Page 40 of Coal
Thea blushes and looks down at her boots. “Fucker,” I say, but I’m smiling, no longer feeling murderous, especially as Thea’s tucked herself close to me. Bolt has put the music back on now that the excitement has died down.
When Iron and Brass are gone, I look at Thea, who, in her boots, stands eye to eye with me. “You look stunning, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” she smiles at me, wrapping her arms around mine and looking around. When she finds my parents, she waves and starts toward them, taking me along with her.
I help her up on the stool next to my mom, who wraps an arm around her in welcome, “Hi, sweetie, you look fantastic.” Thea blushes again as she thanks my mom.
“What can I get you, Thea?” Blue asks.
“Hi, Blue,” Thea greets him sweetly before asking for a whisky on the rocks.
When she’s got her drink, she swings around on her chair, and I step between her legs with my back to her front, ignoring a laughing Copper. Thea says nothing about my possessive stance. She wraps an arm around my waist and turnsto continue a conversation with my mother. I’m just relaxing when I see one of my bad decisions walking towards us. Of course, I should have known that the woman I’d fucked on New Year’s would be here and that she’d not taken my warning seriously that it was one and done.
Copper clocks her too, and his muttered, “Oh fuck,” isn’t as quiet as I think he expects it to be because I know as soon as Thea sees where we’re looking. I’m gutted when she removes her arm, but then I feel her moving, and her legs wrap themselves around my calves.
She pats my shoulder, saying, “I’ll let you handle this, but fair warning, I’ll step in if I feel I have to. And if you think you’re possessive,mo ghrá, you haven’t seen me lay claim yet.”
I only had time to squeeze her knee before the woman’s in front of me, smiling at me with those same calculating green eyes she’d used before. Running her finger down my arm, she purrs. “Hi, handsome, want to have some fun?”
Catching her hand, I remove it from my arm, “No. I told you before it was a fuck and that was it. You agreed. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Ah come on, baby,” she pouts, “we had so much fun. You fucked me so good, I felt you for days.”
Beside me, my mother gags, and I feel Thea shaking behind me. The thing is, without turning, I can’t tell if it’s from laughter or from tears. It better not be tears.
“Look,” I say in frustration, “it’s not happening. I’m married and I don’t cheat. You need to leave. There are plenty of other men around for you to get your rocks off with.”
I can see by the look on her face that she’s not going to let this go, and I was right when she leans forward to whisper, “Your wife won’t know. I mean, how could she? She’s not even here. You’ve fucked me once while married. What’s once more?”
“Feck this shite,” Thea mutters. Her arm flashes out and something wraps around the woman’s neck. I move aside in the nick of time as Thea pulls the woman towards her and gets in her face. Her brown eyes flash with anger, her cheeks flushed. There’s something wrong with me because my cock instantly hardens at my wife looking a little murderous.
“Listen to me, yougeebag,” Thea growls at the wide-eyed woman, who is turning an alarming shade of purple. It’s then that I notice what I thought was a pretty bracelet on Thea is a small chain she snapped around the whore’s neck.Jesus, my woman’s hot when angry.
Deciding I better pay attention to what Thea’s saying, I’m hard put not to laugh when her words match mine almost to the letter to what I’d said to the prick that approached Thea.
“My husband said no.” She shakes the chain slightly, tightening it a bit more, “No means no.” Thea shakes the chain again, “Say it with me now. N.O. means no. Say it with me,you sap. Come on now, don’t be shy. You weren’t when you were pawing at my man.”
Copper is laughing his ass off and my parents are wiping at their eyes, tears of laughter on their cheeks. We’ve gathered an audience again.
Thea isn’t finished, though. Nope. She pushes me away and stands up, towering over the woman in her hold. “What was it you said? His wife wouldn’t know? Well, feck you and the horse you rode in on; his wife knows and she’s the one now telling you NO, so you’d better fecking listen.”
Fucking hell, my wife is stunning. Stunning and hot. I adjust myself in my jeans as Thea sweeps her leg, taking the pain-in-the-ass woman’s legs from under her. Thea adjusts the chain in her hand. I can see right away that she knowsjust how much pressure to put on because the woman draws in a gasping breath that’s abruptly cut off as Thea adjusts it again and drags her towards the doors where Iron and Brass are standing, arms crossed and watching, amusement on their faces as they listen to Thea berate the woman the whole time she’s dragging her across the floor.
“Now, I’m not one for putting other women down,” Thea says conversationally, “but when a man says he’s married and not interested, you need to back the feck off. Because he’s another woman’s, and we have to stick together. Now if you’d listened the first time, I’d have let it go, and we’d have had a drink together, but nooo. Not you.
“He told you three times he wasn’t interested, and he told you he’s married. What type of girl code do you live by?” Thea pauses at the door, unwrapping the chain; she winds it around her wrist, squats down next to the woman and flicks a finger against the woman’s forehead, then looks up and points her finger at all standing watching. “Listen up and listen good, because I’m only going to say this once. That man is mine,” she points her finger at me, then shakes her head as a wide grin breaks over my face.
“And,” she continues, “I’m his. The next person who tries to come between us is going to get hurt.” Her eyes flick down toward the woman who is now sobbing, “Oh, quiet yourself down; you haven’t even got a mark on you.” Thea rolls her eyes in disgust.
Sure enough, when Thea steps back and Brass pulls the woman to her feet, her neck is clear. Copper and I exchange a look. It would be good for Mom and Opal to learn that from Thea.
“It’s your pride that’s hurt,” Thea continues, “Get up and get gone. You are no longer welcome here. We’re done with you.” Suddenly, Thea’s hand shoots out and grabs the woman by her top and she pulls the woman towards her, telling her, “And don’t even think of going to the Garda, because I can assure you it won’t go well for you.”
She pushes her away and smiles sweetly at Iron and Brass. “Would you boys mind seeing her out?”
“With pleasure, Thea,” Iron assures her, taking the woman by the arms and escorting her out.
Thea dusts her hands and turns around to find me right there. She lets out the cutest littleshriek that cuts off as soon as my lips are on hers. I kiss her hard so that nobody is in any doubt that she’s mine. Gripping her hips, I hold her close. Close enough so that she can feel what she does to me.
