He just couldn’t figure out what her goal was.
She didn’t need his money, as Noelle had.
She didn’t need protection, as he’d thought.
Orgasms, sure, but she hadn’t known he could give her those until they’d actually hooked up. Why had she wanted to spend time with him in the first place? She’d been perfectly safe at Sarah’s, but she’d invited him to stay, anyway. She didn’t need him for the security system, not when she had access to Ashley and Lincoln. Hell, Claudia was like a one-woman security system. He wouldn’t put it past her to spend tonight on Yasmine’s roof with her sniper rifle if she thought she could get away with it.
Ah, shit, he should warn Drew— No, wait. Claudia had said she was going to call in the troops, and she’d included both Naomi and Drew in that. They were going to be forewarned.
Zeus wondered how pissed Drew was going to be about Zeus and Yasmine.
Then it occurred to him that Claudia might not even tell them. He was going to have to check in with her tomorrow morning before going to the office to find out what she’d told the others.
Like he needed another setback with the team. Especially one where he was completely innocent.
He was, wasn’t he? He reined his thoughts back. Yes, he’d known Mason had gotten engaged, but he’d never met her. Mason must have mentioned her name at some point, though. Someone should have.
The question was whether Zeus had been paying attention.
Or maybe Mason hadn’t said anything around Zeus because he didn’t entirely trust Zeus and hadn’t wanted him privy to Mason’s personal life, which was entirely possible. Zeus sure as hell hadn’t shown any interest in his co-worker’s personal lives, not after his own had exploded so spectacularly.
Even before that. He’d been struggling with Noelle, and she hadn’t seemed to think Ashley or Naomi liked her. Although she’d been excited to see Cassidy at The Outlands and had acted like they were good friends, Zeus had noticed she hadn’t wanted to return to the club after that.
It wasn’t as if he had wanted to answer any questions about what was going on with him and Noelle, so he hadn’t been asking questions of the others. Then, when he’d found out she was cheating on him with Devlin…
Yeah.
His thoughts spun round and round, pointlessly circling. Eventually, he must have slipped off to sleep without realizing it… until he jerked awake at the sound of Yasmine crying out in fear.
Chapter 34
Yasmine
Pete James snarled, his big meaty fist heading straight for her face. Yasmine tried to bring her arms up to defend herself, but it was as if she was tied down to something. She couldn’t feel anything around her wrists, yet she couldn’t move. Her legs tried to kick, but there was something wrapped around them.
Pure panic ripped through her, and she screamed, but no sound came out, so she tried harder, straining to cry for help, for someone… and she heard the scream, but it sounded so far away.
That’s weird.
Was it even her? Or was it someone else?
The sound of her scream and the feeling of her throat trying to produce the noise slowly melded together as she managed to dodge the attack at the last second, not entirely sure of how she got out of the way.
“Yas! Yas!” Hands grabbed her shoulders, and she screamed, and this time it was easy to scream. The sharp noise pierced the air, and she floundered in the sheets, gasping for air as she came up out of the nightmare, fleeing the terror for the safety of Zeus’ arms.
Tiger jumped off the bed as her legs kicked, then right back on as Zeus slid onto the bed beside her, wrapping her up in a hug.
“It was just a dream,” he murmured, holding her tightly against him as her tears wet his bare shoulder.
She gasped for air, clinging to him. She could feel and hear Tiger snuffling beside them, his nose seeking a way into the middle of them.
“It was just a dream. You’re safe.”
“I dreamed I was at home and he came.” Yasmine choked the words out. “He came, and he was coming after me, and I couldn’t get away fast enough. He cornered me, and he was about to hit me, and I tried to dodge, to scream, and I couldn’t move properly.”
Zeus’ hand stroked over her hair, his arms tightening subtly around her.
“You’re safe,” he repeated. “Trust me, that asshole isn’t getting in here, and even if he did, Tiger would rip his arm off before he let him touch you.”
