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I get the feeling that he gets off on the discomfort he’s creating.
“Can we go outside and get this exchange done so we can get home?” Jax asks Benton with a hint of annoyance in his tone
Benton lifts a shoulder. “Sure. I want to get back to the game, anyway.”
He pushes past us and out the “Do Not Enter” door. Jax turns to follow him, pulling me with him, and Hunter trails right behind us. No one says anything as we make our way back across the crowded bar, but it’s probably too noisy, anyway. What does happen, though, is Hunter places his hands on my waist and moves closer to me. My heartrate quickens like a fluttering hummingbird because, holy hell, I’m holding two guys’ hands. Then again, these guys shared their body heat with me at the same time, so maybe it shouldn’t be so weird.
Maybe I’m just weird for thinking it’s weird.
“Baby, I have a question,” Hunter whispers in my ear, his lips brushing across the flesh.
I nod, feeling a bit dazed as the weirdest shiver rolls through me. It’s the same sort of shiver that tickled across my skin when Jax kissed me.
“That guy over in the corner; do you know who he is?” he asks softly.
That wasn’t what I expected him to say, so it takes me a beat to process it. Then I scan the many people crammed in the space around us. “Which corner?”
“The right corner, back in the booth,” he says as he slides his fingers farther around my waist, making my shirt ride up a bit, so that his palms come into contact with my flesh. Not the scarred part of my flesh, either, but the speck of flesh right above the waistband of my shorts. No one has ever touched me there before, so I didn’t know until now how sensitive that area is, and yeah, I end up shivering.
Hunter notices, quickly moving his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you like that without your permission.”
“You’re fine,” I assure him, letting out a shaky breath. “The area is just … sensitive and kind of took me off guard.”
His breath falters against my ear. “Do you …? Do you want me to put my hand back?”
The sound of my heart suddenly becomes louder than the chatter and music filling up the room.
Do I? I’m not sure … or maybe I’m just too embarrassed to say the words aloud. Whatever the reason, I find myself nodding.
“Yeah, I do,” I whisper so softly that I’m not sure if he heard me.
He must have, because he returns his hand to the spot causing flutters breathing to life in my tummy as the palm of his hand brushes across my flesh.
“So, the guy in the corner?” he whispers in my ear, his voice suddenly sounding a bit more upbeat. “Do you know him?”
I look in the far back corner, at a man sitting in a booth, staring at me. He has a hoodie pulled over his head, but the lighting is bright enough that I can make out some of his features—a straight nose, full lips, a scruffy jawline, and a scar running down his left eye. He looks around our age, maybe a few years older, and he makes no effort to look away from me when our gazes collide.
“I’m … I’m not sure,” I say, holding the guy’s gaze to try to show that I’m not intimidated by him. “He seems sort of familiar, but I’m not sure why.”
Hunter sinks into silence as he continues to guide me toward a spot where the crowd grows thicker. I seriously can almost taste the sweat in the air.
Barf.
“I don’t like how he’s looking at you,” he mutters, his grip on my waist tightening.
I’m not sure if I like the way he’s looking at me, either, but I can’t seem to take my eyes off the man. I carry his gaze all the way until we near the exit. Then our connection breaks as a fight breaks out and I’m suddenly shoved to the side. Hunter loses his grip on my waist, and Jax’s hand slips from mine as the throng of drunken people swallows me up. I don’t panic as I shove people back. I’m holding my own pretty well, too, until I feel someone move up close behind me. For a second, I think it’s one of the guys, but then a hand clamps down across my mouth as an arm wraps around my waist. Then they start dragging me backward, away from the fight.
Panic whips through me as déjà vu sets in. I start to lift my hand to reach up and punch them in the face while opening my mouth to bite down when they promptly let me go.
They have managed to drag me into the hallway where the bathrooms are located, along with a side exit. Only a few people are lingering around, and they all look plastered.
I whirl around with my fists raised, preparing to fight whoever dragged me here. When I see the guy who was staring at me earlier, I’ll admit I’m not that surprised. I am, however, freaked the hell out.
He quickly puts his hand to the side. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
I continue to make a fist. “If that’s true, then why did you drag me back here?”
He sweeps his gaze across me, as if searching for something, before he locks his gaze on me. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
