Page 19 of Luxe

And it’s a mistake. In that split second of losing focus, a behemoth appears out of the building and charges at her.

My entire body ices over with fear.

Somewhere, something, somegodgifts me with temporary Herculean speed and strength. I leap over the side of the convertible and sprint towards Kiara.

I’m just half a second late, though, and he’s already grabbing her by the shoulders when I reach her. He yanks her away but is still unbalanced from the momentum of charging at her. I take advantage of it by ramming my whole 6 feet 5 inches at him, every cell in my body jarring from the effort, but it works. He stumbles to the side letting her go. I have to force myself to focus on him and not check up on her; there’ll be time to do that later.

"Grab your friend and get in the car!" I yell and only hope she listens.

"Kylian!" she shouts from somewhere behind me, but through the thudding of my pulse in my ears, I can hear her shuffle to her feet and yell to her friend to get up.

Behemoth regains his balance and swings back to face me. His bald head is sweating, and he grins as he lifts his fists, pulling his feet into a fighting stance.

A few years in Nathan’s Muay Thai class aren’t going to cut it against this walking boulder. My hardest punch is probably going to feel like a tickle to his abdomen.

I take a step back, lifting my own fists, ready to protect my face and my sides.

He sniffs, rubbing the back of his hand across his nose and then lunges towards me.

I jump to the side and then towards him, catching the side of his chest with a swing punch that hurts my arm more than it hurts him. But there’s no time to recover. I swing my knee forward with every ounce of strength I have; it catches his groin and he falls to the ground like a landslide. I shove him so he’s all the way down, the adrenaline pumping. A flash of him grabbing Kiara plays on a loop in my mind, and I pull my leg back, ready to land a kick to the side of his head.

"Kylian! He’s down, let’s go!" Kiara yells from the car.

Somehow her voice penetrates the anger and I lean over him, as his face is scrunched up in pain.

"What made you think you could put your hands on her?"

"You tell whoever sent you that if I ever get even the slightest sniff that he’s thinking about her, I will come up and burn this shit pile to the ground. Do you hear me?"

I grab his sweaty face and force him to look at me. "I said do you understand?’

Once he grunts, I let go and run to the car, jumping into the driver’s seat and pulling out into the road.

No one says anything for almost a minute.

"Are you okay?" I ask and she nods. "And… your friend?"

"Li Fern. I think so. Maybe a little in shock."

Hands on the wheel, I ask, "Okay, where are we going?"

"Back to where you picked me up. Please. I’m going to drop her off there."

I nod.

There is going to be time for questions. Now isn't it. Because I can’t trust myself not to do something drastic with the man who just roughed her up. Something… that we might not be able to come back from.

I breathe, feeling the fear and adrenaline subside. My fingers itch to reach across and touch her to know for myself that she's okay, but that might be another one of those things I will live to regret.

Her face is pale, her honey brown eyes bright, fingers fidgeting with the pepper spray in her hand.

It’s hard not to wonder what would've happened if I hadn’t been there.

seven

Kiara

"Thanks, Ananya. Call me in the morning tomorrow," I say and close the door behind me, leaning against it for a moment with my eyes closed.

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