Defenseman No. 9 - Xavier Neal Page 0,44
Thankfully, she doesn’t keep me long due to having to take a phone call, and I use the opportunity to make my way quickly down the hall for the door that’ll lead me back to the main portion of the club. The instant I open it, however, I’m startled back inside by the person I nearly run into.
Jevin flashes me an uncomfortable, toothy grin. “Hey.”
“What…what…what the hell are you doing here?”
He slowly approaches causing me to continue my retreat. “I came to see you.”
“You’ve never come to see me before.”
“I know.”
“You’re always busy.”
“I know.”
“Too fucking busy.”
“I know, I know, and I’m sorry for that shit.” His pale fingers give his shaggy hair a ruffle. “I came to say I’m sorry.”
My back hits the wall opposite from the door. “You always say you’re sorry.”
“To…show you I’m sorry.”
“Isn’t that what the box of cheap fucking off-brand makeup was for?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know what shit you use?”
Hugo does.
He took me to Sephora for my birthday this year – without having to be prompted – and spent two hours letting me play around before buying me some Pat McGrath Labs products, which are far from cheap.
He also purchased that shit out of love.
Not out of guilt.
“I’m here…” Jevin begins, again, this time reaching for my wrist, “to prove I’m sorry.”
The gentle pull I execute to remove it from his grasp causes him to harden his hold.
“I get it, Crash.”
“Yeah,” I promptly tug, again, “I don’t think you do.”
“I really fucked up this time.”
Another attempt to yank myself away is made, and the tightening reaction from him is the same.
“I won’t do that shit again.”
“Let go,” I quietly command in tandem with trying to take back my arm once more.
“You gotta believe me…” His fingers dig defiantly into my flesh. “I won’t hurt you again.”
“You’re literally hurting me right now.”
“I-”
Jevin’s lean 6’0 frame is abruptly flung off of me and across the space to the opposite wall. The impact is hard enough to knock all the air from his lungs as well as crumple his frame, yet the latter doesn’t happen due to Hugo’s hand pinning him to the wall by his throat.
“If you ever even think about laying so much as a fucking finger on him again, I will end a lot more than both of our future careers.”
Hatred and hostility ripple throughout his gaze, leaving Jevin clearly horrified and me hornier than I’ve ever been.
Holy fuck, can we say him Tarzan, me Cane?
You know, the much more fabulous male version of Jane.
“Get the fuck out of this club,” Hugo’s grip noticeably tightens, “stay the fuck away from Crash,” the pressure increases again, “and go kiss your lucky fucking kicks that I haven’t put the same bruises on you that you’ve put on him.”
Suddenly, showered in shame, I send my stare to my sandy Minnetonka Moccasins to avoid my date seeing it in my eyes; however, the new coughing and wheezing sounds flooding the hallway shift my attention back up just in time to catch Jevin stumbling out the door which he had no business stepping through in the first place.
Hugo swiftly spins on his heels, steps into my space, and cups my face with both his hands so that our gazes connect. “Y-y-you okay?”
The heaving of his expansive chest along with the quiver in his invoice indicates he’s not, and I can’t stop myself from countering, “Are you?”
His brow pinches together at the same time he swallows some sort of emotion. “Only if you are…”
His retort has my hands landing lovingly on his sides. “I’m good, Boo. You Incredible Hunked just in time.”
He lightly chuckles and slides his hands to my shoulders. “It’s the Incredible Hulk.”
“Yeah, not from where I’m standing.”
Redness seeps into his cheeks in tandem with shyness into his smile. “What do you say we get out of here? Put some real distance between us and that prick?”
I squeeze his sides in agreement, more than ready to get the hell away from the possibility of another Jevin attack, yet stop myself, curiosity more alluring than an immediate exit. “How’d you know?”
“That he was back here?” Hugo lets his grip roam down my arms until he’s comfortably holding me. “I didn’t. I just knew you had been gone too long. That didn’t feel…right.” He tightens his hold, and instead of fear being instilled like it was in Jevin’s clutches, I actually feel protected. Safe. “I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. And, when something