Corner her. Scare her. Reassure her. Breathe her in. Ring my hand around her throat and squeeze. I want to do each and every one of these things simultaneously, and if anything makes me a fucking lunatic, it’s that.
There’s a whirlwind inside my head, and I’m unable to contain it until I smell the lavender scent from her hair or sense the judgment from those turquoise eyes.
The thrill of it has my adrenaline spiking and I lick my lips, knowing it won’t be much longer till I get to have my fill of Rebecca again.
I’m envisioning my finger sliding down the curve of her neck, along my mark when Alexis nudging my leg makes the perfect picture go poof.
“Well, look at that. Shore Whore actually showed up. Her fat friend too.” Alexis sneers, just as Saint reaches over me to grab his drink off the table.
“Seems she’s got a date,” Annalie adds, as usual, stirring the witch’s pot.
Blood rushes my veins like a tidal wave, and my eyes dart to where the girls are looking, even though my body doesn’t dare to move a muscle.
There’s my Little Ghost dressed in a bright strapless bikini, wearing jean shorts so tight they look painted on her skin. Her white hair hangs straight and long down her back, with all eager eyes on her as she walks past us to the bar.
It’s not the eyes on her that has the blood in my veins go piping hot, it’s the hand on her lower back. Felix is clinging to her like he owns her. Like she’s his. This mother fucker keeps knocking at the devil’s door, and he’s going to wish it was the devil who answers.
There’s a twitch to my lip as I watch them, and my eyes lock with Rebecca’s from behind my sunglasses. She’s trying so hard not to seem phased by my presence, but I can tell she’s squirming from here.
How the hell did I not know he was coming with her?
Saint’s defenses are up when he sees what I see, already anticipating my reaction. He’s right to be on alert, because I’m out of my chair to eviscerate him before I can contemplate how doing so will make me look. Like the usual consigliare, Saint’s out of his chair too, holding me back.
“Not yet, Shaw.” He states firmly. “Not here. Not till you get your car back.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.” I seethe, not giving a shit that Alexis is watching, speculating. Along with everyone else.
“I got you, bro. I’ll handle it.” Saint urges. “I’ll take care of him, aight? Just chill.”
My chest heaves as I shove him off me, but his word is enough to keep this from escalating.
If Saint says he’ll handle something, consider it already done.
Point proven, I watch as he whispers something to Levi and Riggs, nodding toward the house before they take off inside it and I drop into the seat. Then he tells everyone else, including Alexis and her friends to fuck off and get lost.
Alexis obliges, but there’s an expression on her face that means only one thing, she feels threatened.
Alexis should be, not only by Rebecca who has to do so much less than her to get my attention, but because there’s a powder keg ready to explode in this house, and Fucker Felix just lit the match.
I give it an hour for Rebecca and Felix to let their guard down, observing from our section as he escorts her around the rectangular pool, introducing my Little Ghost to his lame ass friends like it’s a game of show and tell, and she’s his new polished trinket.
Rebecca goes along with it, smiling and drinking her third Sex On The Beach but I can tell by the way she looks aimlessly around the backyard she’s not invested in what the asshole has to say. Archer and her roommate are drunk and dancing from a short distance away, trying to be decent wingmen, when they should really be doing the opposite.
Especially good guy Archer, he’s just as aware as I am of how sleazy Felix is, why he’s not keeping his friend away from a dick like that is purely stupid and reckless.
Neither of which Archer ever is, so seeing him care so little about Rebecca’s well being pisses me off even more.
I’m not a good person by any means, but I don’t pretend to be. Guys like Felix are wolves in designer clothing, and Archer is throwing his new friend into the arms of the worst of them.
Too bad for Felix he was never a great catcher, especially when I’m the one doing the intercepting.
The best laid plans are calculated, not hasty. Something I’ve had the chance to remind myself of since Rebecca showed up wearing practically nothing to cover her slender body.
I look down at my cell phone, then cast a glance over to Levi who’s got a new girl on his lap kissing his neck. He simply nods my way, not needing words to know what’s being asked before going back to sucking face.
It’s only a matter of time, now.
Felix is alone with Rebecca again, standing underneath a canopy as he goes on being the sole speaker in their conversations. I watch as he rambles, a hand to his chest here, two hands up in defense there, proving whatever story he’s telling revolves solely around him. He polishes off the last sip of his vodka tonic, placing it down on a server’s tray without skipping a beat.