Page 50 of Between Love and Loathing
It wasn’t much later that Noah proved to be the true idiot I’d always thought him to be. He lifted my girl up and set her on the bar and then put Paloma right up there with her.
“What the fuck?” I swore again and stood up.
“Calm the hell down. They’re just having fun. Plus, you can’t be the big brother to everyone,” Dex grumbled and pulled me back into my seat.
“Fuck you. I’m not her big brother. I’m her goddamn boyfriend.”
“So you’re really into her then? It’s real?”
“As real as it gets with me,” I said, and I don’t know if it was to my brother or myself.
Dex had all the same features as me, but his hair was longer, his eyes more mysterious. My brother kept to himself most of the time. So, when he whispered, “How did you know?” I immediately studied him harder.
“Bro, I know because if I didn’t, it wouldn't be real.” I leaned to knock my shoulder into his. “You got something real over there?”
He sighed. “I think I might.”
We all knew about Dex and Keelani, his long-lost love. Him thinking he might meant it wasn’t real, meant he was still pining over her, trying to fill the gap with someone new. I should have let it be but, chalk it up to my being the eldest … “Don’t make a dumb mistake and give up on her for someone that’s less than her. I don’t have dumbasses for brothers.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I should fuck this casino deal up just because you said that.”
I wasn’t listening to him though. I was staring at Clara, staring at how more and more men walked up to that damn bar. When a guy hollered at them, I felt my muscles tense. But her muscles were all loose, languid, full of sway and movement. Her eyes met mine over the crowd, and her smile was slow.
I shook my head at her and mouthed, “Get down.”
She pouted and before I knew it, she was doing exactly what I didn’t want her to. Her hip rolls got more animated, her stare sultrier, her eyes on fire with a damn challenge.
“Goddamn it,” I growled as I stood up again.
My brother didn’t even attempt to stop me. He knew it was getting out of control, guys were swarming the bar as she dipped low, her maxi dress to her ankles but still showing every curve she had. Paloma wasn’t helping with her hooting and hollering for Clara to continue, but Paloma’s yelling died when she saw my face.
She hopped down immediately, but Clara kept on. That mesmerizing red transfixed every man there, and she even waved a guy up and glanced back at the bartender. “Give him a shot.”
Everyone listened to her. The whole damn place was hyped up on my little fighter’s energy.
I yanked the guy back as he tried to grab her ankle and flirt with her. “Mind if I cut in?” I growled before jerking him away from her. It was loud enough that she whipped her head toward me, and Noah was right at the bar immediately.
“She’s having a good time,” he declared, but there was a knowing smirk on his fucking face.
We both looked up at her lifting her hair off her shoulders, and her cheeks were rosy and alive with excitement, her mouth in a full-on smile that dropped just a centimeter when she met my gaze. It dropped all the way off as the guy I’d moved just a second before tried to lunge for her leg. I had him by the throat and pinned on the bar in seconds while the bouncer was a moment too late.
Noah told me to let go and Clara instantly gasped, stopping her dancing to crouch down. “Dominic, let go of the man’s throat.”
“You think you can touch my girl after I removed you once? Twice and I’ll kill you.”
“Fuck you, man,” the guy spit at me.
“Dominic, let go,” Clara repeated, her hand now on my shoulder, eyes suddenly sobered.
The problem with me that people didn’t seem to get was that I was the ruthless one in my family. Maybe I’d hardened over the years after what Natya had done, maybe I’d always been this way. I locked my emotion down because I knew what happened when I let it out. I felt the rage deep in me. I felt it more maybe than my other brothers. Declan smiled, Dex handled our tech, Dimitri was quiet until he wasn’t. I protected them, protected what was mine. Clara was now that.
I squeezed the man’s neck harder as I held her gaze. “Clara, he was about to assault you. Had that been my sister up there—”
“I’m not your sister,” she countered, “I’m just me, Dominic.”
“Yeah, she’s just a fucking slut,” the guy wheezed. “Let me go.”
Clara was pleading now. “I’m not worth this. Think about your name on your resort. It’s not worth it.”
