Page 144 of Lock Up the Darkness

Something that wasn’t sitting well with me.

But it had been the only way we’d been able to bring her to the game without it seeming like she was there to actually support the golden boy. Jonah wanting to come to support Killian was acceptable and her coming as his plaything fit with that.

There were empty spaces either side of them on their row, people well aware that they were required to give us breathing room. They wouldn’t deign to sit too close to Jonah or I.

But then someone did attempt it.

My teeth clenched as I took in the lanky figured dressed in a tailored Armani suit, almost as chic as the one I was wearing so well. His blond hair interspersed with gray and his extra two decades stood out amongst the sea of young people as he gravitated his way toward Aurora and Jonah.

Samuel Carmichael.

As the whistle sounded, I didn’t look back at the field, watching him like a hawk instead as he folded himself into the chair beside Aurora. I saw Jonah tense, his arm tightening around Aurora in a clear protective gesture.

And then Sam pushed it.

He sank his hand into Aurora’s hair and twirled it around his finger, playing with it.

Jonah’s gaze met mine, his need to react very fucking clear.

I shook my head.

He couldn’t.

Sam damn well knew it.

I clenched my fists as Aurora shifted uncomfortably.

She was trapped.

Jonah was trapped.

Because of me.

Because I couldn’t have either of them react aggressively or disrespectfully to a Head Infidel, especially not in a very public setting, especially not for Aurora’s peace of mind, for her honor.

I looked back out at the field and saw the moment Killian registered it too.

Fuck.

I could see him struggling to swallow it down.

The ball slammed into his hands and he focused on the play.

But then Sam slid his hand up Aurora’s thigh, under her skirt.

All hell broke loose.

Killian fumbled the ball.

That became the least of it in the next moment when he shot forward, recovered it, before one of the Generals’ defenders was able to snatch it from him. In the next second, Killian stopped and spun at the player who’d tried to steal it, then slammed it into his throat.

The guy choked, reeled back, then lunged at him.

Killian lost control and wailed on him with literal fists of fury.

And then everybody else jumped into the fray and a jumbled mass of limbs and jerseys became a whirlwind of violence all over the field.

The coaches ran into the fray.

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