Page 61 of With Wine Comes War

ROMAN

Abby, Maggie and the guys were getting ready to leave so they wanted to dance with Alex one more time by themselves and the three of them went out to the dance floor

“Well, we’re going to have to get out of here and get back to the kids. Thanks for the invite. This was fun.I’ll be reaching out this week about the case and we can go over strategy, ok.” Matt said and I shook his hand before getting up to look over the balcony. I saw the girls dancing together and Amelia and Harrison dancing not too far from them.

“Who’s that guy?” I said pointing to some guy all over Alex. She looked rather uncomfortable, and it was sparking some anxiety that was bubbling up in my chest.

Matt looked worried when he said through gritted teeth, “Shit. We need to get down there.”

“Who is that?” I squinted to get a better look, but they were too far, and it didn’t look like Tanner. Maybe it was some guy she used to know but either way it didn’t sound like someone good.

“Luke, Alex’s ex.Harrison is in his face right now and Luke likes to fight.” We hurried down there, because now I was in the mood to fight.

We pushed through the crowd on the dance floor, and I nudged Alex as I shoved him away from her but not enough to start a fight. However, he ended up saying something that relieved me of any other good sense I may have had, including the sense where I wasn’t going to beat the shit out of him.

I turned back to look at Harrison giving him a look that conveyed exactly what I was asking of him.Not to watch me but to watch Alex and make sure she stayed out of this. She didn’t need any more ammo against her going into that court hearing.As soon as I knew Harrison had her secure, I turned back around and punched the asshole right in the face.His friends rushed me to help him out, but Matt and Jack were there to help. I grabbed the asshole by his shirt and pulled him up off the floor then I hit him again. I held him with one hand twisted in his shirt while I pummeled him with the other. I felt his nose break and possibly one of my knuckles, but the pain was drowned out by the intense anger flowing through me. I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off looking to see who it was before I took a swing at them. Luckily it was Matt, and it snapped me out of my rage. He and Jack were shaking their heads trying to get me to stop. I pulled back long enough to let him go with a shove to the back of his head as he was stumbling away. After what he did to Alex, I’d like to do a lot more than that.

“Excuse me but all of you are going to have to leave. It comes from management. You can’t be fighting in here.” The bouncer reached past me and shook Harrison’s hand. I was glad to be getting thrown out, but I knew that’s all that was going to happen. I guess it’s a good thing Harrison does know people in this place, or we could’ve had the police instead of just bouncers and management throwing us out.

I brought Alex upstairs to collect our things. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight until we were in the car. I could have screwed up her case if the cops had shown up. We needed to get the hell out of here.

In the car she ripped her hand away from mine and got some distance. It’s probably a good idea right now, I can’t say that I blame her, the anger is still radiating off of me. I could feel my jaw ticking as I clenched my teeth. If I don’t let up, I’m going to crack a tooth. She slumped back in the seat and let out a deep sigh then looked cautiously at me. I needed to calm down, I think I’m scaring her.

I eased my way over to her, wrapping my arm gently around her, “I think we should just chill out and do low key stuff until this case is over.” Her head fell reluctantly onto my chest, and I laid my cheek on her head taking a deep breath, inhaling some of her calm for once, although she still seemed so fraught with anxiety.

“You two can do whatever you want.” Harrison groaned, looking annoyed at the two of us.“Amelia and I will stay away from all of you.” He scanned between the two of us holding his gaze on me asking the silentquestion, "am I ok?”He knew this side of me better than anyone. I used to take my anger out on him when we were kids. I nodded but not sure that I really am ok right now.

Chapter 16

ALEX

As soon as we got in the penthouse, I hurried into the bedroom to get these clothes off. I felt so constricted in these pants. Roman snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I jerked at the surprise embrace which got me stuck in the pants more.

“Help me get these off please, they’re so tight.” I groaned as he flipped me onto my back aggressively on the bed as he tried to pull the leatherpants off.

“How the hell did you get these on?” He strained as he yanked hard on the pants and finally, they came off. He almost hit the floor with them.

I let out the breath I was holding and said, “Crisco.” We were both laughing, thank God, as the pants lay nicely on the floor– off my body.

“Would you like to take a shower?”

I nodded my head and reached my hands out to him to help me up and he led me to the ensuite to join him in the shower.

While holding my body so close to his under the warm stream of water he said, “How are you after what happened this evening?” I stared up at him running my hands up and down his back with the sponge wondering how I should really answer this question.

“Fine.” There was no confidence behind that response. “I got to spend good quality time with my friends. It was fun until we got kicked out.” I took a quick glance at him to test his mood. He was massaging shampoo into my hair without paying any attention to my words. My head fell back, and I felt his lips on my neck, and I moaned.

“Yeah, all in all it was a really good time.” he said as he kissed up and down my neck on both sides. He was trying to distract me, and it was almost working.

He leaned down and took my breast in his mouth, paying special attention to my nipple, sucking and biting as my knees began to give way.Ohh.He started to kiss his way down my body as he reached between my legs. “Except you seemed like an attack dog or something that was let off the leash.” I said breathlessly. He immediately stopped and stood up abruptly.Shit,Maybe I should’ve waited for him to finish what he was doing.

“Do you know anything that can really hurt someone?” He seemed skeptical or maybe hopeful that I didn’t but why was he turning this around on me?

“Yes, a lot of things.” He had a truly worried look on his face now.

“I thought you might and that’s the reason I stepped in. You don’t need to fuck up your chances with this court hearing coming up.” He groaned as he pulled me tightly to his body, smothering my face to his chest.Is that really the reason, though?

“Ok, fine, but I need you to know something.” I pushed away, taking his face in my palms and directed him to look at me but his arms were still wrapped around me not letting me move, so we barely had any space to look at each other. “I think the training Bruce is giving me really is working.” I pulled away a little more so he could see I truly meant what I was saying. “I feel like I have control. I mean Luke was definitely getting under my skin but not enough for me to lose control.” Now Tanner might be another story. I thought as my mind took a stroll through the Tanner Ellington park I created in there.

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