Page 19 of Seizing Control: Part One

Together, we dance like no one is watching.

Which is so far from the truth it’s almost funny.

In the dim bar, I catch glimpses of Zeke and his bouncing leg.

I see the rage in Slash’s expression.

Hear my ex-fiancé growl when I hike up my skirt too high.

The smirk I offer Zeke is filled with spite that quickly dies when Shep joins me on the bar.

My date pushes in between me and Nadia, then he starts to take liberties that aren’t his to demand. I’m on the verge of a panic attack over his unwanted touches when I spot Slash shoving his way through the crowd.

For a second, I think he’s going to save me from myself.

He doesn’t.

Instead, he pushes open the double doors that lead outside with enough violence to knock one of them off its hinges. The angry man stomps away without sparing me a backward glance, proving once again that he’ll always run hot and cold with me.

Zeke growls, the sound somehow travelling through the crowd, when Shep pulls me off balance so he can cop a feel. I steel myself, determined to prove that I have the situation under control, and shoot a sneer at my ex-fiancé. For the first time in months, we acknowledge each other. Glare for glare. Eyes flashing. Posture rigid. Body language emanating with the words we haven’t had the chance to say. When I refuse to blink, Zeke initially takes it as a challenge, only to break eye contact first when Hunter says something to him. With obvious reluctance, my ex-fiancé looks away, leaning back on his bar stool to converse with his club brothers.

His stiff movements and bouncing leg fill me with satisfaction.

He’s as affected by my presence as I am by him.

As I dance, I try to see if he steals another peek at me, but I’m side-tracked when Shep winds the fingers of one hand through the hair at my nape and uses his other hand to pull me hard against him. Trapped within his constricting embrace, I stiffen in terror, my fright freezing me to the spot as he devours my mouth without finesse.

I choke.

Suffocate.

My entire body thrums with dread. The locked safe I’ve kept hidden in the dark recesses of my psyche tries to burst open with memories that are best left ignored. I’m drowning in long-neglected trauma, on the verge of mental annihilation when I’m lifted off the bar and slung over a shoulder.

Free from Shep’s unwanted touch, I inhale in a rush.

A familiar scent fills my lungs.

Leather.

Amber.

Spice.

Home.

My limbs relax for a second, then I remember that Zeke isn’t my safe space any longer. Every ounce of animosity I feel toward him spirals to the surface before I can stop it, and I scream at him, “Put me down!”

Zeke doesn’t react as he carries me away from the bar. Upside down, blood rushing to my head, I tremble with fury. A foreign level of rage continues to surge within me, and I violently strike out. Sharp nails scratch at his exposed skin. Vicious hammer fists connect with his back. My knees are jammed into his gut.

“I’m not joking, you bloody arsehole. I’m going to murder you if you don’t let me go.”

“Bring it, metukà shelì.” The humour in his voice is akin to a red rag waved at a bull. He compounds the disrespect by drawling, “You always come hardest when you wanna kill me. I look forward to hate fuckin’ you into submission.”

Disgust drips from every syllable as I tell him, “Keep. Dreaming. I’ll never touch your diseased dick again.” The mad man secures my flailing legs before he chuckles at the sound of the Shamrocks clapping us out of the bar. Mortification fuels me as I curse him out. “God, you’re so fucking embarrassing. An honest to God fucking nightmare. Pain in my arse. Impossible. Stupid. Mean. Arsehole.”

“Push a man too far, and that’s usually what happens,” Zeke states in a placid tone that enrages me further. “You’ve been tryin’ to get me to bite all night… well, here I am, sweet thing, biting.”

“You’re so fucking conceited. I stopped wanting your attention months ago.” The lies leave my tongue with practiced ease—which makes sense since I’ve been telling them to myself for half a year. “Didn’t even know you were here until you started growling at me. Tonight was for me, dickhead… I was attempting to move on from you and your mangled version of love—just like you told me to.”

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