Page 14 of Blossom in Shadows

His fingers dig into my hip and something dangerous flashes in his eyes. “I don’t think you really want me to.” When he runs the tip of his nose up the column of my neck, I cringe. He breathes against my skin, “How about a private dance.”

I wrench myself away from him and shake my head. “I’m not that kind of dancer.”

His lip curls up in a sneer. “Really?” He looks me up and down as if undressing me, as if he has a right to do so. “You look like a whore up there in the cage, just waiting for someone to buy you.”

My skin goes ice cold and my lungs stall with his words. Is that how people see me? Or is it only him? Is it how Elio sees me?

That has tears welling up in my eyes and hurting me more than the man’s words do. I push that feeling back because now is not the time to show any weakness.

“You should let me have you like the slut you are,” his words are acid against my skin. “Up there shaking your ass for everyone to see and ogle. If that doesn’t make you a whore, I don’t know what does.” At my silence, triumph enters his eyes, and he stands a bit taller.

Before I can shake myself out of my thoughts, out of the fear that the words this man has spewed are true, I feel a presence at my back. A large arm wraps around me and spins me so I’m behind him and he looms in front of the stranger thinking I’m up for grabs.

I relax when I find it’s Sergio standing there. It might not make me strong but having someone step between me and this fucking creep has me standing tall again and shaking off his disgusting words and accusations.

The man holds up his hands, “Hey man, how about we go in on buying her together and we can both have a taste?”

I gasp and Sergio takes a threatening step closer. His voice is lethal, “You have no idea who you’re fucking with. This woman is under Agosti protection.”

The stranger pales slightly, but when he looks at me, his eyes ogle me as if he can’t help himself. It makes me feel small.

Sergio speaks over his shoulder, “Go to the office. I’ll take care of the trash.”

My feet are moving without even thinking about it. I know Elio is going to be pissed when he finds out what just happened, but right now I don’t even care. I want the warmth and the affection I seem to only find in his arms. He’s the only one who can give me back the feeling of freedom which I’ve been robbed of.

CHAPTER 7

ELIO

A red haze clouds my mind as I watch Zinnia make her way toward the office on the security cameras. I don’t move my eyes away from her to make sure Sergio is dealing with the man who dared to put his hands on my woman. I trust him to not only send a message, but to find out who the man is so I can follow up, personally, later.

Right now, my only concern is my little queen who looks frightened and defeated. It only makes me want to kill the man more.

She was glowing, a fucking radiant goddess, when she stepped out of the cage and headed toward the bar. As much as I wanted to go to her, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her even for a moment, but it was for an entirely different reason than it is right now.

I have no idea what that piece of shit said to my woman, but I’ll find out. Whatever it was, it made her shoulders slump and caused the broken pieces of her, which had been healing so beautifully, to shatter again. I can see the shards sticking out of her. I can only hope all the pieces are there so I can put her back together.

Her knock is weak, and she doesn’t wait for me to answer before she opens the door and walks in, her shoulders hunched and her eyes on the ground.

“Zinnia,” my voice comes out harsher than I intended, but this is exactly what I feared from the moment I put aside my own primal instincts for her happiness.

Her head snaps up and the defeat I see in her brown eyes, the pain, the pure fucking horror and fear, has me standing and making my way closer to her. When I reach out for her, she flinches. It makes me want to roar and go down to the floor right now and shoot that bastard right between his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” her voice is a broken discordant sound that grates against everything in me which wants to see my woman happy.

I grip her shoulders, needing to touch her, needing the connection. “What happened?”

I saw it, but I need her words, I need to know from her sweet lips. Her entire frame is shaking, and I pull her against my chest, giving her some of my warmth and, hopefully, my strength. Holding her is the only thing keeping me in this room right now.

“You’re always watching, Elio, I’m sure you know what happened,” she mumbles against my chest.

“Tell me,” I demand, a demon in my voice which won’t be denied.

“I went to the bar to get a drink of water because I was feeling so good, and I didn’t want to go and shut myself off in the back. I wanted to feel the high for a few more minutes. That man came up to me and grabbed me around the waist. He asked for a private dance.” I suck in a sharp breath, but before I can be overtaken by rage, she starts to rush out the rest of the words. “I told him we don’t do that here, but he told me I was dancing like a whore so he must be able to buy me.”

I growl, the sound loud and thunderous and backed up by the bass from the music in the club. It sounds ominous. Because it fucking is.

Zinnia clings to me as I slowly back her up, using my bulk and my grip on her. She whimpers, but I can tell it’s not from any pain in her knee. It’s a sound filled with fear.

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