Page 93 of Frozen Hearts
“I believe I paid for a dance,” he bites out in his raspy voice.
My teeth grind.So we’re back to this, then.
Fine, asshole. You wanna act like nothing happened, I can play that game, too.
Refusing to give him anything, I merely block him out as I begin moving to the rhythm. Three songs have played before he deigns to lift his gaze from his phone and actually look at me. Unable to help myself, my eyes flick to his, and I immediately regret it. His stare is sharp enough to cut glass, his piercing eyes like two icicles, ready to inflict permanent damage.
Sliced to my core, I wrench my eyes away and focus on a point on the wall behind him as the song's final notes play out. Before another one can begin, he stands. “That’s enough for tonight.”
Seriously? That’s all he has to say? Why did he even bother coming back?
He moves to step past me, and in a last-ditch effort, I reach out and wrap my fingers around his arm.
“Don’t,” he snarls, removing himself from my grip. His eyes don’t meet mine as he bites, “Don’t touch me.”
I flinch at his harsh tone, momentarily stunned before waves of anger crash through me. Eyes narrowing, I bite, “Oh, but it’s okay for you to touch me?”
I watch warily as his teeth grind against one another, his fists repeatedly clenching and releasing at his sides. Anger rolls off him—directed at me? What the hell did I do?
“I didn’t ask you to chase after me. I didn’t ask you to touch me. To-to…”
“To what, Babydoll?” His tone is half purr-half sneer. “Make you come harder than you ever have before.”
Smack.
Ruthless’s eyes go wide, his jaw dropping, and it’s the sharp sting of my palm that has me registering that I just slapped him. A response that is becoming a habit in his presence.
“Get out,” I hiss.
He stares me down, his eye twitching with unrestrained anger. Lifting my chin, I stand my ground, even as my heart slams painfully against my chest and a voice in the back of my head begs me to run.
Without saying another word, he turns on his heel and storms away. I don’t breathe until the door closes behind him.
The rest of my shift passes in a blur. I’m in a foul mood the entire night, one that is only compounded when Ben asks me to stay lateagain.
“You seem stressed,” he purrs, his gross-ass fingers reaching out to wrap around my shoulder as I wipe one of the tables down. “I could help you with that.”
Revulsion tastes like battery acid in my mouth as I fight my body’s natural instinct to recoil and instead slowly ease away from him. “I’m good,” I state as politely as I can, throwing him a tight smile over my shoulder, even as the remnant of his brief touch lingers on my skin.
“You sure?” he pushes, my temper spiking as I strangle the cleaning cloth in my hand.
Dude, take a fucking hint!
“Yup. Just that time of the month. Feel like I’m running to the bathroom every five minutes to change my tampon, and all I wanna do is put on my favorite spaghetti-stained pajamas and drown myself in ice cream.”
Looking truly disgusted, his hand jerks back as if burned.
Missionaccomplished.
“Uhh, right. Guess we should hurry up and finish, then.”
“Sounds good.”
Shockingly, we’re done for the night sooner than ever before. Note to self: telling the sleazy perv you’re on your period is a total turn-off.
“Raincheck on that, uh, de-stressing,” Ben says as he locks the door half an hour later.
I keep my lips tightly sealed, refusing to agree to anything as we step into the parking lot, and I heave out a silent breath when I spot Logan’s SUV idling. I admit, I’m not entirely surprised to see him, even If I am confused as to why he cares.
