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Irritation flashes over her face.
Star pushes off the wall and slips through the crowd. Stopping by my side, she takes me in for a moment. Her lashes flutter unconsciously, letting me know she likes what she sees. The jacket I’m wearing is snug. It’s one I happened to have in the back of my car and I threw it on over my black jeans, in an attempt to blend in a little. Not that my clan tat can hide who I am. It’s a calling card to anyone in the mafia, but of course, no one in this trendy place would know that.
Star notices a gaggle of women beside me blatantly checking me out, and that douses the desire on her face.
“What are you doing here,” she demands.
My gaze flashes over her, my only sign of acknowledgment. My jaw tightens, the muscle at the base pulsing in irritation. Fuck, how can she ask me that when she’s the one in trouble?
“I’m serious, why are you here,” she continues haughtily.
Her tone of voice triggers my temper.
“Be quiet,” I snap. “I’m furious.”
My gaze cuts to her again.
“Furious,” I hiss.
She jerks back in surprise. “With me? You’re kidding me, right?”
Indignation blasts through me. My hand shoots out and wraps tightly around her upper arm.
“Never fucking go out alone,” I snarl as I drag her closer to me. “For the love of God, I thought we covered this last time I caught you roaming around in the Village.”
“Okay, first, I was notroaming around. I was there with Crina and we were going to a poetry café. But that’s not relevant. What is relevant is that you had the audacity to follow me.”
“You’re one to talk about audacity,” I reply, my eyes narrowing into slits.
“We’ve discussed this. I’m perfectly fine going out alone, and anyway, it’s none of your business. I don’t know where this misguided sense of obligation is coming from. I’m not even from your clan, but you act like you own me or something.” If possible, my jaw clenches tighter. “Itoooldyou, it doesn’t matt—"
I press an index finger firmly on her lips, cutting her off.
“Don’t say it,” I warn, shaking my head in slo-mo. She’s seriously working my last nerve, and I’m seconds from snapping completely.
Enraged, I glance away, unable to look at her without wanting to throttle her. I won’t let her finish the ridiculous statement that she doesn’t matter. I can almost hear her finish it in her mind and it rings in mine as if she’s said it out loud. Goddammit, it drives me to the edge when she says things like that.
“We’re leaving,” I say abruptly, tugging at her arm.
She digs her heels in, trying to get out of my grip. She’s surprisingly strong, but no match for me.
“We are not,” she declares, gesturing toward a wall with three large photographs mounted on it. “You can leave, but I just got here and I haven’t even checked out the exhibition.”
“I’ll haul you out over my shoulder if I have to.”
The pulse at her throat goes a mile a minute. Her nostrils flare.
Seeing the mutiny on her face, I put my finger an inch away from my thumb, and warn, “I’ve been patient, but I’m this close. Don’t test me, Star.”
“Since when are you patient?”
Eyes to the ceiling, I retort, “Oh, you have no idea.” I snap them back to her. “But you will. By the time I’m done with you tonight, I swear to it, you will.”
She draws back from me, or as much as she can with my fingers cuffed around her arm.
“Don’t you dare pull away from me,” I seethe. I feel myself unraveling, and clench down on it to regain control. Control. Need control. “You drive me crazy, you know that? And that’s not a good thing. Crazy was my father, not me.”
She yanks her arm harder. “You can leave. I’m not your responsibility, remember? Let me go.”
