What the hell was I supposed to do with her?
I turned on my car and followed behind.
Ten minutes later, the car pulled to a stop in the middle of the strip, and she climbed out. I quickly got out as well, following close behind her. She never even looked back once, unaware of that fact.
She couldn’t have known when she asked the driver to drop her off that she was on the edge of the invisible property line where the Devil’s Wings MC usually liked to hang around. They hadn’t been around much since Massimo had sent more men to patrol the area, hoping there would be some sighting of Waylen Thompson, but fuck me if she wasn’t pushing the fucking line, walking around the street like it was a walk in the park.
I watched her stop in front of a bar, as if debating whether or not she should go in.
Don’t do it.
I would follow her inside and throw her over my shoulder to carry her back out, and I wouldn’t fucking stop for anyone.
She made a move toward the front door when it burst open, and a group of drunk men came out, laughing and talking loudly with each other. She stopped mid-step and turned to walk away. One of the men noticed her and started catcalling. I moved up and made eye contact with the fucker. That stopped him, and he went back to his group.
I quickly followed after her. She was walking further and further away from the main part of the strip and into the more sketchy parts of the area.
It wouldn’t take long for trouble to find her.
I decided to put an end to her little field trip. And I was going to teach her a lesson about the dangers of wandering alone at night. I sped up until I was close enough to her and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her back against me. It took her two long seconds to react, but I planned for that and covered her mouth with my hand, muffling her cries.
She struggled against me, but she was no match. I pulled her into an alleyway and gently pushed her against the wall, still facing away from me.
“Let go of me!” she yelled, her hands reaching back, trying to hit me.
I pressed her closer to the wall, not saying anything.
She struggled even more as I put my hand over her mouth again.
She whimpered, the sound tearing at my heart. The plan was to scare her a little. I just hadn’t realized how much the sound of her struggle and fear would get to me.
“It’s me,” I said.
She stilled against me.
I pulled my hand away from her mouth and turned her around. “Elio? What the fuck are you doing? Are you trying to scare me half to death?”
“I wouldn’t say half to death, but yeah, scaring you was part of the plan,” I responded.
She slapped my chest. “Why? Why would you do that?”
“The better question is, what are you doing out in the middle of the night?”
“That’s none of your business,” she said, trying to push me away. I stayed where I was, not budging an inch. “Move. You’re crowding me, and I don’t like it.”
“Tough. I don’t like you sneaking out in the middle of the night, and yet, here we are. What the hell were you thinking? Anything could have happened to you. What if it wasn’t me whohad pulled you into an alleyway? Huh? How would you be able to escape?”
I wrapped my hands around her shoulders, pulling her in closer to me, and resisting the urge to shake some sense into her. The more I spoke, the more emotions I could feel coming to the surface as all the worst scenarios popped into my head. Anything could have happened to her. What if I hadn’t been here?
Fuck me.
“I’m right here. You don’t have to yell so loud,” she said, infuriating me.
“Do you not have anything to say about that?”
She tried to shrug off my touch. I wasn’t fucking moving.
“Elio, let go of me. What I do is none of your business. You don’t have to worry about it.”