Page 79 of The Devil’s Feather

Not so pretty on the inside. I took a steadying breath. Grey rock. Don’t give her what she wants. “You must know him really well after all this time.”

She shrugged prettily. “We used to fuck.”

I choked on my champagne.

“Rafael gets fixated on his little pet projects for a few months, then he tosses them aside when he gets bored. Better keep it casual, girlie-pop. He’ll eat you alive.” She waggled a pointed pink fingernail in my face. “At best, you’ll be disappointed. If I couldn’t convince him to use that big dick the right way, you sure as hell can’t.” She shook her head, tossing her blond waves. “What a fucking waste.”

I sucked in a breath as my stomach dropped through the floor. Goddamn, that stung. But ‘the right way’? ‘A fucking waste’? Oh, fuck this chick. Right between the eyes with a nail bat.

Molly did not relent. “You know he’s a psycho, right? Piss him off on the wrong day, and you’ll end up in the hospital like I did. I’m telling you this for your own good.”

Suddenly it was hard to breathe, and too hot. My face was burning. All my logical protests melted in the blaze.

She maintained a bored expression, but malicious glee danced in Molly’s hazel eyes. “You look like you could take a couple of hits at least, since you’re built like a punching bag.”

Too many words fought to fit through the blistering space between my brain and my tongue. All I could do was blink rapidly and sniff back the searing, humiliating tears.

Rafael came back. “Sorry. Kathy is impossible to ignore and—Molly, why the fuck are you here?” He frowned and caught me by the shoulders, crouching to look me in the eye. “Elaine, are you ok?”

I stared resolutely at the floor, blinking rapidly to fight back the sting of tears. No, I can’t have a meltdown here. Molly is just fucking with me.

Molly examined her manicure. “I thought you liked ‘em tougher than that, Rafa.”

Rafael tucked me against his chest. His voice dropped to a growl that raised the hair on my arms. “Molly, what the fuck did you say to her?”

“I told her the truth.”

He lifted my chin with his thumb, forcing me to look at him. “Tell me exactly what she said.”

I treated it like a recital, detached and far away so I wouldn’t tumble headlong into the pit opening beneath my feet. I left out the comments about his dick, though. No need to pass along that cruelty.

Rafael tensed more and more as I spoke; lines deepening in his face with each word. When I finished, he was silent for so long that both Molly and I fidgeted. She turned to walk away, and his hand shot out, catching her arm.

In a voice so low I could barely understand him, Rafael snarled, “You do not look at her; you do not talk to her. You do not breathe in her direction, do you understand?”

“Rafael, stop,” I said, dizzy with dread. Or tried to. No words came out.

He released Molly’s arm, growling, “If you ever upset Elaine again, I will break your face too, bitch.”

“You’re a fucking monster!” Molly turned on a stiletto heel and fled toward the ladies’ room.

I wanted to vomit. Too much, too fast. I pushed away from him.

Rafael reached for my face, and I flinched. Hurt flickered in his eyes. He stalked outside, calling for the valet. I drifted after him in a daze.

1 “Sharks” by The Warning

22

AN INVETERATE SHITHEAD

Rafael did not look at me as he drove. Had I fucked everything up by going to that stupid party? How many more jealous exes did he have waiting in the wings to tear me to shreds? Worse, his threat to Molly awoke the atavistic fear I’d been keeping at bay.

“‘Men fear women will laugh at them. Women fear men will kill them’.” I hadn’t meant to say the quote aloud.

Rafael pulled the car over and parked, letting the engine idle. My heart kicked against my chest.

“I was trying to protect you.⁠1” He gripped the steering wheel, staring straight ahead.