“It’s okay, I can walk.” I fight to get out of his arms, but he just holds me tighter.
“Who the fuck was that?”
When I glance over, I find Titch walking over to us, his breaths heaving as he looks down at his busted-up knuckles.
“Danni’s gonna fucking kill me,” he mutters to himself.
I flail about in Spike’s arms once again, and thankfully he releases me. I wrap my ripped tank around myself in an attempt to cover up. “It was no one.”
“Riiight,” Titch says. “Well, he shouldn’t be bothering you for a while. He’s out cold.”
“T-thank you.” I hate that I sound unsure of myself. I’m just struggling to get my head around the last ten minutes.
They rescued me. No one ever rescues me.
I’m always the one who takes the fall, hence how I ended up on Jet’s radar in the first place.
“We need to call the police,” Spike states, making a whole new wave of panic roll through me.
“No, no, no,” I chant. “Y-you can’t do that.”
“Kas, he just attacked you on the street. The fucker needs to be locked up.” His eyes bounce between mine as he tries to read what I’m not saying.
While I couldn’t agree more—Jet is the kind of man who needs to be locked up and kept off the streets—he’s not the kind of man you deal with through the law.
It’s just not how it works.
“Please, Spike. No police,” I all but beg. “He’s not that kind of guy.”
Spike and Titch share a look.
“She’s got a point, man,” Titch says. I study him for a beat, wondering why he understands and how he had the skills to take Jet down like he did. Have I underestimated him?
“You’re fucking kidding, right? He just attacked her.”
“Please,” I try again, running my hand over Spike’s shoulder and gripping onto the back of his neck. The move works, and his eyes find mine.
Our connection holds for a second while I silently beg him to just let this be. Titch taught Jet a lesson, and that’ll keep him at bay. At least for a few more days.
“Fucking hell,” he mutters. “Let’s get out of here.” Spike wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side.
I try to shrug him off, but he just holds tighter.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you home.”
“No,” I state, forcing my feet to lock onto the pavement.
He turns to me, his eyes hard and serious. “No?”
“You’ve already done enough tonight, don’t you think?”
“Really? You want to go there?”
“If you hadn’t stormed your way in and ruined everything, this probably wouldn’t have happened,” I say, flinging my arm out toward the back alley.
“You really believe that, Tiny? He was waiting for you.”
“I can handle him.”
“It didn’t look like it.”
“Fuck you, Spike. I’m not some weak and pathetic little girl.”
“I… uh… I’m going to head home,” Titch says, interrupting our argument. Neither of us look up at him, our eyes remaining locked on each other’s. “A bit of advice, Kas. Just do as you’re told, it’ll be much easier.”
The corner of Spike’s mouth twitches up in the beginning of a smile, but he doesn’t say anything to his friend.
Titch turns to leave, but he only gets a few steps away before I call out to him.
He looks over his shoulder as I rip my eyes from Spike’s intense gaze.
“Seriously, thank you,” I say, hoping that it sounds as sincere as I intend. I can’t deny that what Spike said only a few minutes ago was true. Jet was waiting for me.
“You’re one of us now, kid. Better get used to it. Especially with him around,” he says, nodding to Spike.
I don’t need to look at him to know that his eyes are still trained on me. His attention makes my skin tingle with awareness.
Titch makes his way down the street before jumping into a car that he must have called for and disappears, leaving just the two of us.
My heart continues to race as I wait for what he’s going to do.
“Are you going to take his advice now and do as you’re told?”
I think of my options, and as much as I want to fight him, following him is probably the best option.
2
Spike
The image of finding him with his dirty hands all over her is burned into my brain, along with thoughts about what could have happened if I hadn’t walked around the corner when I did.
Everything about this is wrong. We should be standing here now, waiting for the police to turn up and drag his arse away, yet somehow I’ve listened to both Kas and Titch and I’m walking away without doing anything.
A shudder runs through my body as I reach out, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her into my side.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she barks, grinding to a halt.
“I’m sorry,” I say sarcastically. “I thought I was looking after you.”
Her body is rigid as she stares up at me. “I don’t need looking after.”
“Really?” I ask, my eyebrows lifting. “Because you totally had that under control back there.” I look down to where she’s holding her ruined top around herself.
“I’d have figured something out. I always have in the past.” She rolls her eyes like it’s not a big deal. Like fuck it’s not.
“This isn’t the first time something like that has happened?”
“Spike,” she says with a sigh. “My life is… different to yours. I know how to handle myself. I’ve had no choice but to learn to.”
“But he—”
“Nothing happened. There’s no point dwelling.” She takes a step and continues walking down the street.
“W-wait,” I call when she overshoots the entrance to my building.
She stops but doesn’t turn.
“This is me.”
She looks up at the building beside her before looking back to the club.
“You live next to a strip club.”
“Where else would London’s most eligible bachelor live?”
A laugh falls from her lips, and it does something to my insides.
