Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
His mouth fell open. “Really? And your solution was to run right out and get spit roasted by a couple of strangers?”
“Actually, the term they used was double stuffed.”
“Those motherfuckers thought they were gonna shove both their dicks up in there? Who the fuck do they think they are?” Kage turned on his heel and stomped off back toward the club, his face contorted with rage.
“Stop! Kage!” I yelled, running after him and grabbing hold of his arm. I dug in and pulled against him as hard as I could, but I was no match for his strength. My feet skittered along on the pavement behind him until eventually my legs got twisted up and I lost my balance. I hit the sidewalk full force, crying out as the gritty surface scraped the top layers of skin from my elbow.
Kage was over me in an instant, wrapping me in his strong arms, lifting me to a sitting position. He tipped my chin up and searched my face. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I shoved his hand away and stood up, trying not to wince. “I’m good, man. Let me up.” The truth was, I didn’t want him to see how embarrassed I was. The sting on my elbow was nothing compared to pain of a wounded ego. I wasn’t sure how many more pegs I could get knocked down on the pride scale.
At least my little tumble had made Kage forget about his mission of storming back to the club and killing the guys who would have had their way with me. Or so I thought.
“Do you know who those men were?” he asked. “Did you get their names, addresses, phone numbers? Anything like that?”
“Jesus, Kage.” I brushed debris from my jeans, feeling a slight abrasion on the palm of one hand that I hadn’t noticed getting during the fall. “Could you just let it go? You already knocked one man unconscious and scared the shit out of his friend. Don’t you think that’s enough? They didn’t even get a kiss.”
At the word kiss, I saw his eyes drop briefly to my lips, and his eyes softened. I thought he would kiss me, and I could feel my lips parting in anticipation, but he didn’t kiss me. He just started walking again in the direction of the Alcazar.
“I’m sorry,” I said, so softly I had to wonder if he’d heard me. His step faltered ever-so-slightly, so I knew that he had. “I regret doing that more than you know. It’s not like I was attracted to those guys. I, uh… wanted to make you jealous.” I slipped another notch down on the pride scale. A couple more, and I’d fall completely off.
Kage wasn’t buying it, though.
“Bullshit. Try again. How were you supposed to make me jealous if I wasn’t even there?”
“Steve was there. He said he had your number and that his allegiance was with you. I was hoping he’d tell you.”
Kage grabbed me roughly by the arm. “And what would you have done if he hadn’t texted me? Would you have gone through with it?”
I looked at the ground and said nothing.
“Yes, you would have,” Kage continued. “Because you chose someone who would make sure you did. Do you realize what would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I did?”
“They probably wouldn’t have really hurt me,” I reasoned. “It was a public place.”
He laughed and shook his head. “That’s very naive, even for you. They probably wouldn’t have done any real physical damage, but what would it have done to you inside? You don’t think ahead. All you knew is that you wanted to get back at me, and you didn’t care how.”
“That’s funny. How could that have been my goal when I know you don’t even give a shit in the first place?”
“You know.” He gave me a nasty sideways glance that rocked me to the core. “You know exactly how I feel about you, and that’s why you did this. It was a passive-aggressive attack on me, like when people are fighting, and one of them threatens suicide. They don’t want to die, but sometimes they hurt themselves just to get at the other person.”
“Jesus, Kage. What I did was a far cry from threatening suicide.”
“Maybe, maybe not. You don’t know what might have happened, and you don’t know how you would have felt afterward.” We had come to the drugstore Jason had mentioned, but before we went in, Kage pushed me to the wall just outside the door. I don’t know what I expected to see on his face, but the agony in his features was startling.
“You were supposed to go back to your life,” he said. “You’re supposed to be taking care of your mom, going out with your friends, thinking about dating girls again. You aren’t supposed to be out here in Vegas, and you sure as hell aren’t supposed to be cruising for pain.”