Page 47 of Shattered

“Kael.He wanted to know if we were free tonight.I assumed you were, so I said yes.Is that okay?You don’t have any other plans, right?”

Those women were still paying way too much attention to Alek, and it was starting to seriously annoy me.I had to remain professional, but I wanted to put them in their place, as well.

With narrowed eyes and an annoyed look on my face, I spoke up, “Can I help you, ladies?Is there anything you’re looking for in particular?”

One of the women was really brazen, answering with, “I’ll take one of him, please.”

Alek busted out laughing but quickly stopped when he saw the look on my face.He ducked his head and fake-coughed to cover up his outburst.

“Well, he’s taken.Sorry.Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Her friend had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed, pulling her from the store.“We’ll be back later, thank you.”

As soon as the door closed, I whipped my head toward Alek. “Did you enjoy yourself, sweetheart?” I mocked.

“You have to admit it was kind of comical.”

“I won’t admit any such thing.You know damn well if it was a man saying such things in reference to me, he would have been knocked out.”He was smiling at me, finding my irritation rather amusing.“Tell me I’m wrong, Alek.”

“No, you’re not wrong.But it’s not the same thing.She was only harmlessly flirting.”

“My anger and jealousy is the same as yours.” I tried not to let his casualness over the whole situation anger me further.“So there is no difference.”

Deciding I wasn’t going to ruin my day, or any time spent with Alek, I turned away and took a deep breath, forcing the aggravation from my body.Most of it, at least.

I knew he was standing behind me before he even touched me.He gave me a minute more before he stepped closer and gripped my hips, pulling me back so I was flush with his large frame.His warm breath caressed my neck, then he kissed the sensitive spot right below my ear.He knew exactly what to do to calm me down.

“So…are you free tonight to go out with Kael and Adara?”

Oh, yeah, he did ask me that before my mini episode.

“Yes, of course.I would love to.What time?” I asked, leafing through the invoices scattered on the table.It’d only been three weeks since we’d last seen them but it felt much longer, so I was happy we were going to spend some time with them.

“I’ll find out and call you a little later on.”Turning me around so I was facing him, he said, “I’m sorry about before.I have to remember you feel jealousy the same as me.But don’t ever forget you’re it for me.Only you.”Then with a quick kiss, he made his way toward the door.

~26~

Sara

The evening couldn’t have gone any better.Adara and Kael were a true pleasure to be around.I was becoming fast friends with both of them.

After dinner, we decided to hit a local night club to do some dancing and hopefully burn off some of the decadent calories we had just consumed.It was mine and Adara’s take on it, at least.The guys couldn’t care less.

Of course, there was no waiting in the long line which stretched halfway down the block.The doorman waved to Alek and gestured us all in immediately.We heard grumblings from the waiting patrons but nothing too bad.There was a part of me that felt guilty we side-stepped all of those other people, but not enough to give it more than a second’s thought.

Once inside, we quickly made our way to the VIP section, sat down and ordered our drinks from the waitress who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.She was quite a looker with her short skirt and too-tight shirt which hadthe girlson display for everyone to see.But I was sure it was done on purpose, working for tips and everything.I glanced at Adara, and we rolled our eyes and laughed.We knew we were being petty, but we didn’t care.

“What are you ladies laughing at?” Kael humorously asked.

“The blatant display of goodies,” Adara fussed back at him. Her husband scrunched his brow in a questioning look, turning toward Alek to see if he was any the wiser to his wife’s comment.He wasn’t.Kael shook his head, leaned closer and gave his wife the sweetest kiss.

The waitress returned in record time, no doubt knowing who she was serving, and passed out our drinks.I had to give it to her; even though she almost stumbled over her words when she was talking to both Kael and Alek, she recovered quite quickly.She also had the decency and respect enough not to eye-fuck our men.She smiled almost as sweetly at both Adara and me, probably to exemplify she knew we were with them.

There would be no more questioning thoughts about the poor woman.She had earned our respect, realizing she was there to do a job and nothing more.That, coupled with the fact neither one of our men bestowed upon her a second glance, was all we needed to clinch the fact we wouldn’t be feeling the familiar pangs of jealousy where she was concerned.

Toward other women…that was a much different story.

At one particular point in the evening, some random chick sidled up to Alek on his way back from the men’s room.She reached up and clutched his upper arm, trying to stop him and pull him closer to her.We all saw the whole scene unfold in front of us.Cautiously, both of them peered over at me, trying to see my reaction.I was doing my best to control my brewing anger, but the drinks I’d consumed were surely stoking that fire.

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