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He looks disgusted, warping my words to form another jab. “Not if you were the last person on earth.”
Rowan moves like he’s going to hit him, but I’m faster. He’s got plenty of reputation to go around, and the last thing I want is more rumors where he’s concerned.
“Back off,” I say between them.
“Ooo. I’m shaking in my boots, scarface.” Glazed, drunken eyes land on me, followed by a cruel smirk. “The question is… what are you getting out of this?”
“You need to go home. You’re drunk.”
He laughs hollowly, jerking his head toward one of his buddies. “You know, Felix’s mom said Dan’s house is no longer in foreclosure status. Guess this town’s full of coincidences, huh?”
His buddies cackle behind him, one of them chiming in, “Better watch out, Wade. She looks ready to fight.”
I flinch when he raises a finger to the right side of my face. “Has he seen what’s under your mask, freak?”
Rowan’s hand lashes out, clamping around Wade’s punishingly. His knuckles turn white the harder he squeezes, and through his drunken haze, Wade’s face contorts in pain. “Are you the one who hurt her?”
His fingers are purple now. “What the fuck, man.”
“You locked her in a goddamn closet for hours.”
I fold my arms around my middle as my stomach pitches with nausea. “Rowan, stop.”
He ignores me, funneling his rage into the man who’s bullied me for most of my life. “You did, didn’t you, you little piece of shit.”
Wade cries out when his knees hit the floor, and finally, Rowan releases him. “Touch my wife again, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”
I whirl at his possessive tone, but I’m mortified. Embarrassment clogs my throat, bringing stinging, angry tears to my eyes because I’m not his anything, and as soon as he sees the real me, he’ll cast me aside like the rest of them.
Curling in on myself, I take several steps back, avoiding the curious stares around us. “I want to go home, please.”
My feet move without thought. I’m halfway to the exit when I pull out my phone to call Piper. She’ll be pissed that I came out without her tonight, but at least she’ll come get me. I’ll stay the night with her, and hopefully, by morning, we can forget all about this.
I break through the doors and out to the parking lot, but I don’t make it far before Rowan’s on me, swooping me up in his arms again.
My phone clatters to the ground as I thrash. Tears pour down my cheeks while I batter his chest. “Let go of me!”
He’s stone silent as he slings me over his shoulder and crouches for my phone. I’m furious, pounding his back and kicking my legs. I’ve never been so angry in my life. It builds and builds until it eats away every other feeling, leaving a blistering-hot trail of hatred behind.
Twice now, I’ve been humiliated in front of him. Treated like a stain they can’t be rid of, when all I’ve ever wanted was to be accepted by these people. I may look different, but that doesn’t mean I’m not human.
“I’ve got you.” Rowan’s voice is calming as he carries me across the street to my car.
His hand strokes the back of my thigh soothingly, and I hate him for it. I hate his charity, I hate that he chose me, and I hate that I can’t hide this from him any longer.
“I’m going to lower you down and open the door, okay?”
I shove him away from me the second my feet hit the pavement. He staggers half a step, but when I shove him again, he doesn’t so much as flinch. “Stop being so nice to me. Stop caring what they think of me. Just stop, Rowan.”
“I won’t.” His jaw flexes seconds before he pulls me into him, and I shout furiously. “I… I can’t, Molly.”
Those arms are like a steel trap, but my fight fizzles out as I clutch his shirt in my fists and sob into his chest. He strokes my hair while murmuring gentle comforts to me, sweet words I can’t hear through the blood whirring in my ears or the headache splitting my skull.
“Shh, baby. It’s okay.” One hand glides up my back, gently massaging the back of my neck where the muscles are impossibly tight.
My breaths are hot and foggy, trapped between my face and his shirt, but eventually, they slow. When I’ve cried all the tears I can, he opens the door for me, and I quickly duck inside.
Exhausted, I allow him to buckle me in, but I hide my face, afraid of what he’ll see.
