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“Hi.” I half charge at the man, wrapping his wrist in a rock-hard grip as his eyes shoot wide. I shoulder in between him and Nicci, making myself a barrier he’s never going to cross. He clearly needs a lesson in not invading personal space, because he was standing within inches of her and that has this new maniac protective part of me clawing its way to the surface. “Would be a great idea for you to let her go.” I seethe, barely controlling my need to bash his head into the wall for thinking he could touch her.
“Hey.” He barks back, obviously too stupid to understand the danger he’s in, but he does take a step back, thank Christ, because I don’t want my girl to see me in a violent rage just before our first date. “Can I help you?”
I loosen my grip on his arm for Nicci’s sake, but the way I’m standing makes it perfectly clear it’s me he needs to deal with right now. I could see from the pained expression on her face when I came through the door, this is not a friend. Add to that the lecherous look he was giving her, well, I’m here to shut this shit down.
“Yeah, you can tell me what business you have with Nicci.” The anger in my voice barely restrained.
“I have business with her.” He narrows his eyes at me and my muscles twitch. “Business that is none of yours.”
“Geo, it’s okay—” Nicci presses a hand on my back, but I hold mine up, silencing her until I get this fuck to understand he’s dealing with me now.
“Anything you need to say to her, you say to me.”
“Fine.” He gives me an arrogant smirk, a flash of teeth I want to make him swallow. “As of five days ago, her rent is three months behind. That enough information for you?”
I hear a whimper from behind me and am a second from launching my fist into his face. I take a split second to contain my anger, then let him know how this is going to play out.
“This your building?”
“I’m responsible for the subsidized apartments, yes. I work for the county.”
“Give me your card then.”
He stares at me, then finally makes his first good decision by reaching in his back pocket and pulling out a card.
I snatch it from him, stuff it in the front pocket of my blazer, then reach around to find Nicci’s hand and pull her to my side.
“You’ll be hearing from me.”
With that, I move toward the door with Nicci by my side. Once we’re out on the street, I open the car door and buckle her in.
“I’m sorry.” The sadness in her eyes has my heart shattering. “I’m humiliated.”
“No. He should be humiliated.” I squeeze her hand and close the door, trying to get a grip on my anger as I get into the Suburban and pull away, leaving the fucker standing in the doorway watching us go.
When I get a hold of myself, I take her hand, bring the back of it to my lips and hold it there for a long moment until she starts talking.
“He is the one who got me into the building on an exception. It’s a senior building, so he did me a favor by letting me live there. He oversees the senior center as well as the senior subsidized housing for the entire county.” The catch in her voice tells me I need to deal with him at a later date because it sounds like he thinks he holds some kind of power over her. Well, as of today that’s over, but things might get ugly when he finds out.
“Baby, don’t worry.”
“I have to worry. It’s where I live. It’s not like there are a bunch of places, at least safe places, around that I can live for three-hundred dollars a month.” Her voice hints at her fear, and it sends me into a near rage that she feels so unsteady in her life.
“From now on, you don’t worry. I’m here, and I’m going to take all those worries of yours and make them mine.”
She looks so fucking sweet in her dress and white tennis shoes. I want to stick hot daggers into that fuck’s eyes for even looking at her.
The past six months of watching her, of dreaming about her, of stroking off to thoughts of her every fucking day, swirl in my obsessed mind. I want tonight to be perfect. I want her to know she’s safe now and that she belongs to me.
It’s only a five-minute drive to the restaurant, and I hold her hand the entire way, asking her questions about her fish, about anything just to keep her talking. Just to hear her voice and learn anything I can about her.
