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“I did not.”
“There are dozens of pictures to prove it,” Michael says, a conniving smirk appearing on his face. “Of the two of you in his car and on the street. You were all over each other.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” I say. Suddenly, I wish Carter was here.
“You were wearing his jacket when Ava came to get you,” Michael says. He takes a step closer toward me. “Do you realize how much money I spent to keep all those photos offline? You could have publicly humiliated me. Ishouldpublish them so everyone here knows the kind of person you really are.”
“The video Kristen sent me and your actions are what you should be embarrassed about,” I say. “Nothing happened between Carter and me that day. I didn’t even know him when we met.”
“Then explain why you’re with him now.”
I shake my head. “It’s none of your business.”
“Fuck, Mia. Just tell me the truth—” he starts. He reaches both arms out to grab me by the shoulders, but someone catches onto Michael’s forearm before he can lay his hands on me.
Chapter 16
Carter
“Keepyourhandsoffher,” I say as I grab Michael by his arm.
I turn him to face me, then punch him across the face. He stumbles back against the table, causing a few dishes to fall and shatter to the floor.
I shake my hand out as I wait for him to stand up. When he does, I punch him again. This time, he breaks his fall against the table with his arms.
“You bastard,” Michael growls, the corner of his mouth bleeding.
I send a smirk in his direction to let him know how good it felt to hit him. Before I can even react, he tackles me and knocks me into the wall behind me. I elbow him in the stomach, then push him against the table once more.
Two security guards dressed in all-black rush over to break us up, favoring to protect Michael. After all, he is the one who took the most blows. I admit he’s fast, but overall, he’s a terrible fighter.
When Michael finally rises, he holds his hand up to his now-bleeding nose.
“What the hell?” Michael yells, blood dripping down his hand. “What’s the matter with you?”
I huff and let out a laugh. This bastard has some nerve confronting Mia like this, only to act like it isn’t a big deal.
“I don’t like men who think they can treat women however they want,” I say. I turn toward Mia. Without thinking, I cup her face in my hands and lift her chin so that I can look her in the eyes. “Are you all right?”
She nods, but there are tears there. Jesus, he must have really startled her.
“Carter, what the hell is going on?” Peyton says, crossing over to us with a few more security guards. It looks like he ran over here from his office in the back of the club.
I rub the back of my neck. “I was only protecting Mia from this asshole who tried to assault her.”
Peyton’s eyes sweep over Michael, who’s relaying to a security guard what happened. Only, he’s making himself sound much more harmless than what I witnessed before I intervened. Pathetic.
“Whatever happened, let’s leave it here,” Peyton says. “This isn’t the place for scandals.”
I roll my eyes. That’s ironic, considering he’s the kind of guy who would chip in to generate hype around anything that will make him money by any means possible.
Peyton turns to Michael. “If I hear that the two of you are fighting again, I’m going to have to ask you both to leave.”
“That’s it?” I blurt out. Jesus, he won’t even defend me. His precious club must mean a lot more to him than our friendship.
“Whatever,” Michael says. He shoots a vicious glare at Mia, then at me, before turning on his heels and heading toward the bathroom to clean up.
“Really, man?” I say to Peyton. “You could have had my back a bit more.”
