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Oh, hell no!
“Listen to me, Ryan.” I lean just a little closer, my heart thumping in my chest, my hands shaking. I’m so close to making a scene. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, who to see, and when to do it. You don’t fucking own me. No one does!”
“You’re mine, Morrigan. You always have been, and even your parents know it now. And friends… you don’t need friends, you have me. There’s nowhere for you to go, and your future is decided. Soon you will learn that.” He grabs my wrist under the table table in a bruising grip.
“Fuck you,” I spit through clenched teeth. What the hell is he talking about?Soon I will learn that… those are not just words thrown at me for the sake of it. That smirk on his lips tells me that much.
“I plan to.” My eyes go wide for a split second. I’ve done a decent job at avoiding sex with him in the last couple of months. Except for one occasion… But I’m not sure how much I can avoid it before it’s going to get violent. I’m not a fearful woman, but something about him… it fucking scares me. The grip on my wrist tightens even more, and this time I can’t hold the wince as I feel a pop in my bones.
I open my mouth to rasp at him…
“Good evening. How nice to see you here.” That fucking voice! That low, slithering, cold voice which makes people bow their heads in fear and submission, I would recognize anywhere. Only it fills me with a need for goddamn blood. It makes me want to unleash whatever creature hides deep beneath my skin, the one that comes out once in a while and destroys everything in sight. One of these days, I really hope it will be him.
That thought makes a part of me tingle… a part I wish would mind its own fucking business.
Ryan releases my wrist, and I resist the urge to rub it.
“Hello. Nice to see you too.” Ryan shakes his hand, and I can’t help but notice the veins under The Serpent’s skin, menacing, like his grip could shatter bones.
I wonder if he could shatter Ryan’s bones?
He turns his gaze to me and nods briefly. I got about a second and a half of his attention… Fucking hell, what does a woman have to do to get some respect around here?!
“Are we going to see you next week?” he continues.
“Yes, I’m quite looking forward to it. The others too. This time of year can get a little… dull.” The Serpent’s eyes flash to me for another split second, but not to my eyes… but under the table, where I’m rubbing my aching wrist.
Did he see what Ryan was doing?
“I couldn’t agree more. This one is definitely going to be entertaining, talk of the season for sure.” Ryan has a peculiar expression in his eyes and on his lips, and the fact that I have no clue what they are talking about makes me uneasy. I don’t have a good feeling about this. “And with the demand of the business, I could definitely use the entertainment.”
“Business takeover is going well, I gather? My condolences for your father.” The Serpent’s politeness is borderline deranged, yet so natural, which makes it even worse. Not that I expect him to be some rude thug lashing out at people, but his interaction is so polite, it makes one question his reputation as a terrifying organized crime boss. Wait, is he the boss? When it comes to The Sanctum, it’s hard to tell. Somehow they all seem to be in charge of their mafia empire.
“Very well, the changes I’m making are quite… fruitful.”
The conversation continues and since no one is paying attention to me, all I can do is observe. It’s strange. I didn’t know these two knew each other by name, or at least that The Serpent knows of Ryan—everyone knows who the black-eyed snake is.
He’s dressed in all black, the suit jacket, the shirt, the tie, fitted so well over those wide, round shoulders, his six foot-something frame… I can even see the trace of his pecs under the soft fibers. I snap out of it, realizing I have no fucking business drooling over this asshole’s pecs, swiping my gaze around to see if anyone noticed. Only my eyes stop on his square jaw, along the sharp line of it, covered in a permanent dark stubble, then on his straight nose, apart from a small bump on one side of the bridge, and those damn thick black lashes that would make any woman jealous.
Fuck!!! Pull yourself together, Morrigan O’Rourke!
I can’t deny the asshole is attractive, but he better walk away to be attractive somewhere else, because I have a damn date to escape from.
“I will see you then. Enjoy the rest of the evening.” Their conversation appears to have ended, and he turns to me, nodding yet again, only this time his gaze lingers for a moment longer in the direction of my hands, and the look in those dark pits is… grave.
He knows…Was The Serpent’s interruption on purpose?
“What was that about?” I turn to Ryan.
“Nothing you need to know of yet.”
“Why do you do this? What happened to you to have changed you so much? This shift… you were never this person, never talked to me this way.”
He watches me as if I’m a problem and he’s brainstorming a solution. Does he even care anymore? Only a deviant grin spreads over his lips, a mad look in his eyes.
“I did not change.” Four words, only four words he speaks and they’re enough to shake my soul. They imply too much, they change my view of him, our relationship, our past, they change everything…
Even my future.
