Page 7 of Lock Up the Darkness

“What the shit?” he cried, while his friends looked on too stunned to utter a sound, let alone move to physically react.

The urge to reach for my blade was right there.

I gritted my teeth forcing myself to resist.

I couldn’t maim anybody right out in public in front of witnesses.

This was already pushing it as it was.

As he struggled against me futilely, I growled at his ear, “You’re gonna take yourself and your sleazy fucking friends and get the hell out. This place is closed to you going forward. You step foot in here again, you bother my co-worker, and I’ll slice your tiny dick into pieces and shove them down your throat, forcing you to choke on them as you bleed out all over the fucking floor.” I drove my knee into his balls, making him shriek. “You hear me, asshole?”

He nodded frantically, his struggles ceasing as he submitted.

Good boy.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Ronan, the cook from the back who also doubled as Assistant Manager, striding over, Liza trailing behind him, obviously having called him for backup. He was a huge guy who had a ton of muscle on him on account of his love of playing rugby. Middle-aged, he was built like someone twenty years his junior. He might seem foreboding, but I’d quickly learned that he was just a gentle giant to all the young women who worked here, doubling as protector and bouncer sometimes.

I released my captive roughly and stepped back.

Ronan was there in the next beat.

He tossed me a wink, then forced the assholes out, half shoving them, half dragging them.

Liza bounded up to me and threw her arms around me, thanking me, while the rest of the staff looked on incredulously while giving me a couple of thumbs-up.

I grimaced internally.

So much for keeping a low profile.

And maintaining an innocent and naïve image.

That whole situation had triggered me and I’d just reacted, the need to deliver punishment and justice taking me over.

Shit.

In all the chaos, I caught sight of a shadowed figure over by the windows.

I squinted to get a better look, but they disappeared into the dark night too quickly.

Had they been watching that whole unfortunate scene?

Or was it just a case of my extreme paranoia creeping up on me?

I forced myself to shake it off.

I might have crossed a line, but it was an isolated incident, which could also be chalked up to a lucky break. The guys had been shit-faced, no match for anyone. That was how it could be framed.

And perception went a long way.

Yeah, everything was okay.

It was still a go, I was still on track.

And when classes began in a couple of days, I’d be moving that much closer to accomplishing what I’d come here to.

3

~Aurora~

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