Page 228 of Sweet Temptation

On that note, I tried to see this party for what it was. A party. And maybe enjoy the fact that I was here with my woman.

It was kinda working.

I was actually starting to have a good time… when my gaze suddenly caught on someone in the shifting crowd.

Blair.

Fucking.

Sanchuk.

It was a split second, and all I saw was his face in the crowd just beyond the VIP area.

I was instantly in motion.

I tore through the VIP area and leapt right over the velvet rope. I slapped Andre on the chest as I passed and shouted in his ear, “Stay on Summer!”

Then I plunged into the crowd.

Adrenaline hammered through my veins as I zig-zagged through the bodies, trying to get a lock on him again. Difficult, because he was in costume. He was wearing a dark hood.

Every-fucking-one was in costume.

But it was him.

I saw his fucking rat face. I’d seen pictures of the asshole and I’d studied that face, memorized it.

I caught a glimpse of the hood, and pushed past people, trying to get to him. But he was too far away. He kept moving, and I realized he was heading for the front door.

He was leaving in a damn hurry.

Maybe he’d seen all the security in the VIP area. Or seen me on his tail.

But I wasn’t fucking losing him this time.

Going after him half-cocked, though, was a bad idea…

I was about to pull out my phone to get backup, when a familiar face appeared in front of me. Maddox, with a beer in his hand.

I grabbed him by his white greaser costume T-shirt. I’d only realized, when I saw the other bikers and figured out he was in costume, that he wasn’t on duty tonight.

“What’s goin’ on?” he said.

“Come,” was all I managed, tugging him with me, and he fell in step.

By the time we reached the front door of the club, I’d lost sight of Sanchuk. I dove out the door, Maddox right behind me.

Sanchuk was there, weaseling his way through the crowd outside the club, and I grabbed him, shoving him away from the club door. I ripped back his hood to make sure, and yup.

Rat bastard looked right at me.

He took a swing, which I blocked. I twisted his arm behind his back, hard, and shoved him around the side of the building, into the alley. He tried to turn around, but I slammed him up against the wall and punched him in the kidneys for good measure, making him crumble.

Then Maddox jumped in. He ripped Sanchuk from me and shoved him to the ground. He’d ditched his beer somewhere along the way, and his lack of hesitation to jump right in to help me scored him some major points.

I was coming to like this kid.

He put his booted foot on Sanchuk’s back, holding him down, as I caught my breath. Trying to overcome a grown man who didn’t want to be overcome, struggling with him and punching him, wasn’t like in the movies. It wasn’t effortless.

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