Page 14 of Viral Affair

I walked downstairs and was just about to head out as the resounding cry of "FUCK!" echoed in the air, quickly followed by a jolting crash that sent shivers down my spine. A minute later, Rupert came rushing towards the bar, holding his hand, blood everywhere.

“What the hell happened?” I questioned him as I dropped all my stuff to the floor and rushed to him.

“I cut my hand. Shit,” he said as blood seeped out between his fingers, dripping all over the floor and down his forearm.

“Come here now,” I ordered, running the cold water tap and steering him towards the sink. “Put your hand under the cold water and keep it there while I get the first-aid kit.”

“Veronica, it’s fine. Don’t—”

“No, mister! This looks like a deep cut. Stay here and don’t move.” I rushed behind the bar.

I knew where Kevin, the barman, kept all the important stuff, so I managed to find it quickly. The blood flowed with the water when I returned and Rupert stared back at me apprehensively.

“As I said, you don’t have to worry about it, Veronica. I bet you have more important things to do than patching up my hand,” he said.

But I could already see that the cut was deep and he probably would need to head to A&E at some point.

“No, I don’t. And stop bossing me around. I’d rather be here.”

Chapter Eight

Rupert

I don’t even know how it happened. One second I was setting up the small security monitor and the next there was an outage. I jerked my hand away, which resulted in me slicing it through a metal plate that stuck out. It bloody hurt and now I had this gorgeous red-haired woman fussing over me. It was heartwarming.

While she was tending to my wound, I stole a glance at her. Fuck … that was a mistake. My strong attraction towards her made this whole thing so much more complicated. We were going to work closely together. But every time I was near her, I kept recalling our night in Greece. She leaned down, trying to stop the bleeding, but I’d cut myself deeply.

She had makeup on and I bet she would still be as stunning without. The sudden heat rushed to my groin and my cock hardened again.At least that might stop the bleeding with all the blood redirected.

Her skin was a perfect sun-kissed bronze and her fiery red hair was tied up in a messy knot on the top of her head. I lowered my gaze further to her light purple dress, her nipples sticking out through the material.

“I don’t understand why such a wealthy snob like you had to deal with the security system in your own club. I’m sure Rowan has people who can deal with shit like this,” Veronica retorted.

I didn’t lift my gaze off her amazing tits quickly enough and she smirked.

“Rupert Banks, were you just ogling my tits?” She feigned exasperation.

Her sultry voice did a number on me. I licked my lips, thinking about all the things I could do to her.

“Guilty as charged, and your tits are begging me to suck on them,” I growled.

She pushed my chin up so I was staring into her whiskey-coloured eyes again, not at her chest.

“Well, after your arsehole behaviour last night, that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” she muttered, and then lowered her face to my wound and blew air on it.

The blood still seeped out of the cut. Thankfully, not as much as before. Veronica laid out the bandages and plasters from the first-aid box, focused on her task. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It had been only twenty-four hours, but she was already driving me bonkers with her snarky attitude. I just couldn’t get past the fact that she fucked our club’s wealthy clients when I just wanted her to belong to me, and me alone. However, I had no right to put a claim on her.

“What are you doing?” I asked her, snapping out of these depressing thoughts.

She lifted her head and smiled at me. “I’m trying to ease your pain, hotshot. My mum used to do this for me whenever I grazed my knees from running after the boys on the council estate,” she replied. Opening the bottle of alcohol, she tapped it over the cotton pad then patted it down over the cut.

It burned like hell. I gritted my teeth, trying not to make a sound, and let her finish bandaging me up.

Hotshot. I like that nickname.

“You ran after boys?” I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

She laughed, a rich and hearty sound that made my heart pound faster.

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