Page 44 of Twisted Obsession

“Marcus! Scott!” I called, knowing they would know to follow the one in the SUV preparing to run. Sirens sounded, but the driver was screeching away from the scene, leaving his dead buddy sliding the rest of the way down the side of the vehicle and hitting the road.

“Mr. Knox, please settle down!” The security guard in front of me yelled as his buddy gripped me in a bearhug from behind. I didn’t fight. All eyes were on me and the bloody asshole who had crumpled to the floor, coughing up blood.

The diners weren’t clued in to what was happening outside. But, they didn’t matter. My main concern was keeping as much of the bad from Regina as I could. If images of her dead cousin were surfacing, she was suffering more than she admitted. I’d rather her think me a crazy asshole than to know that motherfuckers had already started their quest to snatch her.

“Mr. Knox, are you okay?” The security officer questioned as he continued to hold me from behind. I nodded and allowed him to release me. The restaurant manager bent to check on the asshole I’d beaten.

The restaurant owner was a loyal member of one of my clubs. He glanced up at me from the bloody asshole he kneeled next to and gave me a knowing head nod. Regina skirted away from my hand when I reached for her.

“Let’s go,” I ordered, my voice firm and demanding. I pointed her in the direction we were going in and gave her a gentle nudge, despite her being disgusted with me. She didn’t ask why I was leading her through the kitchen and towards a back door. Her pinched expression and stiff postured revealed her anger as we walked out of the door and stepped up to my waiting and already running car. I helped her in but didn’t close the door.

“I forgot something,” I informed her. “I’ll be right back.”

She nodded and gazed straight ahead with her lips tightly pinched. She’d seen the devil in me slip out, and she was deciding if she could deal with him or not. Hell, she’d grown up around a devil her whole life—she just didn’t know it at the time.

I jogged back into the restaurant, glancing back at her briefly before the view of her was taken away when I opened the door and stepped inside.

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