else.