Page 16 of Coerced

I was shocked to see Gigi’s hands begin to tremble. Cutting my eyes to her face, I saw her mouth tighten into a white seam.

I don’t understand what’s going on here, but I’m going to intervene if he doesn’t disappear soon.

“Please leave.” Her voice quavered a bit. “I’m not playing this game.”

“But I don’t want to leave,ma trésor.”

Remi reached out, snagged one of her curls, and tried to use it to tug her face closer to his. She didn’t move, even though he was pulling hard enough that it probably hurt to stay still.

“Okay, that’s it.” I jumped to my feet, grabbed his wrist, and used a move Kerry had taught me to make him let go.

He did, but then he laughed and pulled out the chair like he was going to sit down. Shock made me speechless. He seemed to think that I’d issued an invitation to stay!

“Remi, I gave you my gratitude, my reasons, and my request.” Gigi laid her phone on the table and brought up her contacts. “Now I’m giving you to my boyfriend, Jax.”

“Jax?” That got his attention. “Jax as in JaxKosta?”

“That’s him.” Her finger poised over her phone, she glared up at him.

“Non!Don’t call him!” He pushed in the chair, then raised both hands. “I intended no disrespect.Désolé.”

She lowered her hand, but left her phone where it was.

Remi’s confidence was still high, though, and he turned to me.

“What about you,mapetit? Do you have plans for tonight?”

“You’re not too picky, are you?” I sat back down and folded my arms. “Any girl will do?”

“What can I say? I enjoy spending time with lovely ladies.” He wore that cocky grin again.

“I’m in a committed relationship, too.” I held up my index finger when he opened his mouth. “And if you’re afraid of Jax Kosta, you’ll be terrified of Kerry Harker.”

That knocked the swagger out of him.

“The demon taint? You’rehislady?” Backing away, he stumbled over his own feet. “Je suis navré!”

Then he whirled and ran.

“How about that, Gigi? Just our boys’ names act as a shield of protection around us.” Grinning, I glanced over at her.

Her hands shook harder. She lowered them to her lap and clasped them together so tightly, the tips of her fingernails turned to white crescents against red skin.

“Hold it together for a minute more,” I murmured. “Queen and Shayla are looking this way.”

She gave me a jerky nod.

“What can I do? You want me to call Jax?”

“No. Talk to me. Distract me.”

I took her at her word and jabbered on about our project.

“I like your idea of keeping it simple. We’re not dealing with elevated minds here. We could use the slogan, ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’ I know it’s cliche, but it says everything we want it to.”

I sketched the words out onto a piece of scrap paper as I talked, trying to decide between cursive or print lettering.

“The others should be here soon. Tara had trouble coming up with a plan that wouldn’t make John suspicious. Kerry was easy. I told him we were studying at the library and presto! He disappeared. Good thing he asked Jax to work out with him and Matt Farley. That solved your problem, too. Plus, with Jax there, I don’t have to worry about anything happening to Matt.”

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