Page 57 of Caught from Behind

But even as I’m processing the fear on her face, the torn dress, the tears dripping down her cheeks…

A man follows her out.

“No!” she cries, cringing back, feet slipping out from beneath her then, hitting the wooden planks hard enough that she cries out in pain again.

Scared. Hurt. Cornered.

The man steps closer.

“No!” she says again.

But the man doesn’t stop reaching for her.

And…I snap.

I’m on him in a second, gripping the back of his shirt and ripping him away from the woman, all but tossing him across the patio.

He hits a stack of chairs with a grunt, sending them crashing to the ground.

I flick a look behind me, see that Ella’s with the woman, carefully helping her to her feet.

I turn my attention back to the bastard in front of me.

He’s slowly climbing to his feet. “What the fuck!” he shouts, getting in my face, the alcohol on his breath?—

No. NO!

I shudder and push the memory down, shoving him back. “You don’t touch women like that.”

“And who the fuck are you to even begin thinking about telling me what to do?”

“I’m fucking no one,” I growl. “But you’re still going to listen to me.”

“Fuck you!” And then he punches me.

Or tries to.

I catch his arm, land a hard blow to his side. “Don’t,” I snap when he tries to knee me in the balls, gripping his throat and shoving him back against the railing.

“Fuck you.” He grabs at my wrist, pushes at my chest. “Let me go.”

Distantly, I hear Lake curse, and then he’s next to me. “Easy, Riggs.”

“He was hurting her,” I grit out as the fucker in front of me begins to choke.

“I know,” he says, setting a hand on my back. “Let him go. I’ll make sure he’s gone.”

He’s turning red, sputtering and coughing, digging his fingers into my arm.

It would be so easy to keep squeezing.

“Fuck,” I grit out, releasing him and turning away, stalking to the opposite railing so I don’t beat the fucker to a pulp. I look out to the darkness, trying to breathe easy and slow, clenching the snow-covered wood until I begin to feel the cold biting into my skin, until my temper begins to cool.

“Riggs?” Ella whispers, coming next to me, setting a tentative hand on my back.

“I’m fine.”

“She’s okay too,” she whispers. “She’s in the office with Nova, Lake and Leo have the asshole contained, and the cops are on their way.”

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