Page 17 of Stone Cold Bad
Reluctantly, I delivered the beers over to the three creepy customers.Now that the women had joined the Stone brothers, I was exceptionally glad not to have their table.I could put up with a few rude comments and lascivious tongue movements if it meant not having to wait on Colt while some girl was wrapped around him.
I forced a polite smile as I placed the beers down on the table.The three men sat silently and watched me.I was just about to make a clean escape with my tray, but as I turned, the man with the scar leaned over and grabbed my ass.
The only thing I’d heard was a shocked female gasp and a chair scraping the ground.A stunned silence followed.I hadn’t seen him grab the guy.Hell, I hadn’t even seen him move across the room.Colt had the man who’d grabbed me in his grasp.Then, in one fluid movement, he threw the man against the wall.His friends flew out of the booth and lunged at Colt, but Hunter and Slade, who had raced over too, made a wall with their bodies.
Jack came out of his office with a sawed off baseball bat.“Damnit, Colt, you’re going to pay if there’s any damage.”
“No damage, Jack.Just this asshole’s face, but considering how fucking ugly—” Colt raised his fist to hit the man.
“No!”I yelled.“Stop, Colt.What the hell are you doing?”
He looked at me.It seemed he’d almost surprised himself with his actions.
“Let him go.”I broke into sobs and raced out the door.
I had no place to run.I had nothing.I had no car, no home, no family.Staying with Ray would have been like staying in hell, but now that I’d stepped out into the world, the reality of my bleak situation was smacking me hard.I leaned against the back of Amy’s car and covered my face to cry.
Footsteps crunched the gravel in the parking lot.I lifted my face from my hands.Colt stood nearby, looking dangerous and confused and a little less angry than a few seconds before.
“That little testosterone exhibition will get me fired, and I really needed that job.”A laugh popped from my mouth.“I ran out here and realized I didn’t even have a fucking car to hide in.I’ve got nothing, and now I’ll be out of a job.”
“I’ll talk to Jack.He won’t fire you.I’m sorry, Jade.I saw that guy grab you and— I’m sorry.”He turned around and took three steps, then stopped.“No.You know what?Fuck it.”He strode toward me.I gasped as he grabbed my arms.“I’m not fucking sorry.”His mouth slammed down over mine.The kiss was punishing, hard, hungry and I wanted more.My lips parted farther, and his kiss deepened, making my knees weaken to butter.
I was nearly breathless when he lifted his mouth from mine.His eyes were vivid green as he gazed down at me.“Seeing that guy touch you was too much.I couldn’t stop myself.Before I knew it, I was flying across that bar thinking, he touched you and I was going to have to pound him for it.No one fucking touches you except me.”His mouth came down over mine again.He held me so tightly, I was sure he’d squeeze the breath from me.“Since I had you pressed up against the wall in that closet, I knew that you had to be mine,” he whispered against my mouth.
My mind was a hurricane of emotions, but his last words were like a fist to my chest.I stepped back and pulled away from his arms.The last thing I needed was to be another man’s possession.Even a man as heartbreaking as Colt.
He stared at me with a look of hurt as if now he’d taken a fist to the chest.I wiped my tears away and took a breath.If I had any chance at independence, I was going to have to stop crying like a little girl.I walked past him, leaving him standing in the parking lot as I returned to my job.
THIRTEEN
COLT
Istared up at the stains on my ceiling where rainwater had seeped in through the shabby roof and soaked the attic.It had been a shitty fucking day, starting with a gun to my head and ending with a major slap to my ego.I’d shocked the hell out of myself with my reaction in the bar.The second that jerk’s hand flew to Jade’s ass, I’d exploded with rage.I’d come to Amy’s rescue more than once when someone had been rude to her.Although most local guys knew not to bother her because Hunter would tear them to shreds.But this had been different.This had been an overwhelming urge to pound someone for getting near Jade.I had no apology for what I’d done because I was damn sure I’d do it again.
It was the last thing I ever wanted, to feel this way about someone.Attachments like this were only followed by heartbreak, and I wasn’t into heartbreak.I wasn’t into fucking attachments.Jade was determined to get out on her own as soon as possible, and it seemed that was for the best.Just as I had that thought, there was a tiny knock at the door.
She opened it without me answering.Jade stepped into the room wearing the t-shirt she’d borrowed from me to sleep in.The thought of her naked body under my t-shirt was so erotic, she might as well have whispered the words, ‘fuck me’ in my ear.I sat up and swung my legs over the bed.She looked small and lost and sad standing in the middle of my room, but I fought the urge to pull her into my arms.
Her lips parted to speak, but it took her a second to get the words out.“So, I’m laying out there on your lumpy couch thinking about stuff.First of all, it’s really lonely and quiet out there, and I kept hearing this crinkling sound under my head.Someone had shoved a half-eaten bag of potato chips under the cushion.Who does that?”
I wasn’t completely sure where this was going, but she was talking to me and that was all that mattered.“Probably Slade, he wears the slob crown around here.”
“Not that, well yeah, that’s definitely a slob thing.I mean who wastes a perfectly good bag of potato chips?”
I smiled and still fought the urge to walk across the room and grab her.
Her face smoothed, the smile faded and she crossed her arms over herself.She took a breath.“The thing is, Colt, I don’t want to be owned.”Her soft words drifted around the room.“I’ve been there, and I don’t like it.”
I stood up.She gazed at my naked body.My cock had been hard since she’d walked into the room.I stopped just a few feet from her.She lifted her eyes to my face.
“That guy touched you tonight and something snapped deep in my chest.I don’t know anything about love, Jade.I grew up with fear, pain and every other emotion, but love wasn’t part of it.All I know is the instinct to protect.My brothers and I learned early on to protect each other and our mom, but I never thought of it as love.It was just this instinctual part of me that knew there were certain people that I would protect with my fucking life.Amy is part of that circle, but I’ve never felt that way about any other woman until I met you.When I held you in that foil blanket on the boat that night, all I could think was— just let that fucking douche try to come near her again.He wouldn’t have a chance against me.I’d rip him to fucking pieces.So, I’m sorry if my attempt at showing that I care about you is a little?—”
“Primitive?”she asked with a faint smile.
I scrubbed my hair back with my fingers.“Yeah, primitive.It’s the only way I know to show someone that they mean something to me.”
She smiled again, but this time it was a flirty one.Her mood had lightened.She stepped closer to just within my reach.“I’ll bet you can think of some other ways to show it if you give it a little thought.”She reached down, took hold of the hem of the t-shirt and inched it up to expose her panties.Then she stopped.My breath stopped with it.
