“Was Avril hurt?”
Did she like, ask about me at all? She clearly wasn’t too bent out of shape after the two of us flirted.
Shit, that wasn’t a good thing. She was already back to dating losers.
I had to come to terms with the fact that if I wasn’t going to seriously go after this girl; I was going to lose her. That was the choice that I was making, and I had to be okay with that.
Or get off my fucking ass and just start dating her. Take her like I wanted to.
“She wasn’t hurt… though the suspect did break some glass, three chairs, and managed to dent the door when he tried to escape.”
Fuck.
Avril hadn’t gotten hurt, but she was way too close to danger… and during all of that, where was I? Sulking at homepretending that I wasn’t hiding from the woman I wanted like a little bitch.
Someone should just tear my designation away and throw me in my entirety into the trash heap along with the rest of the pathetic men who let Avril down.
What if it had been worse?
It was already obvious that Avril—for some reason—had the absolute worst dating karma. I would never forgive myself if Avril ended up hurt in my own damn bar. I wasn’t going to let it happen.
Besides, it was my damn business. Maybe that little weasel wouldn’t have tried to pull all that shit if I had been there to put a stop to it.
Shit, he dented the door? How does somebody just dent a commercial door? It was made of steel. Would I need to replace it? Is that something that was covered by insurance or would I have to talk to someone at the police station? “Did you get any other information?”
“The police did mention that one of the warrants for his arrest was for domestic violence.”
Domestic violence?
My blood ran cold.
If the police hadn’t carted this guy away, he might have been able to wrap Avril around in a web of manipulation, until she was in too deep… she was targeted as his next victim.
Fuck, I’d noticed before that for some reason this girl had the survival skills of a naked mole rat crawling in the middle of the highway. Keeping my eye on her was nerve-wracking… the only thing she was successfully flirting with was disaster.
If her date hadn’t gotten arrested, would she have taken a criminal to the altar? How far would it have gone? Would my perfect girl end up as a story in the news, as her literally criminal boyfriend turned husband put her life at risk somehow?
When my parents warned me about marrying someone too soon—they were worried about people likehim.
I couldn’t insert myself into Avril’s life—I couldn’t stand in the way of her getting married, if I knew that was what she wanted. But I also couldn’t stand aside. She was a disaster magnet and had already had too many close calls.
I wasn’t going to hide from her anymore.
If I wanted to keep her safe, I didn’t have a choice.
CHAPTER 16
DAVID
I half expectedAvril to stop showing up after her date was arrested. Maybe she would try her luck somewhere else, and I would never see her again.
Oh damn, Iwantthis woman more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life… but if she just decides to stop coming to my bar, then I will have absolutely no way to ever see her again.
Because we aren’t dating. We aren’t even really flirting. Not acquaintances. Nothing.
I had no right to Avril… but why?
I wanted her. The thought of never seeing her again made a sharp pain pierce deep within my chest. More than anything else in my entire life, I wanted to kiss her. God, I wanted to fuck her. I wanted to press my cock deep inside of her and hear Avril scream for me.
