Page 80 of Set Me On Fire

Was that why Millie took the job? It hadn’t made sense. Why blow me off if she was just gonna take over Judy’s position? But if I was a woman that got unexpectedly pregnant, who found herself jobless over Christmas…

Maybe that would sound like a totally reasonable thing to do.

I went still.

“You keep your mouth shut and I’ll do the same.”

“No.” What the fuck had Dave intended to do, sexually assault Millie? At what point would he have stopped? I sucked in one breath, then another, before lunging forward. I shoved him up against the wall, loving the way his mouth went slack. He knew he’d fucked up. It took serious effort not to punch his teeth down his throat most days, but now…

He was going to hurt the mother of my child.

Something snapped inside my head, a thin whining sound growing and growing as Dave tried to claw himself free. It’d never work. I was bigger, taller, stronger, better, and he was about to find out exactly what kind of mistake he’d made.

“No…” Millie’s face swam into view, cutting through the red haze when Dave’s grunts did nothing but egg me on. “Charlie, I need you to let him go.”

No, she didn’t. She just needed me. I’d look after Millie, the intensity of that feeling taking me by surprise, but I was glad for it. Sometimes in all the haze and smoke, all you could do was look for the point of light that indicated the way out and run for it. I stared into her eyes.

I was running.

Being a dad wasn’t even on my mind, but all of a sudden I could see it, a little girl with her fair hair, looking up at me like I made the world. I smiled slightly, seeing myself throwing her up onto my shoulders, listening to her giggle as I ran her around the room. I’d be the best dad, the best I could be, and?—

“I need this job,” she said.

“No.”

Her lips thinned and that fire in her eyes, it wasn’t the warm kind from that night. It burned ice cold and straight into me.

“You can drag Dave into Brent’s office, but I’m not saying anything.” She shot him a dark look when he let out a wheezy laugh. “Because you will not come within ten feet of me or anyother woman that exists in this building. I have three brothers who are big bastards.” Dave’s smile faded as quickly as it formed. “They’re handy with a wrench and a nail gun. If they hear about what you tried to do to me?” I felt his Adam’s apple bob. “You’ll wish you were hauled up to deal with HR, because there won’t be enough left of you for your family to identify.”

I hated the moment he pushed me off. I hated letting him, but Dave wasn’t my focus, Millie was. He watched the moment my hands rose, flexing on air, wanting to pull her closer, but I couldn’t, not until I knew she wanted that. The dumb fuck snorted at that.

“Good luck with your cum dump?—”

I’d apologise later, but my reflexes were fast and my self-control was slow. I cracked the cunt straight in the face, forcing him back with a yelp.

“We’re getting out of here.”

I steered Millie out of the station, into the car park, and towards my truck, unlocking it before we got within ten feet of it. I hoisted her up into the driver’s seat all over again, stepping into the space between her legs. My hands moved, skimming over her arms, hands, face, looking for signs of injury like I did after any other disaster, before meeting her eyes.

“You OK?” I needed an answer to that right now. “He hurt you? You can tell me. I’ll sort it out.”

It was her hand coming to rest on my cheek that had me going still, just staring up at her. I remembered that smile, sweet with just a little mocking edge, as she shook her head.

“I think we’ve done enough. You punched him out. I kneed him in the nuts and did my best to break his nose.”

“Yeah?” I was grinning like a fucking idiot as I raised my knuckles for her to bump. “Damn, my baby mumma kicks arse…”

Of course that was when all the joy was sucked out of the moment. My face fell when hers did, something much more serious, more vulnerable rising in her eyes.

“I wanted to tell you.”

“Hey, it's OK.”

Fuck, it felt good, rubbing my hands on her thighs to try and soothe her.

“I did not want to take this job, but there was nothing else, and my parents were losing their freaking minds. Things are starting to settle down.” She waved a hand. “I can find something else.”

“Don’t.” It felt like she was slipping through my fingers, right when I’d just gotten her back. “This is a good place to work, the job has great benefits. It’d be perfect…” My eyes dropped down and I shook my head. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. Can you walk me through this whole thing?”

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