Page 70 of City of Salvation

The moment became too much. I wasn’t sure how to react to Dex’s pull on me. I could no longer tell if the logical move was to push him away or pull him closer. The switch was sudden, one moment I was all warm and fuzzy. The next…

Suffocating.

Like emotions were clawing up my throat all at once, damning my airway so I was choking. Scrambling out of his lap, I practically ran to the bathroom I’d found earlier, calling over my shoulder that I had to pee, and I’d be back.

In for four, out for four.

I’d hear Dex murmur the mantra a few times when he’d been overwhelmed, and it seemed to work for him. The bathroom door slammed into the tile wall, and I pushed past a group of women, gaining myself some scowls andfuck you’s.

The cold porcelain against the back of my legs grounded me. A curtain of blonde added another layer of coverage as I hung my head in my hands, working overtime at blanking out my mind.

You can’t get attached. What if you get him hurt…killed?

A voice I hadn’t heard in over a year echoed in my mind, dredging up memories I’d tried hard to bury.

“Tasha, you’re a child, incapable of handling your emotions like a grown woman.”

Andrei’s words stung even more as memories, because now I saw the truth. I didn’t have enough time to throw a pity party for myself, because what I needed to do now was slap on a smile, walk out there, and pretend I wasn’t falling apart.

Pushing off my knees, I marched back out of the bathroom like nothing had happened, but I was stopped short when someone grabbed my bicep.

“What’s a pretty thing like you doing with an idiot like Dex?”

His voice felt wrong, instantly raising my alarm. The man had a Skeletons of Society cut on, and that made it all the worse that he was talking shit about Dex.

I’d learned early on that men would tell you more shit if you played dumb—there was too much misogyny in that for me to unpack, but I used the tactic, nonetheless.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean…Boe,” I said, batting my lashes at him, trying to hide my panic at how his fingers dug deeper into my skin.

We were standing at the opening that led from the main room into the small hallway he’d been lurking in, so I leaned against the frame, latching my free arm onto the wall in case the asshole thought he would drag me with him somewhere. It’d at least give me a few moments to make enough noise for Dex to hear.

Hopefully.

“Dex. The guy you just ran from?” He flashed what I’m sure he thought to be a charming smile, but it looked predatory, especially since he had a large bandage plastered across half of his face.

Being a dancer, you develop a sixth sense for men, picking up from a mile away the ones that took pleasure in trampling over your boundaries.

Boe was one of those men.

“Come with me. I could show you a good time.” He sent a seething gaze over toward where Dex was sitting. “Someone really needs to take him out.” He whispered the last part, probably not intending for me to hear that.

Or maybe he didn’t give a shit if I did.

I stiffened, the fear I’d felt moments ago tipping into anger. Anger that this Boe person would say something like that about his brother.

His beady eyes locked back on me. “Let me buy you a drink.”

Of course, my smart mouth didn’t have an off filter or a self-preservation mode. “Aren’t all the drinks here free? Who’s that line working on?”

My arm ached where he was gripping. “That was a bitchy thing to say, Nikki.”

Now my mind sounded like a damn chapel with every warning bell going off simultaneously. My plan for holding on to the wall failed because he rounded the cornerintothe main room, hauling me behind him like a naughty child.

Dex’s eyes met mine, and he began to rise, sitting as soon as I gave a slight shake of my head. I didn’t want to cause a problem between these two, and if I could get more information on why one of Dex’s brothers seemingly had it out for him, all the better.

I’d let the jerk get me a drink and then politely, for me, tell him to fuck off.

The look of hurt that flashed across Dex’s ruggedly handsome face stung. But he didn’t make another move to intervene.

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