you without him looming over us like a creep," Patrick argued.
"Carina, do I hurt you?" Enzo asked in that deep, lethal voice that left little doubt to just how close he was to losing his carefully controlled cool. Ryker stood off to the side, watching the show with Sandro and grinning like a crazy person. I raised an eyebrow at him, mouthing for him to do something.
He shook his head, raising his hands to say he wouldn't get involved. The meatball probably thought it was some rite of passage that Enzo needed to beat the shit out of my ex.
I hated men. I really, really did.
"No, Enzo. You don't hurt me, " I reassured him, keeping my eyes on Patrick and imploring him one last time to use his sense of reason and run while he could.
"Good. You heard her. Now get the fuck lost," Enzo ordered. When Patrick didn't respond but continued to hold his ground, I moved forward to give him the physical push he needed. I never expected him to grab hold of my arm and try to drag me out with him. Enough was enough. Reaching up to punch him in the mouth, I watched in satisfaction as his lip split beneath the force of my knuckles.
Nobody put their hands on me if I didn't want them to.
"Fucking idiot," Ryker announced, snatching me up as Enzo grabbed Patrick by the back of his shirt and physically dragged him to the front doors.
"Let me go!" I yelled, stomping on Ryker's foot. He grunted but made no move to release me. "This isn't him. He doesn't like to fight like this."
"Trust me, Short Stuff. I don't think Enzo minds fighting your ex one bit. He'll probably be revving and ready to go when he takes you home, so prepare yourself for that instead of worrying over Patrick. It will only piss Enzo off more." He grinned, looking like the serial killer I knew he was.
Until the moment Calla barreled into his side, making him move to catch her so she wouldn't fall. He had to release me to do it, and I sprinted for the door. "Damn it, Sunshine," he grunted, and the sound of his heavy footfalls came behind me. The dance floor was just crowded enough to hinder his progress, but I slipped through people with more ease, finding the small gaps and squeezing through them.
Shoving the exit doors open with all my weight, I left Ryker in my dust as the cold air bit at my skin. Enzo and Patrick hadn't gone far for their confrontation. Patrick knelt on the ground in front of Enzo, cradling his face in his hands. Blood stained them, dripping down over his forearms. "What the hell did you do?" I asked Enzo, moving up to his side to inspect him. Without a mark on him, the only sign that he'd even been involved in the brief fight was the blood staining his knuckles.
"Worried about him, Baby Girl?" Enzo asked, his voice just as dangerous as Ryker warned me it might be.
"No! I'm worried about you. You don't like violence for no reason."
"Killing people is very different than beating up a pushy man who needs to learn the meaning of the word no," Enzo scoffed.
“Broke my goddamn nose,” Patrick said, his voice muffled by his hand holding it delicately. “Fucking not worth all this shit. She’s a great lay, but a complete pain in the ass.”
Enzo growled as my body went still. I worked to keep my face neutral, but the words found their mark. Wounding the part of me that had always known they were true.
Enzo grabbed Patrick by the collar of his shirt, lifting him to his feet. “She’s only a pain in the ass because you aren’t man enough to be her equal and you’re too fucking stupid to see it.” He slapped Patrick’s hand away from his face, watching the blood drip down over his chin with the detached satisfaction of a killing machine.
Enzo’s fist connected with Patrick’s face as Ryker came out the doors with my jacket in his hand. A spray of blood stained the front of Enzo’s suit as Patrick went limp in his hold, knocked unconscious by the force of it. Enzo dropped him to the sidewalk, reaching out to accept my jacket from Ryker and staining it with Patrick’s blood like the caveman he was.
That stain was never coming out.
"Figured you'd be in a hurry to get out of here," Ryker