Page 12 of Cole

“Are they?” Cole studied me a little harder. “Do you know what isn’t obvious to me?”

I could have sworn he stepped closer. I gripped the arms of my barstool and tried to look unaffected.

“What?”

“You,” he supplied. “You don’t belong here. Who did you come with?”

“Do I need to come with someone? It’s a free country.”

“Whoever sold you on that lie isn’t my problem. This is a members-only club. Who did you come with?” He leaned one hand on the bar, and I focused on the many tattoos scrolling down his arms.

“It’s members only? There’s no sign on the door.”

“There doesn’t need to be one. If you’re from Hade Harbor, you know The Clutch is the Harbor Hounds clubhouse. That means I need to approve your presence,” he growled and then frowned. “Where the fuck have we met before?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. At HHU? I go to hockey games sometimes. I know Marcus.”

He studied me a little longer. If felt like a safe answer to give, as I knew Cole sometimes went to games to watch his brother play.

He nodded, seemingly satisfied, then picked my bag up from the barstool and handed it to me.

“Here, don’t forget this when you go.” He tugged me to standing.

“What? I’m not ready to go.”

“Too bad. You’re done,” Cole said firmly.

“But why? I haven’t done anything wrong!” I argued with him as he tugged me unceremoniously toward the door. Great, good job, Isabelle. I was really buttering him up and getting information out of him.

“At worst, you’re poking your nose where it doesn’t belong for reasons I don’t even want to think about. At best, you’re chatting up an impressionable seventeen-year-old like a goddamn predator, and I won’t allow it.”

“A what?!” My squeak was so high, it hit the ceiling and bounced. “A predator! He’s the one who keeps coming over to me! I’d never–that’s ridiculous!”

He dragged me across the floor and eyes followed. We’d started to attract some attention.

“He’s not the one I’m interested in!” I managed to get out and found myself jolted to a stop. My chest pressed into Cole’s. I had to tip my head right back to keep him in my sight. The man was big and broad and smelled ridiculously good, like pine and woodsmoke, with a hint of grease and leather. It was overwhelmingly masculine in a way I’d never encountered before. I wanted to stick my nose into his leather jacket and inhale for an hour.

“Oh, he isn’t, is he?” Cole stared down at me. His eyes were so insanely blue, I was drowning in them.

“Who is it then? Who are you here for?” he added, a touch softer and less intimidating, but still commanding.

I opened my mouth to reply, and drew a blank. What the fuck was I supposed to say?

Luckily, I didn’t have to think about it too hard, since the front doors slammed open and some guys walked in.

Cole stiffened beside me, his attention immediately diverted. Cool wind blew in behind them and seemed to wash over the place. Everyone stilled.

“Bailey–you think you can steal my suppliers?” one of them demanded and pointed something at Cole and me.

Well, just Cole, I guess, but I was standing in front of him, so it sure felt like it was pointed at me.

Then the thing in his hand slowly registered, and I froze to the spot.

It was a gun. Someone was pointing a gun at me.

The room around us seemed to disappear. Time slowed. I couldn’t look away from the end of it, pointing right at me. I’d been lucky. I’d led a sheltered life. I’d never actually seen a gun in real life before. It was utterly terrifying.

“Teddy, let’s talk about this,” Cole drawled. He sounded completely unbothered. Also, what kind of gun-toting maniac was called Teddy?