Page 54 of Dragonfly

I break free of him, taking a few steps away from the table. There’s an exit not too far on this side of the private room. It leads to a hall where the bathrooms are, and an employee’s only door. If I have to hide out in the ladies’ room to get away from this prick, I will.

He doesn’t like this idea.

His hand is like a vice on my arm as he latches onto me again. “I said?—”

I don’t give a fuck what he said.

Jerking my elbow out of his hold, I whirl on him. I knee him in the dick, hoping that the pain will be enough to get this asshole to let me get away from him. I’m not even thinking about the fact that the room is full and I’m probably making a scene. I just want to escape.

One the plus side, it is. Grunting out a, ‘you fucking bitch’, under his breath, he immediately releases me. Unfortunately, that leaves his hands free—and almost as if it’s an unconscious reaction on his part, he fucking backhands me.

It doesn’t feel the greatest. The slap of his hand against my cheek is almost deafening, and I gasp more because the force of his hit has me falling to my knee than because it’s that painful.

I catch myself before I overbalance and land flat on my face.

And that’s when I see a familiar pair of dress shoes in my line a vision a split second before someone grips my arm possessive, helping me back to my heels.

But it’s not that creep.

It’s Damien.

NINETEEN

MY WIFE

DAMIEN

It took everything I have to stay on the opposite side of the room from Savannah the entire night long.

The reason was simple. If I didn’t? I was going to find an excuse to whisk her away and fuck her in that little black dress she has on.

So desperate for her, I scared myself with how badly I needed to bend her over the nearest surface and take her. The make-up only made it worse. Talk about a temptress. I was already under her spell. Now? I never want it to break.

But what kind of guest of honor would I be if I dipped out of the party to bang my bride? Especially since Savannah has made no sign that she’d welcome me—and after going through that folder, I’m beginning to realize she never will.

So I distracted myself with business. Everyone here is either a Dragonfly or an associate of ours. If I can’t have Savannah, the least I could do was find out more about Jimmy Winter and the threat he poses to my Family.

Lincoln’s not here. My former rival actually laughed when I tendered him and Ava an invitation. Not only because his wife never wants to be in my company again, but she’s so close to her due date, he hates the idea of her leaving Paradise Suites.

That man would lock her up in a tower like Rapunzel if he could. And, honestly, now that I have Savannah, I’m beginning to see the merits in a plan like that…

I didn’t think she would mind that I was staying away. I didn’t think she’s even notice. And if it’s a huge boost to my ego that, whenever I’d dare a glance toward the table where I had Genevieve put her, she was watching me closely… well, I was just hoping that she wasn’t planning on taking one of the dinner knives and going after me with it.

I had Vin watching her anyway. Since I couldn’t trust myself near Savannah, I had my most trusted enforcer on the job. He knew that there was only one excuse he could use to leave her: going to the bathroom. Other than that, he needed to be on her like flies on shit.

That must be what happened. I’d notice some of the newer recruits swarming around Savannah, but seeing Vin so close scared them off. One of them, though, waited until Vin slipped away for just a second to act.

That’s all it took. Next thing I know, I saw Savannah getting up from her seat out of the corner of my eye. She says something to the younger Dragonfly—Ricky, his name is Ricky—and whatever it was, he didn’t like it.

And then he did something he never should’ve done.

He grabbed my wife.

Fuck staying away. I was already on the move before she did something that had him twisting away in pain mingled with anger, and just as I was closing the gap between me and Savannah, Ricky whirled around and back-handed her.

I caught her. It was pure luck that I did, and the thing that sealed his fate in the moment more than anything else was the flash of relief I saw on her face as she realized it was me.

That’s how much trouble she thought she was in. She’s actually glad to see me.

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