lift my chin at him, not wanting my eyes to stray from their current position. There’s a guy behind Ella, dancing close. He’s been trying to butt in, without much success. One of his hands skims her hip. Her eyes are closed, and though it’s dim here, I think I see the edges of her mouth turn up. When she doesn’t protest, he puts a second hand on her, this time on her stomach. She wets her lips. My heart falls into my stomach. She likes it.
I should turn and walk away. Nowhere in our agreement did we stipulate anything about her not hooking up with men. But I can’t walk away. I’m glued to the floor, watching them like a goddamn voyeur.
What he does next drives a stake through my heart. He reaches around and grabs her breasts. She does the opposite of what I hoped. Her head falls back against the dude’s shoulder. Fuck.
I’m about to turn and leave when she opens her eyes. She sees me, and in a split second, her entire demeanor changes. Her eyes widen in shock and terror, her expression turning into a furious grimace. She spins and looks at the man behind her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she says, shoving him away from her.
I don’t think. I storm over and throw my fist in his face. He hits the ground. I flip him, twist his arm behind him, and plant a knee on his back. I lean down and yell, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to touch anyone unless you’re invited to, you fucking prick?” Immediately Thor is at my side. “Keep him down,” I say, standing. Ella is being protectively flanked by Bria and Crew. “Are you okay?”
“I … yeah. I thought …”
“Call the police,” I tell Crew.
Ella protests. “I don’t want to cause a scene.”
I gesture at the club patrons staring at us. “Too late for that.”
Club security makes their way over and asks what happened.
“This asshole was groping her,” I say.
“Ma’am, is what he said true?”
“He was … you know, it’s fine. I’m okay.”
I move closer to her. “El, we need to call the cops. You have to press charges. If you don’t, the sicko will do this to someone else. He was touching you without permission. He’s scum. He should be thrown in jail.”
“Let’s just go. Can we go please?” She says something to security and walks away. One of them goes over to Thor and has a conversation. Next thing I know, the guy is let go. I lunge for him. Crew and Garrett hold me back. They drag me out of the club, with Ella following, as I watch the fuckwad over my shoulder. He brushes himself off and takes a drink from his friend like nothing happened.
I struggle to break free as we get to the parking lot. “We can’t let him get away with that shit.”
“Get in the van, Liam,” Crew says.
“Fuck that,” I say.
“You guys go,” Garrett says. “I’ll stay and make sure he doesn’t go back in. Besides, there’s a girl in there who wants me bad.”
“You’re not coming?” Ella asks.
I shake my head.
“Come on,” Bria says to her. “He’ll be okay. He needs to cool off. Garrett’s got him.”
They climb into the van and drive away. I sit on the curb.
“I wasn’t kidding,” Garrett says. “You are not going back in there.”
“Then I’ll wait for the motherfucker to come out.”
“Remember last year, when Crew asked us to tell him when he was crossing the line to batshit crazy?”
I eye him in disgust. “This isn’t the same, G. He was grabbing her fucking tits.”
“And she told you not to do anything about it. So don’t. If you do, she’ll probably be pissed at you. She might even leave. Do you really want to ruin whatever you’ve got going with her?”
I scrub my face. “Goddammit.”
“Go home, Liam.”
I nod.
He takes my phone and summons an Uber. Five minutes later, I’m telling the driver to find a liquor store.
~ ~ ~
“There you are,” Ella says. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You should respond to your texts once in a while so your friends don’t think you’re in jail for killing someone.”
“I didn’t kill him. But I wanted to.” I’m sitting on the sand, gazing at the water.
She sits next to me, eyeing the bottle. “Liam?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you want to say, El? Believe me, I’ve heard it all.”
“Did something happen to a woman you used to date? Is that