Page 118 of Set Me On Fire

“What did ‘that prick’ say?”

Knox folded his arms, making clear that he wanted answers and now.

“Amber started dating that idiot a week ago,” Savannah explained. “We keep telling her she can do better, but apparently he love bombed her into oblivion.”

“Amber always has had terrible taste in men,” the petite girl with long, black hair said, tossing it over her shoulder. “Half the time we come along on dates just to stop her from doing something stupid.”

“‘David,’” Savannah said his name like it was a kind of poison or something, “said that there were some guys at his work that were seriously hot.” Her eyes slid down Charlie’s body again until Millie stepped between them with a meaningful look. “With an overbearing sister who always cock blocked them. He asked us to come to the pub and see if we could help.”

“That dickhead…”

My hands were forming fists, just as they had when I heard what Dave had tried to do with Millie, but this time he was within punching range. A fight would get us banned from this place, but it’d be worth it.

“You’re not their sister,” the brunette said, pointing at Millie. “Oh my god, you're the girlfriend, right?” Millie nodded. “I am so, so sorry. We’re totally girls-girls.” She turned to her friends and they all nodded empathically. “We’d never make a move on another woman’s man. So which one’s yours?”

“Um…”

Millie’s pause was telling, and the girls’ eyebrows shot to their hairlines before they all started laughing.

“All of them?” Savannah looked at us with fresh eyes. “Damn, girl, show me your ways.”

“It’s something we’re keeping really, really quiet,” Millie said as she eyed the room around us. “We all work at the same place.”

“Say no more.” The brunette mimed locking her lips. “Well, enjoy yourself and your harem of hotties, because we’ve got another job to do.”

“Amber needs a wakeup call, stat,” Savannah said.

“She’s leaving, even if I have to drag her out by her hair,” the girl with the black hair said. “She deserves better.”

“All women do.” Millie stood taller, then stared across the room at Dave. “If he’s been dating your friend for a week, that means he tried it on with me during that time.” Her focus swung back to them. “And he looked like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. You need to get your friend the hell away from him.”

“On it.”

Savannah and her friends didn’t say anything more, striding across the room. Dave looked shocked, then irritated, and my hand gripped the cue tighter when I saw him grab Amber’s arm.

My eyes suddenly became laser sharp, catching the way her flesh dimpled, the skin going white around it. A little look of pain had my teeth grinding together. No, no fucking way was he getting away with this shit, I thought furiously, because I knew what this was like. To have someone stronger, harder, faster hurting you, and even when you tried to jerk yourself away, you failed. That powerlessness threatened to overwhelm me, shove me right back to high school, but I knew I wasn’t there. I was big enough, strong enough, to put Dave down, and that’s just what I’d do.

Only for Millie to stand in my way.

“He wants a scene.” Her voice was cool and calm right when I was feeling anything but. “A fight would be even better. If you lose your shit at him, then he can blame anything else that comes up at work on the fact that you obviously hate him.”

I didn’t want to listen. I shook my head, as if that would dislodge her cool reasoning, but it didn’t. My eyes went to her, always to Millie.

“He can’t keep getting away with this shit.” I tried to keep my tone civil but failed. “He can’t keep having a crack at you, Millie.”

I wanted to get close to her, hold her against me and press my lips to her hair. I wanted to breathe her in, feel her against me. It was only then I’d be able to slow my heart rate, convince myself that everything was OK.

“He can’t, but right now…” She turned around in time to see a very angry group of women berating Dave so loudly, hands waving, that he was forced to down his beer and scuttle away like the rat he was. “He’s got other problems. Those girls look like they could take him out in the car park, whereas you…”

She moved and placed all the balls back in the triangle, setting them up for a new game.

“Need to see if you can win this game.” She removed the triangle and hit the white ball, potting several balls straight away. “We’ll play this as a round robin. Whoever ends up beating me gets to take me home tonight.”

Suddenly I couldn’t have given the slightest shit about Dave. I grabbed my cue and went to survey the table.

Chapter 53

Charlie

---