Page 30 of Property of Fire

“You don’t, baby,” I tell her, my voice deepening even to my own ears with frustration. “You don’t take shit from any of them. I don’t give a fuck what they say because it’s all bullshit, but I do care if they fuck with your head. Next time they get in your face, don’t let them score any marks.”

“Next time?” She cocks a brow. “You think I’m going to put up with them more? No, Fire, I’m not. I’ll tell you now, they get in my face again, and I won’t be nice by brushing it off. I’ll beat the shit out of every last one of them.”

The vision pops in my head briefly, and I can’t help grinning at the woman. She’s hell on wheels when she’s riled, and seeing her going at it with those bitches would be worth selling tickets to watch. Considering who her mom is, Evelin could take all thehorason at once, and I know she’d come out on top. What doesn’t sit well with me is the idea of one of them leaving even a mark on her. If they were to do so, I’d kill them.

The thought of anyone hurting Evelin in any way doesn’t sit well with me. Makes my blood boil and . . .

“Fire,” Evelin calls my name, drawing my full attention back to her and the fact her brows are creased deeper.

“What?”

“Your hands,” she murmurs and looks down at them.

“What about them?” Fuck, did I do something? Since we left the rally, I hadn’t done anything else out of the ordinary, well, besides burning the hell out of Luca’s throat.

Evelin lifts her eyes back up and meets my gaze. “They were getting hot.”

Immediately, I drop my arms from around Evelin. No way was I going to hurt her. “Sorry.”

“Why?” she asks. “It felt good. Soothing.”

I didn’t believe her. Clearing my throat, I jerk my chin toward the door. “I need to find Brimstone and Flame. Scotch will be here soon. After the meet, I’ll take you to the bar so you can get to work.”

I don’t wait for her to follow me. I don’t stop to listen to her. I need to clear my head. Figure out what’s going on with me before I fuck up and end up hurting her as I swore I would never do.

TWENTY

EVELIN

“Beautiful, Eve,”Scotch calls, eyes on me. His shit-eating grin fully in place, arms wide as he makes his way toward me.

Well, he was walking toward the group of us, including Fire who was next to me, but not touching in the slightest.

“Hey, Scotch,” I greet him, but I don’t use the usual banter that we typically have between us. I don’t want to upset Fire more than he seems to be already.

Maybe upset isn’t the right word to describe him right now, but it’s the only one I can come up with while trying not to think too hard.

Scotch stops just short of pulling me in for a hug and looks at each of the men then back to me. “You didn’t text me back the other day. I was thinking you found a man finally.”

“I, well, I?—”

“She’s mine,” Fire snarls. He closes the distance between the two of us and tucks me into his side.

Scotch looks between the two of us, his grin still in place. “About damn time.”

“What do you mean about damn time?” I blurt out, watching him closely, feeling annoyance rising.

“Darlin’, I ain’t blind. You weren’t gonna go for just any man.” Scotch chuckles and looks toward Fire. “You hurt her, and I’ll slide in there and make everything better for her.”

“The hell you will,” Fire growls and steps in front of me. “You aren’t getting anywhere near her.”

“How about you lose the he-man attitude,” I snap, talking to Fire. He’s not about to act all protective now, not after the way he walked out of the kitchen just a bit ago.

Fire ignores my remark, it seems, but the others don’t, including Scotch.

“Are we going to discuss what I’m needed here for, or can I get to work?” I step around Fire as I demand this because I am totally done, and they’ve barely got into it other than a little bit of banter. That was enough for me. I was tired of it and didn’t want to hear more.

Scotch looks at me with a quirk of his brow. “You work too much, you know that?”

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