Page 89 of Demanding Mob Boss

Eventually, I say, "I know words can be hard for you when you are upset, but I need you to tell me what happened. Will you do that for me?"

She starts to talk, her voice monotone. She recites the events like she's reading a book with narration and dialogue. She details every action and repeats every word of dialogue. When she reaches the point where the detective laid hands on her, red rage fills my vision.

Iwillkill him but first I have to fix this.

I don't interrupt to ask questions. I let her tell me the entire episode, including how she texted me and ended up in my apartment.

I was going to fucking send her home? I only told Arlo to bring her to my place after he told me Anna refused to get out of the car when they got to her apartment building.

Something strange twinges in my chest. Is that guilt?

It's not a sensation I'm familiar with, but I'm feeling something right now and it's not pleasant.

"He will never touch you again."

"No, he won't. I'm buying a taser."

"I'll get you a taser and Connor will teach you self-defense." She likes my cousin. Trusts him.

So do I.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. It's my fault you went through that today."

"I don't like your protocol."

"It's not the protocol for you. Not anymore." I'll tell Arlo that he and his crew have permission to use deadly force if necessary to prevent the cops, or anyone else, from taking Anna again.

"I don't want Grieves to touch me again, but nothing can change that he already did." She starts crying again.

Fuck.

Her words from earlier come back to me. I pull her body back and tilt her chin so our eyes meet. "You think him laying hands on you taints you?"

She doesn't answer, but that drenched violet gaze says it all. She does.

"It doesn't."

She doesn't acknowledge that claim anymore than she did when I told her she is still mine.

"Is that why you didn't keep your phone near you? You don’t think you belong to me anymore?"

"He touched me!" She's furious and so damn sad. "No one has ever put their hands on my boobs. Only you."

And while my touch sends her to a blissed-out headspace, Grieves' makes her feel tainted.

"No one else has ever touched you that way? Not even your boyfriends?" Her tits are a work of art. I would be miserable trying to date her and never being able to see or touch something that beautiful.

"I've only been on a few dates. I never had a boyfriend."

And now she has me. What we have is a hell of a lot deeper than that. We belong to each other. If I have a soul, it's connected to hers.

"I don't like being touched," she adds.

"Except by me."

"I can hug my friends," she says, almost defensively. "If it's not too long."

---