Page 17 of Tempt Me

“Shit!” Her eyes widen as she stares behind me.

I spin in my seat to find Xavier’s T-shirt fisted in Dominic’s hand. “Oh, fuck. This isn’t good.”

“Yes, it is.” Emily sits smugly in her seat as if she had the entire thing planned, and it worked to perfection. “Dominic is practically shouting to everyone in the bar that he’s staking his claim on you.”

I gnaw on my bottom lip. “Do you think so?’

“We should all make appointments with Dominic to get tattoos. Ramp up the tension and see what happens.”

Dominic shoves Xavier backward and marches to the hallway leading to the bathrooms. That’s a crazy idea, right?

Chapter Eight

Dominic

As I pace the hallway to the bathrooms, I clench and unclench my hands. I was one step away from shoving my fist through Xavier’s face. Watching him hanging all over Bella is more than I can tolerate. Especially when I warned him off her the other day.

Son of a bitch. I shove my head from side to side, popping out the kinks. What’s wrong with me? It’s not like I have any claim over her. But that doesn’t stop the blinding rage inside of me that wants to choke the shit out of him.

The only thing stopping me is that he’s my best friend who’s had my back through every scuffle I’ve ever been in, and to return that loyalty with a busted face is repulsive.

“Is everything okay?”

I spin on my heel and come face to face with my kryptonite. Bella licks her lips as she studies me with those enormous green eyes. Vibrant. Radiant. They nearly glow in the light. They’re the biggest thing about her. The rest of her is small. Perfect. My hands itch to pull her to me and smash my lips over hers until she forgets Xavier exists.

“Dominic?”

Shit. I’m scaring the crap out of her. I shove my hands into my pockets. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” She wipes her hands on her jeans as a couple comes out of the men’s restroom. The woman leans against the man as they laugh and straighten their clothes.

When they pass by, the woman sways toward Bella, knocking into her and sending her careening into me.

“Sorry!” The girl turns her head toward us with guilt-riddled eyes.

“Oh….” Bella’s face flames red as she braces her hands on my chest and tries to steady herself.

“I’ve got you.” I clutch her upper arms and hold her upright. The touch of her palms against my shirt burns my skin, and it takes every ounce of my willpower not to scoop her up into my arms and drill her the same way the man leaving the bathroom clearly claimed the woman in his arms not five minutes ago.

My heart pounds erratically in my ears as she sucks down a breath and shoves backward, putting space between us and dropping her arms down to her sides. I press my back into the wall and rake a hand through my hair. Way to go. Keep scaring the shit out of her with your obsessed energy.

Bella is a good girl. The type you take out on a date and kiss good night. Not the kind of woman who wants to be banged in a bathroom.

“Listen.” I shove my hands into my pockets and exhale to take up less space in the hallway. “Everything is fine. Xavier and I had an argument the other day, and I was reminding him of our agreement.”

“I see.” She licks her lips and glances out of the corner of her eye. Dude, she didn’t follow you to make sure you were okay. She was on the way to the bathroom and felt obligated to check your wellbeing.

As she should, you probably look like a raging lunatic.

“How was school today? Any surprises this week?” Now what? Three sentences and we’re out of conversation starters.

“You mean besides you, dropping a phone off to me?”

“Yeah, besides that.” Heat climbs up my neck. “Did it work?”

“Yes, the phone works fine, and no messages or calls from Brock, so everything was great.” She gnaws on her bottom lip, causing my heart to skip a beat.

“What?”

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