Page 85 of Under Their Protection

“I don’t want to hurt you, Anika,” he sighs.

“It’s okay if you’re becoming more submissive, Theo. This is a safe space to open up,” I say with a conniving smile.

“Oh shit,” Annie bursts out laughing. “Is he still afraid to hurt you?”

“Yeah,” I say as I break away from Theo’s stare and look at her.

“My advice is to just keep pushing. He will break eventually,” she laughs.

“Keep calling him a submissive and he might just bend you over in the middle of this restaurant,” Andrew smirks and gestures at Theo who is staring a hole into me.

I turn and look at him and Theo is glaring at me. “You look upset, Theo. Was it something I said?” I ask with a sweet smile.

“Here we are, guys,” the server says as she sets our pizzas on the table.

“We are good,” I say with a smile.

Theo finally breaks his stare and we all eat. I hurry and finish first before faking a bathroom trip to give my debit card to the server. If anything will make him break, it will be me paying for everyone.

When I get back to the table Rowan immediately knows what I’ve done and laughs.

“What? What’d you do?” Max asks me.

“You’ll see.” I giggle when I see the server coming over with my card and the receipt.

“Here’s your card back,” she smiles at me. She hands me the card, receipt, and a pen. When I start to quickly fill the receipt out beforeTheo can take it from me, she waits. I sense that she knows I am not supposed to be paying for everyone.

“Here’s your pen also,” I say as I hand her the receipt and her pen back.

“You all have a great weekend,” she says before walking away, laughing.

“Thank you for dinner,” Annie says with an all-knowing smile.

“You are most welcome,” I reply with a grin.

Theo doesn’t say anything until we all get to the parking lot. “Anika, how many times have we asked you to stop paying for everyone?” he asks calmly.

“About as many as I’ve told you that you won’t hurt me,” I shrug.

“That is not the same, Anika,” he frowns at me.

“Look, someone gotta be the dominant one here,” I say as I step away from him. Theo grabs my waist and backs me against the truck.

“Stop saying that,” he requests.

“What? That you’re going soft on me?” I ask and he grows more tense. “We can go somewhere private and talk if you don’t feel comfortable opening up here.” Mia laughs heartily at me pushing Theo.

“Anika,” Theo growls.

“I wonder if he’s into pegging now?” Mia asks and everyone laughs.

“You need to calm it down, little girl,” Theo growls.

“Or what?” I ask with a smile and Rowan chuckles. “Will you gently teach me a lesson, Theo?”

“You are pushing me, Anika,” he warns.

“Am I? I was afraid maybe you might have started to believe all the bad things I say about myself,” I say simply. Knowing I’ve definitely won now, I go to step away. Theo wraps his hand around my throat and pushes me against the truck before getting in my face.

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