I gasped as he whirled us, pushing me against the wall. His hand grabbed my bare thigh, and I recoiled.
“Yeah, you like that don’t you baby? You like it when Mikey puts his hands on you, huh?”
“Get—”
I didn’t even finish the sentence before “Mikey” suddenly went flying away from me, like magic. I blinked, trying to make sense of how exactly he’d just managed to skip backwards and crash into the wall opposite me so fast, when I turned, and I saw him.
Him.
My heart stopped for a second, and a heat I’d never felt before bloomed across my skin. He towered over me, his huge shoulders heaving and the dark scowl on his face deepening as he took a step towards Mikey. There was a dark shadow of a scruff on his perfect, chiseled jaw, clenched tight. He ran a hand through his dark hair, and my eyes followed the way his thick arm muscles rippled, the tattoos covering his skin dancing in the low light.
He was much older than me, and while there was this air of scariness and danger to him, he was also totally gorgeous.
“She asked you nicely.”
His deep, dark voice resonated right through me, even if he was talking to Mikey. It tingled through my body, vibrating through every part of me and making me gasp quietly.
“Look man, who—”
The man growled, like an animal, and when he took a step towards Mikey, the creepy college boy whimpered and recoiled across the floor.
“Smart. Now you fuckin’ stay there and count to hundred before you get up.”
And slowly, he turned, and his eye locked right on me. I gasped, swallowing as those piercing, ice-blue eyes lanced right into me, burning something fierce and hot through me, like his eyes were nailing me to the wall at my back.
“You,” he growled, softly this time.
“Me?” I squeaked.
“You’re coming with me. Now.”
I shivered, his words melting through me before I suddenly blinked. Wait, what?
“Wait, excuse me?”
“We don’t have time for the banter, princess,” he grumbled, glancing over his shoulder back towards the bar before turning back to me. “Let’s go, now.”
“Uh, no? I’m here with my friends—”
“I’m counting to three,” the big, gorgeous, dangerous looking man rumbled.
“And what happens at three?” I croaked.
“I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here.”
“You wouldn’t da—”
“One.”
I blinked, my eyes darting to the creep on the ground before glancing back at the big man.
“Hang on—”
“Two.”
“Who are you?”
“Cormac,” he muttered quietly. He glanced over his shoulder one more time, and I watched his jaw tighten as his eyes darted back to lance into mine all over again.
“My name is Cormac, and you just ran out of chances.”
I started to open my mouth, when he beat me to it.
“Three.”
He was on me before I could even process it. His strong, powerful hands grabbed me, and I shrieked as he suddenly lifted me up, tossing me easily across his hard, muscled shoulder, and storming down the dark hallway.
“Let go of me! Let me—!”
The door at the end of the hallway slammed open when he planted his booted foot against it. The chilly night air hit me, teasing up over my bare skin and up under my tiny skirt. The man—Cormac—stormed towards a black Escalade parked out back of the club.
“Wait, please—”
Panic griped me as he yanked the door open and effortlessly tossed me into the passenger seat. I screamed, twisting and lashing out with a heel. He grunted as I caught him in the thigh before his powerful hands grabbed my foot and shoved it back into the car. I lashed out with my nails this time, but he growled as he caught my hand before I could reach his face.
“Listen, princess!” He roared, instantly shutting me up. “We both know what you saw the other night.”
The blood drained from my face, and a cold chill suddenly sliced through me. And instantly, I knew what this was. He must work for the men I saw. And now, he was there to silence the one witness to what had happened in that alley.
“Please, you don’t—please don’t kill me!”
A tear started to roll down my cheek, when Cormac frowned.
“I’m not here to kill you, princess,” he growled quietly, his piercing blue eyes burning into mine as he hovered over me, holding me down in the car seat. “I’m here to protect you.”
His jaw tightens, and for whatever crazy reason, I believed him.
“Now let’s go.”
He slammed my door shut, and I watched—my pulse pounding—as he marched around to the driver’s side and got in next to me. The Escalade rumbled to life.
“Go where?” I said quietly.
“There’s a cabin, on a lake. By a place called Blackthorn Mountain.”
He turned, his eyes flashing as they pierced into mine.
“It’s somewhere safe. A place where no one is going to find you.”
…I was still trying to decide if that sounded hot as sin or absolutely terrifying coming from him as he roared the SUV to life and peeled out into the night.