That made him pause. He took a few sharp breaths, as though sniffing the air, and his eyes flicked over the woman’s face. Settling on her black eyes.
“I’m feeling nice, so you’re gettingonewarning.” The woman leaned closer to him. Kieran took a small step back. “Go near her again, and you’ll be leaving with a parting gift. Like a broken bone or a few loose teeth.”
Kieran stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he growled, steam curling off his bare skin.
“You shouldn’t be making threats. This isn’t your fucking city.”
“It isn’t yours either. And that isn’t your fucking girl.” The stranger closed her hands into fists. “Walk away. Or I’ll make you do so.”
Kieran let out such a low, rumbling breath it sounded like it came from an animal when someone ran out of the darkness.
“Maya!” Another woman came into view, this one with a bulkier build and shorter hair than the one currently giving Kieran a death glare.
The newcomer slipped between the two of them. She shot the other woman—Maya—a sharp look, but it vanished as soon as Kieran bared his teeth at her.
“Spotted trouble, I take it.”
Maya scoffed. “Not really. This guy was in the wrong neighborhood, and I was just giving him directions for getting the hell out of here. Maybe you can take over, Diana.”
Kieran pushed towards Maya, eyes wide and wild-looking. “You have no fucking right—”
“Quit it.” Diana’s voice held the same snarling quality as Kieran’s. “This isn’t the time, or place, to start shit you won’t be able to finish. Walk it off elsewhere.”
He might have kept brute-forcing his way ahead if it was just one intimidating stranger in his face, but two were clearly too much. When Diana shoved at him, directing him further away, he didn’t resist.
“We aren’t over. You hear me?” He pointed a trembling finger at Harper. “You’ll fucking regret this.”
“I didn’t plan for this to happen, you dumb piece of shit!” Harper’s tongue had finally unfrozen and now it was snapping again. She rushed forward, but Maya grabbed her arm before she could run over and kick Kieran in the dick. “Leave mealone! Get it into your head that it’s over, you fucking moron.”
Kieran looked like he was about to lunge for her again, but a glare from Diana made him decide against it. Even if he kept staring at Harper as he was guided away from the parking lot.
What the hell was his problem? It was like a switch had flipped after she’d stormed out on him, turning him from aggressive hardass into aggressive goddamn asshole.
Though… in hindsight, this part of him hadn’t exactly been hidden. There were signs. Signs she’d willfully ignored because she’d convinced herself that her curse-like trend of shitty partners had finally been broken.
Gender hadn’t mattered in that regard. Her gift for dating trash included the entire identity spectrum, but Kieran had been different. Being with him had felt so controlled. So safe.
At first.
Tension spiked through her stomach. It rose as nausea, burning the bottom of her throat as the adrenaline waned alongside its fear-suppressing abilities.
Sheknewhe was like this. Controlling, possessive, and violent, especially when upset. She’d seen him punch one of his friends in the face just because he was looking at Harper for too long, and the only reason she hadn’t broken up with him when that happened was because Kieran had assured her they were just play-fighting. And, like an idiot in love, she believed him.
Now she’d actively provoked him. And not only that, but she’d done so in an isolated corner of a dark parking lot. The number of ways this could have gone wrong was so staggering that her vision grew fuzzy.
“Are you okay?”
Harper flinched, and only then did she realize Maya was still holding onto her arm. She immediately let go.
“Sorry. You looked a little unsteady.” Her eyes flicked to Harper’s now shaky hands. “Do you need me to get someon—”
“No!” Harper shook her head, trying to get her eyes to focus. “No, I… I’m fine, I just… I’m okay.”
The thought of Patricia or Nell seeing her like this wasn’t just embarrassing but shameful as well. They’dworryagain. Justifiably for once.
What if Kieran came back another night? How long could she avoid him if he started following her around elsewhere? What if,next time, there wasn’t a benevolent stranger around to step in if his anger came out in more frightening ways?
Harper stumbled to the side, blindly reaching for her car. Maya grabbed her shoulders again, the hold keeping her standing.
