Page 17 of Heartless Union

Ashley looks between Rocco and me. “Uh, is there something I’m missing? Why the sudden weird energy?”

“Ashley,” I start to say and have to stop. My mouth is dry. Why does Rocco’s mere presence disarm me so much? “This is Rocco, my … fiancé.”

She stumbles back. “Wait, what? You didn’t tell me he was this hot.”

Rocco smirks, and I flush. But his smirk disappears in an instant, and he’s back to looking at me with his cold gaze. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“She wanted go out and have some fun,” Ashley speaks for me, throwing her arm around my shoulders.

“I didn’t ask you. I asked Lara.”

Both of them look at me. I’m somehow even more frozen than before.

Ashley nudges me. “She’s shy.”

“I can see that. Lara, why are you here?”

“Ahsley wanted to come,” I manage to say. “So, I came with.”

“Yeah. Is she not allowed to come to a club or something?” Ashley asks.

Rocco’s expression tightens. “I never said that. But you didn’t strike me as a club girl.”

“I’m … I’m not.” God, why am I stumbling over my words so much? I may be shy, but I’m normally much more eloquent than this.

“I saw you dancing with that man.” He points to the guy who touched me inappropriately. “You shouldn’t be dancing with other men.”

“She wasn’t,” Ashley says in a biting tone. “In fact, that asshole came over to her and touched her ass without her consent.”

“Ash,” I hiss.

She looks at me with large, innocent eyes. “What?”

I see Rocco’s expression morph with anger. I’m not sure what he’s capable of, but I know pure anger when I see it. He looks like he could kill someone, and given the glare he shoots in the direction of the man who touched me, I know it can’t be good.

“Rocco, it’s ok,” I tell him.

“No, it’s not. No one gets to touch you but me.”

I’m not sure why, but his words send a tingle through my body. I’m very aware of my body, my skin, my entire being for the first time in a way I’ve never been before.

“Possessive much?” Ashley says.

Rocco levels a glare at her. “Did I ask for your opinion?” He turns back to me. “You should go home, Lara. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Ashley scoffs. “Hurt by who? She’s a grown woman.”

This time, Rocco doesn’t even acknowledge Ashley. “A nightclub is no place for the woman who will be my wife.”

“But you’re here,” I say before I can stop myself. It just slips out.

Rocco looks genuinely surprised I talked back to him. “You’re right. I am here. I own this nightclub.”

I deflate a little. So much for be trying to point out any hypocrisy. “Oh.”

“That’s right. And I want you to leave. I have some things I need to attend to, and I can’t keep an eye on you all night.”

Ashley snorts. “She can stay if she wants to.”

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