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His eyes were kind. “Because I can imagine this is a lot. Are ye worried about last night?”
I shook my head with all the bravado I could muster. “No. No. I’m fine.” I wasn’t.
There wasn’t just kindness but concern in his eyes. “They didn’t know who you were, missus. Now they do, I can’t say it’ll get any better.”
I nodded as though I actually had any idea how our world really worked and told myself my heart wasn’t trying to climb out my mouth. “I know I’m in good hands with you, Marco.”
It was a testament to the gravity of the situation that he didn’t make a joke out of that. I think I would have preferred if he had.
“The Angels won’t let any harm come to you, Harlow,” he said, and I think it was the first time I’d ever heard him use my name. “Even the idiots who’d rather get themselves killed.”
Idiots like Valen.
I took a deep breath and looked around again, aiming for a calm and collected changing of the subject. “And would you tell me to avoid the toilets here, Marco?”
Humour lit his concern. “Depends how desperate you are, missus.”
To get a second to myself before I fell apart in front every hardened arsehole in this seedy underground club? “Uh, let’s say quite.”
One corner of his lips tipped up. “If ye make your way that way, you’ll find yourself in the back. Amenities are much nicer back there.”
I took a breath. “You don’t need to come with me?” I teased. It was more a plea, really.
“Any fucker stupid enough to touch you tonight deserves what’s coming to him.”
I felt my eyebrow rise. “And that stops me getting touched how?”
He smirked. “If anyone touches you without permission, I will resign from my post.”
“You’re very confident.”
He nodded. Once. “I am.”
Then I would be, too. “Okay. Back soon.”
These fuckers might not be stupid enough to actually touch me, but that didn’t stop them practically rubbing their eyes all over my body. Faces leered at me through the shadows and poor lighting. I wasn’t quite sure that it was enough to get me over any imminent meltdown, but it felt like turning back to Marco now would be admitting some kind of defeat. I could do this. If I was going to survive this world, I would have to do this.
I held my head a little higher, pulled my shoulders back, and affected an air of superior disinterest that I modelled after Archer. It didn’t stop the looks. It didn’t stop me reading on almost every face what they’d do to me given half a chance; I’d find no pleasure in it, and they’d get more because of that. It did stop the instinct of flight from taking over. Once again, the mantra of ‘fake it until I make it’ served me well.
Once I hit the corridor to the back, I felt slightly safer. The lights were out in this section, but it’s not like the rest of the place had been brilliantly lit. Then hands grabbed me roughly and pushed me against a wall. The manic beating of my heart slowed when I smelled him.
My heart started pounding for a very different reason. My stomach fluttered. My clit tingled. And a deep well of desire opened up in me that I feared I’d never manage to close again. We hadn’t been this close since I walked out of his bedroom two weeks earlier.
Had it really only been two weeks?
“What in the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?” he snarled. He was beyond angry, but my nipples still tightened.
“Lovely as always, Valk,” I replied smoothly.
He dropped his nose to my neck. “I won’t ask a second time, princess.”
“Apollo wanted me here for your fight.” Apparently.
“Why?” I could hear the surprise in his voice.
The darkness made me bolder. “I don’t know. Maybe he wanted me to talk some sense into you.”
“You say that like this wasn’t his idea,” he answered, his voice humoured now.
