“Don’t touch h—”
Someone pushed me onto the bed, and someone else was already pulling me across it, but I saw—Isawthe group of men jump on Alex, wrestling him to the ground!
And then that snake voice sounded in my ear, his fingers digging into my neck like barbed wire. “Don’t be scared, Jade. I won’t hurt him. Bring him here!”
“Xav-Xavier,” I choked out his name, my eyes glued to the way Alex was dragged across the floor toward us, his hands already bound behind his back.
There were five of them and just one of him. Justone.
“Xavier, please let him go,” I hyperventilated, my world turning upside down right in front of my eyes.
"No, baby." Xavier snaked his arm around my ribcage, trapping me against him. "Never again. I won'teverlet yougo again."
"Just don't hurt her, Knox. We both don't want that," Alex spoke loudly, his gaze pinned to the filth who held me in his claws.
"I won't." Xavier chuckled easily. "I don't want to hurt her. She's my future wife."
I twisted back to him at those words, the declaration sounding asinine. What the hell was he talking about? Hiswife?
But a blood-stopping crunch sounded behind me at that moment, and I whirled back toward Alex, witnessing the way a large man was drawing his arm back from Alex’s face. The punch was loud and hard.
“No, don’t touch him!” I writhed in Xavier’s grasp, horrified at the blood immediately dripping from Alex’s nose. “Don’t touch him!”
Another fist flew into Alex’s face instead, and another muffled crunch echoed in the room, startling me into a violent shake. Alex grunted in pain, his body whipping to the side only to receive another fist into his cheek.
“Stop!” I shrieked into the void, panic rising in my bones. "Stop! Please don't hurt him! Xavier! Please make it stop!” The sound of my voice zinged in my ears, and hot tears burst from my eyes, but Xavier was calm.
"It's actually up to you to stop this, Jade,” he breathed in my ear, just as a giant man stepped back, bringing Alex into view.
My love. Blood gushed out of his nostrils and into his mouth, past his broken bottom lip, and dripped off his chin. His hands behind his back, he breathed heavily, the image of his pain cutting me open. I looked into his eyes—his beautiful brown eyes—and there was only love. Only his love.
This must be a bad dream. Just a nightmare. I'm going to wake up soon.
"Come back to me, and I promise I won't have him killed, baby.” Xavier slid his fingers into my hair and gripped hard. “You refuse? And I promise I’ll kill him."
Crack!
The sound was louder and the hit was harder.
“Stop it! Stop!” I pushed against Xavier, focused on only one man—on his knees, his face bloodied, his chest splashed in crimson. He swayed with his eyes closed, unable to respond in any way. "I'll do whatever you want, Xavier, just stop! Please!”
But it didn’t stop. A boot flew into Alex’s stomach, and he keeled over, struggling to cough and take a breath in. I lunged forward, wanting only to stop this, stop time, stop reality! But the sharp pain in my scalp rendered me motionless.
“Tsk, tsk,mon amour.” Xavier yanked on my hair, forcing my knees to hit the floor. He turned me toward him, keeping me at his feet. “Say it. Say you’ll come back.”
“I’ll c-come back!” I croaked, afraid to make him wait. “Just please don’t kill him, Xavier,” I cried quietly, searching his eyes for any hint of compassion. “Please make it stop.Please.”
Xavier looked toward Alex, still holding my hair, keeping me on my knees.
He waited.
One second.
Two.
Three.
And then he nodded.
