Page 107 of Lies Like Love

“Mark,” some other guy shouts at him from across the bar. But Mark doesn’t bother looking, flipping the guy off instead.

“Fine, your death wish.” Another guy at their table laughs.

Mark ignores the threat and looks at the glass sitting in front of me. “Can I get you another drink?”

“No.”

While I didn’t mind that my head was swimming while talking to Candy, I don’t like that I’m foggy left alone at the bar.

Mark leans closer. Vodka heavy on his breath as he licks his lips. “What if I got you a little something more then.”

“I’m here with someone.” I shift my body as far away from him as I can, elbows on the bar, pretending like it’s enough to ignore him.

“I don’t see him around.” Mark makes a show of pretending to look.

“He’s talking to someone real quick.”

“Talking.” Mark chuckles. “Yeah, I saw him disappear with Daisy into the back.”

My stomach sours.

“Mark,” Candy yells from across the bar. It seems everyone in here knows this is a bad idea except for him.

“Oh, come on,” he says to Candy. “The girl and I are just talking.”

“I have a name.” I pin him with a glare.

He smiles at me finally acknowledging him. “And I’d love to hear it.”

“I’m sure you would.”

“Feisty, I like it. Redheads are always so much fucking fun for that reason.”

He reaches out for my hair, and the energy in the room shifts. Static electricity forming a current. A pulse sweeping my spine.

Because I sense him.

I smell Jude before I see him. Or maybe, his rage is just that palpable. But one moment it’s just me and Mark at the bar and the next, Jude has Mark’s arm twisted behind his back and he’s slamming Mark’s face into the bar top.

“Warned you.” Some guy across the bar laughs at what’s happening.

Jude slams Mark’s face into the bar top again and blood splatters all over it. He shoves Mark from his stool and tosses him to the ground. An animalistic wail releases as Mark slumps to his knees.

But Jude doesn’t acknowledge Mark’s pain. Instead, he turns to me. His pupils blown wide with rage as he scans me. Almost like he’s confirming I’m untouched. Finally, a hint of a dark smile stretches his face, and he moves in to brush my hair off my face.

“Just can’t stay out of fucking trouble, can you, Red?”

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Fel

MyattentionsplitsbetweenJude standing in front of me and Mark, climbing to his feet as he holds his bloody face in his hands.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Did you say he could touch you?”

“No.”

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