Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars 4)

I shouldered through the crowd that had grown tenfold since I’d gone to the restroom.

Bodies packed.

Greedy and wild.

A disorder on which I normally thrived but tonight suddenly had me feeling all wrong.

My chest grew tight.

My hands tingled.

I needed to get her out of there.

Away from me.

I should have listened to those warnings that had lit in my mind in the first place.

I pushed through the mob back toward the booth.

Nearly tripped when I broke through the crush and found some jagoff salivating all over her at our booth.

The girl sat there in the shadows while he leaned over the table and probably fed her some seedy line.

Rage hit me from out of nowhere.

A kick to the gut.

A twisted possession I had no right to feel.

That connection shivered and glittered and closed in at the edges of my sight.

I tried to swallow it down.

Wasn’t like she was a child. Wasn’t like she couldn’t make her own decisions.

But I couldn’t shake the sensation screaming at me that somethin’ just wasn’t right.

I scrubbed a hand over my face to curb the disorder that took to my spirit.

Relief filled Maggie’s expression when she saw me come up behind the prick who was still leering over her.

“Hey, baby, you ready to get out of here?” I let the claim bleed free like it was real. A demand for him to get lost and to do it fast.

I managed to keep my cool.

That was until I caught a glimpse of his profile.

Ice streaked down my spine.

Heart stalling.

Spirit sinking.

Fear.

Fury.

Agony.

All it took was one second for every fucking one of my ghosts to catch up to me.

Howling their warning of destruction.

Rage came bounding in behind it. No space for anythin’ rational when the only thing I wanted to do was choke him out and keep going until he had no chance of ever coming back up for air.

In the flash of a second, I had a hand locked at the back of his neck, my voice whispering murder up close to his ear, “What the fuck are you doin’ here?”

He shifted to look at me, just enough that I could see the smug smirk on his face, promising this little encounter wasn’t close to being by chance. “Just asking a pretty girl to dance. You got a problem with that?”

Knew he knew I’d broken the rules.

That I’d overstepped a boundary.

That he was there, searching for any way to make me pay. To tighten the chains that would forever bind me.

My teeth grated, and I fought the bile that rushed as memories surged. I struggled to beat it back, to take on the persona that I wore best, just an easy-go-lucky guy who didn’t give a fuck.

But right then, that guy didn’t exist.

“Get the fuck out,” I seethed, fighting the rush of dizziness that spun my head.

Her face flashed.

Sickness churned.

I was sure I’d been sucked under water, so deep I couldn’t tell up from down.

Drowning.

He laughed a morbid sound and swiveled to fully face me. Asshole with hatred writhing on his smug face that I wanted to break. “Wow. So overbearing. Don’t you think we should let the lady decide? Or are you all about defiling her, too?”

Tormented fury clouded my sight.

I fisted a hand in the collar of his shirt.

“I said to get the fuck out. Get the fuck out of this town.” I choked over the words, every one of them jagged, broken glass.

Maggie was suddenly standing at my side.

A soft hand landed on my arm.

A balm tugging me from the daze.

“Rhys…” Her voice was soft. Calming. Like the girl could touch me in the darkness. “I was just telling him I was here with someone. It’s okay. Let’s just go, okay? It’s okay.”

My brow pinched, and I sucked in a breath, and I shoved him off while I warred with the need to go for him.

To end this now.

Keeping one eye on the asshole, I dug into my wallet and pulled out a few bills to cover the tab. I tossed them onto the table then jammed a finger in his direction. “Stay the fuck away from us.”

“Funny, I could say the same.”

It was a flat-out threat.

I fought to ignore the weight of it, and instead, sent his pompous ass a parting glare as I grabbed Maggie’s hand to haul her out.

I didn’t make it a foot before his words struck me from behind, “Who is she, Rhys? Tonight’s fuck or does she have a name? Hmmm…I think she has a name, doesn’t she? I saw her getting out of your car. What would she think if she knew?”

I was on him before I realized I’d even made the move.

Blinded.

A boiling fury that covered all reason.

A rage that extinguished all sight.

He was wearing that superior smile when I grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face against the tabletop.