Payment? Is he talking about escorts?I’m very confused right now. Doesn’t he have a diary filled with women ready to jump at the possibility of going out with him? Rich, handsome, successful, young. Is he too picky?
“Nobody available on such short notice,” she hurriedly says, pushing her long locks back surely to put on display her busty chest. “I could…accompany you, if you need.”
Could she be more obvious?
Gabe raises his gaze. He looks at me for a second like he’s pondering something, then at her. “Be ready at nine.”
His words hit me in the gut, worse than a real punch. Because I can’t deflect it, can’t do anything but take the ache. I wonder if I’ve suffered a personality transplant, the sole idea of Gabe goingto the ball with Medusa is creating murderous scenarios in my mind. Especially when she smirks at me before going back to her workstation.
“See yourself out. I have work to do.” He doesn’t even spare me a glance. Is he still the same caring person who told me he didn’t contact me to give me more time to accept what happened in that club? Did I misunderstand his words?
On my way out, I can’t stop myself. I bump the expensive-looking white vase on the small table near the door. It tips over and makes a loud crashing sound as it hits the floor and shatters in pieces.
Petty I know, but that’s my middle name.
“Oops.” I turn his way and make a shocked face. Then quickly change it into a smirk. “You’re welcome. Horrible taste.”
The smile that appears on his face isn’t a nice one. It’s predatory, and it seems to hold a wicked promise. I don’t have time to contemplate the meaning of it because Gabe issmiling. And sodding hell, he’s stunning.
I stand dumbly for a moment, trying to make sense of the warm spiral of awe twirling in my belly. Until I hear Medusa’s voice coming from her desk and the spell is broken. I leave the room without a backward glance and make my way toward the elevator with my head high and my mind messed up.
I admit that I have a temper, and that at times, it makes me act like a vengeful bitch. Gabe, though, likes to point out my flaws before dismissing me. And that’s what I was expecting when I broke the vase, not that wicked smile. If I add to that those inferno-hot words he said to me, I can say beyond a doubt that Gabe’s demeanor is incredibly puzzling. He didn’t confirm hehas lingering drug side effects like me, but he’s always screwed as tight as a jar of pickles.
I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t realize Skid Mark is waiting for me when I exit the elevator and walk outside the building. His grip on my forearm is bruising tight, but I huff at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he can hurt me.
“I already rearranged your brother’s face. Do you want the same treatment?” I tell him in a discontented tone. His hand doesn’t let go.
“You think you’ve won? Far from it. I’ll make you pay.” I can clearly see that he tried to wash away the green slime, the collar of his shirt is damp, his hair all messy. In a way he made it worse.
“If you want to leave walking on your legs, release me.”
“You’re just a screaming bitch.”
Really? After I broke his bro’s nose, he thinks I’ll yelp like a damsel in distress?
I look around, the large sidewalk is busy with people walking at a fast pace, uncaring of their surroundings. I glance inside the building, there’s nobody at the entrance desk.
The grip turns painful, making me reach the limit of dailydickishnessI'm willing to tolerate.I’m sick of this shite!
I grab the thumb digging into my skin and wrench it upward, making him instantly release my arm. My knee lifts and hits him right in the family—surely junk—jewels. His back hits the wall, and his grunt of pain turns into a gasp as I compress his upper airway by pushing my forearm against his throat.He’s taller than me, but unfit and without any fighting skill, so overpowering him is fairly easy.
“Where the fuck is security? They should have walked you to your car,” I suddenly hear Gabe from behind me.
“Oh, someone finally noticed me being manhandled,” I mumble sarcastically. I don’t know why Gabe is here right now and don’t care.
He growls low and deep, but I ignore his presence behind me, so close I can smell his enticing scent, and looking straight into Skid Marks’s furious eyes, I hiss, “Touch me again, and I swear to fucking Satan and all his hellhounds that you’ll lose your pathetic-sized dick.Comprende?”
I wait for him to nod before letting him go with a shove. I slowly straighten my t-shirt, muttering a curse at the green stains on the front while trying to regain some composure. It doesn’t work.
“Don’t move, Bart,” Gabe orders.
Without looking his way, I start walking. I don’t turn around even when I hear him calling my name. I stomp my way toward a lingerie shop where I’ll meet Sari, fuming like my gran’s red kettle.
I’ve had enough pricks for the day. Fuck him. Fuck all of them.
six
LORI
