Page 8 of Roman

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that,” he said, sliding up beside her and gliding his hand over her ass.The man reeked of alcohol and was slurring his words worse than she was.

Charlotte slapped his hand away.“Don’t fucking touch me,” she said, her drunkenness making her braver than normal.

His demeanor changed from playful to angry in a heartbeat.

This can’t be good,she thought, his expression scaring her a bit.

“You’re just a little fucking cock tease, aren’t you?Now, let me have a feel,” he whispered in her ear and grabbed her breast, squeezing so hard it hurt.

Charlotte reacted instantly, throwing her drink in his face.He moved his head back with a look of shock, and then she slapped him in the face hard enough for his head to whip to the side.

She froze in disbelief that someone would actually grab her in that way and was even more shocked that she’d actually stuck up for herself and physically hit someone.Something she’d never done her whole life.Charlotte quickly scanned the crowd again for Ava, panic rising.

The man turned, glaring at her.“You fucking whore,” he spat.

Charlotte was too drunk to react fast enough, the man leaning forward and slapping her so hard he knocked her off the stool.

Charlotte slammed into the ground.She could taste blood and knew he’d split her lip as she sat up, dazed, her head spinning.She could see the man stepping over her with his fist raised to strike her again, but before he could bring his fist down, a hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him.

* * *

Roman had been upstairsin his office for the last hour with Maalik and Phoenix, discussing the information they’d tortured out of the last demon they had captured when he’d seen a beautiful honey-blonde girl weave her way through the crowd to the center of the dance floor.The moment he had laid eyes on her, he had gotten rock hard.

She looked like an angel but was dressed like utter temptation, in one of the shortest, sexiest skirts, a blood-red halter, and goddamn, those heels!It was as if the devil had made her himself.

He could have sworn he’d seen her before.

He frowned… The server girl?Surely not?

He couldn’t take his eyes off her.She was even more beautiful with her hair free of that tight bun she’d worn earlier in the evening.

While his brother had been trying to explain what he and the other fallen angels had discovered, the way she moved her body as she danced had distracted him.The sensual way she rolled her hips, how she would throw her head back, eyes closed, with a smile on her face, lost in the music.He’d nearly come in his pants right then and there.

Maalik, finally sick of Roman not paying attention, came over to the window to see what he was staring at.“Ah, the cocktail server that caught your eye earlier.Charlotte, I think her name was.”He smirked.

The memory of the gray-eyed beauty, her dazzling smile, popped into his mind.“That it is,” he answered, mesmerized by her.

By the look of Maalik’s tense stance and the way his eyes had turned black, the raven-haired girl currently grinding on Charlotte in the most provocative way had caught his attention, and not in a good way.He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Who the hell is she dancing with?”Maalik whispered, his voice tortured and broken.

Phoenix made his way over to the window to see what the fuss was about.His sandy blond hair was short at the back and sides but longer on top.His fringe was pushed to the left side, out of his amber eyes.It also hid part of the two long scars that started above his eyebrow and ran down his left cheek, finishing just below the corner of his mouth.

Phoenix had been another unfortunate angel to fall into Hell.A creature imprisoned in one of the pits attacked Phoenix while he was trying to escape, resulting in his transformation into a half-angel, half-fire being.They’d spent years researching, trying to help him figure out what had done this to him, but none of them could be sure.Some guessed a fire god.Others, an ancient fire elemental.When they had first fallen, an old solitary witch told him he had the fire blood of a Phoenix running through his veins.A mythical race from before their time on Earth.Since then, the nickname Phoenix has stuck.

“What the hell are you two staring at?”he asked, scanning the crowd, his gaze landing on the two women.“Ah, my current groupie has arrived.”He smirked.

“Who?”Maalik and Roman both snapped, their heads whipping toward him.

Roman wanted to kill him.The idea of another male lusting after her had him wanting to smash his fist into the wall.For the first time in centuries, he could feel his beast, hidden deep down inside, rearing its angry head.A brief memory of the monster that had bitten him when he had fallen into Hell flashed through his mind.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

Phoenix frowned at their behavior.“Ava, the dark-haired nymph in the painted-on black dress.”He grinned, eyeing her.“Look at those spiked heels!She drives me crazy, and I haven’t even slept with her yet.”

Roman swore as Maalik punched Phoenix square in the face.The movement was a blur.He’d moved so fast.Eyes still as black as night, fangs bared, he had backed Phoenix up against the window.

“You will stay away from that woman,” he hissed.Then he said something to Phoenix in a low, menacing tone in a language Roman didn’t understand.By the look on Phoenix’s face, he didn’t know what Maalik was saying either.

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