wasn’t quite so impersonal, though. As the man’s hands lingered over my breasts, I hissed and drove my head back into his face. Pain bloomed through the back of my skull, but I heard the satisfying sound of his nasal bone crunching. I’d regret it in a second. My head was already pounding and once the adrenaline faded, it would be worse, I knew.
Well, maybe not—I might be dead before the pain caught up with the adrenaline. Either way, I didn’t care.
His hand fisted into my hair as I fought to twist away.
“You little—”
Then I was free and Damon was there. “Please tell me you didn’t just insult the Lady by taking the liberty I thought I saw,” he growled. “That woman is working for the Alpha. An insult to her is an insult to the Lady. Did I just see what I thought I saw?”
Even I could smell the stink of fear crowding the air now.
This time, it wasn’t mine. I cocked my wrist, tried to ignore the heat flaring there. Tried to ignore the sword’s whisper in the back of my mind.
The bastard who’d groped my tits went to the ground on one knee, blood dripping from a nose that had already healed. “Sir, I…I meant no disrespect.”
I stared at him. “You grab my tits and you mean no disrespect.”
Damon shot me a dark look. I glared at him and turned away. “Fuck, I never should have talked to you,” I muttered. I went to turn away, rubbing the back of my aching head, tacky now with the bastard’s blood.
“Get up,” Damon growled.
“Sir, I—”
I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Damon hammer a massive fist into the man’s face. He went flying into the wall about ten feet away. The concrete block cracked a little. The entire place was made of concrete block. If this was a regular occurrence around her, the décor made sense.
As Damon turned around to face me, I looked away.
So far on this job, I’d had the Bitch Queen tell me I was as good as dead if I failed the job. She’d stuck a crazy bastard on my ass to keep me safe and just a few minutes ago, he’d almost killed me. Thirty seconds ago, somebody had groped my tits.
Fifty thousand dollars wasn’t worth it.
“Ma’am?”
It was a quiet, polite voice and I turned, found myself staring into a handsome, lean face. Asian, with liquid black eyes and a courteous smile on his lips.
“If you’d allow me…?”
He gestured.
Oh, yes. They weren’t done patting me down.
“Allow me to apologize for Robert,” he said as he finished with the pat-down. “I assure you, he will be chastised.”
“Yeah. Because after all I’m working for the cat Alpha and nobody wants to piss her off,” I snapped. “But any other female who walks through that door would be fair game. I wonder how you all might feel if your sisters, mothers, daughters were treated so.”
Something flickered in his eyes and he inclined his head. “Point taken. Again, my apologies and I assure you, such a thing will never happen to you again in one of my establishments, even after your business arrangement with the Alpha has ended. And Robert will be dealt with.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a card.
I ignored it. “Don’t bother. I’m probably going to end up dead by the time this job is over anyway.”
“If you wish, there is a washroom just through the gates,” Mr. Courtesy began. “You could clean up…”
I turned my back on him before he could finish and moved through the gates, heading into the said washroom. The blood was still wet—if I rinsed my hair out in the sink, I might be able to get the majority of it now.
A few minutes later, with damp hair, I met a very brooding Damon out in the hall. We were the only two in the hallway—or so it appeared. I knew better. I could feel eyes resting on me as he crossed over to me. “You ready?” he asked.
I nodded, ignoring the whisper in the back of my head. I swear, I’ve never gone this long without calling her to me, not when I needed her so bad.
With Damon at my back, I headed down the hall.
He was silent for once.
Thank God.
I should have stayed in the restroom longer. I could have used the time to get my head together. A few hours. A drink. I really should have stayed home and done my taxes.