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“Luke? Are you in another relationship?” I ask.
His hold loosens on me, his eyes downcast as he wrestles with whatever demon he has nipping at his heels. I immediately leave him, standing up, needing the space between us. I rub my suddenly sweaty palms on my pants and wait for him to answer. I feel as if my entire future hinges on his answer.
“Shit,” I hiss, when he looks up at me.
I may not know a lot, but I know when a man is wearing guilt like a badge on his face.
Shit, shit, shit!
“It’s not what you think, Jasmine.”
“It never is,” I whisper, feeling like the world is falling down around me.
How could I allow this? How could I allow Luke to become so important to me, and know so little about him? What in the world was I thinking? Didn’t my time with Dewayne teach me anything? That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach explodes.
I turn away from Luke, unable to look at him.
“Damn it, Jasmine stop!” he growls, and until just this moment, I didn’t realize I had started running. He grabs my hand pulling me back around. I ignore the pain I feel, I let my anger feed me.
“Will you talk to me?” Luke growls, but I shake my head no.
“I’ve heard enough,” I yell.
“Bull—,” I take off running again. I’ve had enough. I just can’t handle anymore. Luke’s arms come around me from behind in a giant bear hug.
“You have to listen to me, Red,” Luke mutters, his breath hot against the back of my neck as he tries to lift me and pull me back.
I don’t let him finish. I don’t have to listen to a damn thing he has to say.
Luke is a big man, but I grew up among some of the biggest, meanest men God ever made. They also take women being able to protect themselves seriously—after what happened with their wives, they had to. So, I call upon all those long lessons that Dad and my uncles gave me. Skills that my brother helped me hone constantly.
I bend low, pushing my weight and forcing him to let me plant my legs on the ground. I let out a wounded-sounding breath to throw him off. I turn into him, bringing my elbow up as I go. My elbow connects with the upper part of Luke’s throat, making him stumble and loosen his hold.
I pivot quickly, straightening out my left hand, and holding it stiff. Uncle Dragon always told me that being left-handed was an advantage because most men looked for their attacker to be dominant with their right hand.
I’m praying he’s right now.
I strike out, catching Luke’s nose. Bullseye. I wince as blood spurts out, but I can’t let myself feel guilty. He doesn’t deserve that. I’ve had enough of men playing me for a fool. I promised myself it would never happen again.
“Fuck, woman,” he growls, his head going down as he holds his nose.
I get enough distance to give me sufficient room to get power and then I bring my leg up and connect with his groin. He doesn’t go down, but he stumbles and that’s enough. I take off running and I don’t look back. I don’t stop until I find Gabby’s car that she lent me earlier. I can hear Luke yelling, but I ignore him, starting up her car, shoving it into reverse, squealing tires and peeling out with the smell of rubber behind me, leaving Luke behind.21Grunt“Holy shit, what happened to you?” Jonesy says when I walk in. Ford lets out a wolf-whistle and I ignore them both. I grab a cold beer from behind the bar and snag a bottle of Ibuprofen that Tank keeps behind the counter to treat his hangover—which he has often, because Tank likes to drink almost as much as he likes to fuck.
“Fuck off.”
“Seriously man, what happened? Who do we need to kill?” Ford growls. “I told you motherfuckers to stop going out unless you had someone with you. We have a target on our backs,” he adds. “Every son of a bitch around wants a piece of the empire we’ve built.”
I close my eyes.
“It was Jasmine.”
They go silent and just like I knew all along—they’re not going to let that shit go.
“That redhead did that shit?”
“Holy fuck, Momma always told me to stay away from redheads, but holy hell.”
“What did you do to piss her off?” Ford asks, staring at me. He’s studying me and I guess I should worry about what he sees, but right now I’m too messed up in the head to think about it. I grunt, not wanting to get into this shit, especially right now. “Did you tell her why you were following her?”
I tighten my hand into a fist, a new surge of anger thrusting through me with such a white-hot fury that my hand literally trembles. I slam it against the bar, causing the contents on it to rattle.
