Page 97 of Holding You
I shrug. “It wasn’t like I hated the idea. I’m actually curious to see how all of this works, but it’s not me.”
“I feel the same way.”
Hudson waves a hand to grab our attention and the group starts to follow.
We walk right by a long line of eager partiers.
I make eye contact with a few of them, mostly women, all harmless.
But then someone whistles and shouts, “Yeah, Green, let me see that ass.”
My entire body freezes.
Who the fuck talks like that?
I spin to find the voice and see a man rubbing his chin and licking his lips.
I move for him, but Ruby grabs my arm.
“Don’t.”
“He can’t talk to you like that.”
“No, he can’t, but I'm never going to see that man again, so I'm going to let it go and enjoy the night with my friends.”
“What if he makes it into the club and seeks you out, then he tries to grab you and?—”
“Whoa, whoa, turn off dad mode, please, and give me just Declan Young, Ruby’s friend for the night.”
She grabs my hand and drags me to where the others are waiting, clearly oblivious to what just happened.
I follow but look over my shoulder to glare at the man again.
I see you, asshole.I won’t forget that face.
We all squeeze into an elevator that has its own escort. The motion jerks so fast that Ruby stumbles, steadying when she bumps her ass into my junk and my hand slides around to her stomach to hold her still.
Because I feel I need to make this clear now, I lean forward to whisper in her ear.
“For the record, Declan Young would never let a man like that talk to hisfriends. Once we are back in Lovers, you might go back to hating me, but hating me or not, you deserve fucking respect from every single person who meets you. End of story.”
Her chest rises and falls quickly.
I lean a little closer.
“Did you hear me, Ruby?”
She nods.
“Good.”
We reach the floor of the club and file out. Like many moments before this one, the group walks in pairs of two.
Instead of waiting to be the last ones, Ruby grabs my hand and falls into line.
She tugs me close and says, “Just to be sure about that guy, how about you stick with me tonight?”
I slide a hand around her hips, and because it’s loud as fuck in here, I place my lips right next to her ear. “I was planning on it.”
