“Hey, hot stuff,” he slurs. “How about you be a doll and get me a whiskey sour, extra sour?”
She gives a clipped nod.
One of his buddies with a bold-patterned tie nudges Hair Cut in the ribs, egging him on.
Hair Cut waves him off before saying, “Is it true what they say about goth girls?”
Cinder doesn't pause as she pulls out glasses and liquor bottles.
“I hear they are always into the kinky fucked-up shit. Is that what you are into?”
I want to laugh. Does he really think that will work? What an absolute fuck-nugget.
She doesn't respond, simply continuing to pull glasses and mix drinks for the group.
A thick tongue slides over his lips in what I'm sure he imagines to be a seductive move. “Why don't you come sit on daddy's lap, and you show me what's under all that fishnet?”
Again, his lewd comments are met with stony silence.
“I've always wanted to bang an emo chick. I hear they're crazy good at sucking dick. Care to prove me right?” he presses.
Cinder continues to ignore him, though I’m starting to have a hard time doing so. My hand grips my knee with an increasingly bruising force.
Hair Cut lowers his voice, and I strain forward to hear. “I heard a rumor that you pierced your pussy. Is that right?”
And there it is. The final straw. Snapped in two.
Chapter 14
Crossing the Wrong Charming
CHARMING
Half my body rises, urging me to do something, but Cinder can handle herself. I won’t make the same mistake as this idiot and underestimate her.
Cinder slams a bottle on the counter, the sound like the bang of a gavel. Her expression could freeze hell itself. She regards him coolly, one pierced brow arched. “We're fresh out of sour. How about a nice tall glass of fuck off instead?”
“Oooooh,” the crew taunts Hair Cut, in case he didn't realize he’s getting his ass handed to him. His buddy pushes up his glasses and laughs nervously, watching Cinder with interest.
She slides the drinks across the bar to Hair Cut’s friends, her expression stony. “Here you go, boys. Enjoy your night.”
Aka, fuck off. Now.
As Cinder turns to walk away, Hair Cut’s hand darts out quick as a snake to snag her wrist. Cinder yelps in surprise whenhe yanks her forward, his other arm sweeping across the bar to send glasses and bottles crashing to the floor.
In a heartbeat, he has her bent backward over the bar, his massive body pinning her in place. One meaty hand finds her throat, squeezing just hard enough to make her gasp for air.
Even his buddies take a step back in shocked disbelief. The one in glasses nearly trips over a bar stool.
“I bet a little slut like you loves being dominated,” Hair Cut growls, his face inches from hers.
Cinder scrabbles at his wrist, her nails leaving bloody furrows in his skin. But Hair Cut just laughs, his fingers pinching her cheeks, forcing her lips to pucker, preparing her for his disgusting mouth.
A visceral, white-hot rage explodes inside me at the sight of his hands on her. I’m across the room in a flash, my fingers clamped around his wrist in a vise grip. He yelps as I wrench his arm behind his back, bending him over the bar until his cheek smacks the sticky surface.
“I believe my fiancée said fuck off,” I say, smiling through my fangs. “Or did you get a bit of your brains trimmed out with your last overpriced haircut?”
Murmurs ripple around me.
