Page 69 of Romania
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
The woman gripped at me. At my hair and tee, she pushed and pulled. Pinched and slapped, yelling, “Get off him, you whore. Leave him alone.”
“Eve?”
“Security. Step away from each other.” The guard held up a Taser and waited for me to release my foot. When I moved off to the side, I placed the coffee cup on one of the shelves and watched the old guy sucking in some hard breaths before the woman dropped to her knees next to him.
“It’s her fault. She attacked us,” the woman screamed. “Darling, are you okay?”
The guy shoved her back and sat up. “I want to press charges,” he said.
“No!” Eve exclaimed. She straightened and took a step closer. “She was saving me. They came in here and started shouting and threatening. Anna witnessed it.” Eve pointed to her nodding manager.
“They noticed Eve up front. She tried to walk off quickly, but they followed her. They shoved her and got in her face. She did nothing to provoke them, and then Eve’s friend arrived to try and help Eve by moving them away.”
“She threw a drink in my face,” the woman bellowed.
“Lewis, going to need a hand in Rosies,” the guard said into his walkie-talkie.
“On my way,” Lewis replied.
Slowly, I shifted over to where Eve stood shaking. Reaching out, I took her hand in both of mine to hold them against my chest. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head.
Gently, I pulled her into a hug. “Do you know them?” I whispered.
I turned when I heard the guard instruct, “On your feet and come with us.”
“But it wasn’t us. It was them,” the woman barked. The guards didn’t listen to them, and they got the couple to their feet before they escorted them out.
The woman didn’t shut up, though. “You stupid bitch. You’re doing this to your own parents. You ungrateful little slut.”
Her parents?
Her fucking parents acted like this and said those horrid things to her.
I wanted to hurt them again, but worse than I already had.
If I’d known who they were, I would have done more.
Facing Eve, I took her hand and led her to the back room before shutting the door on the woman’s screaming.
“Fuck,” Eve muttered, hands covering her face.
I took her wrist, guiding her over to a seat. When she sat, I crouched in front of her, placing the bag with her and Quake’s gift on the floor beside me. “Don’t listen to a thing they said, Eve.” I rested a hand to her knee. “There are people in our lives who don’t deserve to be there. Those people are two of them. What they say means nothing. They don’t know you, and they’ll never have the chance to know how amazing you are. Fuck them.”
She drew in a shuddering breath. “Fuck them.”
I smiled. “Exactly. Now, I’m going to suggest you take the rest of the day off. We can grab some takeaway, go back to the compound, and relax while watching one of those movies you like to rewatch. Or we could get drunk. Or I could leave you with Quake so he can snuggle all the love into you, like you deserve, so you know you’re wanted and needed and important. Because you are, Eve. You’re fucking awesome.”
She dropped forward to rest her forehead on my shoulder. My heart hammered. I hoped I didn’t overstep or suggest the wrong thing. I didn’t want to upset her. She was already hurt by those horrid cock-sucking pricks.
Should I text Quake to tell him what happened?
Maybe I should let Tech know about it, too, since those people were connected to him as well. He’d likely want to make sure they never talked to Eve again.
Hell, Quake and Tech would probably want to pay those fuckers a visit, and I’d love to go with them too.
