Page 105 of Monster

Too soon, he pulled into a bar somewhere close to the mountain near White Horse Hill. He parked the bike and killed the engine. The silence that followed was a little loud.

Dominic reached for my hand, and he helped me keep my balance as I climbed off the bike.

My legs were shaky, but luckily, I didn’t fall.

I took off the helmet and watched silently as he climbed off the bike—the confident way he moved, his strong muscles stretching and straining, and even the way his large frame seemed to have made the huge bike appear smaller.

I quickly looked away when I noticed his eyes on me.

He grabbed the helmet out of my hand, but I didn’t bother to look back at him.

I wondered why he took me so far out here. It seemed a bit much just to go to a bar for lunch.

As if he could tell what I was thinking, he said, “I’m keeping you hidden. Those bastards have probably guessed that I have you, but they don’t know for sure, and we want to keep it that way.” One corner of his lips quirked up in a teasing smirk. “You can be my dirty little secret.”

I rolled my eyes and walked away. That comment didn’t warrant a response.

Dominic quickly caught up to me, though, and wrapped one arm around me. He didn’t budge when I tried to push him off.

Grasping my chin between two fingers, he said, “Be good in there. And stick close to me.”

I stopped, and he stopped with me. “Is it dangerous? Why are we even here?”

“We’re here because I like this bar. It reminds me of home. And no, it’s not dangerous. At least, not for you, but let’s not risk it, okay? If you don’t want me to beat the shit out of some fucker for looking at what’s mine, then behave.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “I’m not yours.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re mine. I own every little inch of you, including your greedy little pussy. Don’t mistake my ownership of you as anything else just because I’ve been nice and haven’t fucked you yet.”

I resisted the urge to show any outward reaction to his words.

“This is you being nice?”

He chucked my chin affectionately, leaned down, and pressed a quick, hard kiss against my lips before he led me inside the bar.

I was still reeling when we finally made it inside.

It wasn’t as dark as I expected, but it wasn’t light either. There were about two handfuls of people here, including a group of three men loudly laughing in the corner and playing pool.

I stepped closer to Dominic.

He might be a monster, but at least I knew this monster. This was not my scene, and I didn’t know why Dominic decided to take me here.

We went to the bar and sat down.

The bartender, a woman in her mid-forties with long, flowing, light-brown hair and two full sleeves of tattoos, came up to us with a smile. Her eyes brightened when she saw Dominic, and I resisted the urge to bristle.

He wasn’t mine, and I wasn’t his, despite what he had said in the parking lot. I didn’t have any claim on him.

I didn’t.

“What can I get you, sweetheart?”

I wondered if I had suddenly become invisible. She did see me come in with Dominic, didn’t she?

“Two beers and two cheeseburgers with fries.”

“No onion on one of them,” I added.

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