by C S COURT
I need to leave, now!
I slide my way across the opposite exit to the booth, not thinking of what to do next, just fighting down the escalating anxiety in my chest and needing the fresh air. I feel a pair of strong hands on my shoulders, pushing me back down as I go to stand, making me gasp and hold my breath in fear of an incoming assault, but when I look up I am met with Hunter’s angry face.
His cheek is twitching, jaw clenching and his eyes have turned a deeper shade of blue. The girl’s start giggling, clearly thinking Hunter is there to help them in their assault of me.
“It’s okay hot stuff. Go take a seat and once we have dealt with this stuck up cow, we can spend some one on one time, we got this.” The silly cow says to Hunter as if he’s going to take her up on her offer and is there to help them.
Hunter’s eyes flare with anger, he looks ready to kill. If she wasn’t such an evil, nasty bitch, then I would feel sorry for the treatment she is about to receive from him, but she is and so I don’t, I’m cheering him on instead.
His head slowly swivels toward the group, holding each one of their gazes before locking eyes with the one who tried to seduce him, if that can even be called seducing.
He gives her a grin, an evil glint passing across his face before straightening up and making a beeline for the lot of them.
“Oh, you like it one on one do you? Don’t like it in a group?” He raises his eyebrow in question at her, not making a sound until she answers him.
The girl starts to bristle, looking to her friends for assistance and clearly becoming uncomfortable with Hunter’s huge bulking form staring her down.
“Uh, um. Yeah, some alone time. I can.. make you feel good.” she stutters, becoming unsure of the situation she has placed herself in.
Hunter laughs, a full belly laugh.
Minutes seem to pass and he doesn’t let up, he clutches his belly before finally straightening and giving her a look that would freeze hell.
The girl flinches slightly, stepping back a bit and bumping in to her minion behind her. “I tell you what, seeing as you like a little one on one, how about your little bum chums run along and the pair of us have it out right here and now? You seem to have a thing for ganging up on my woman, and I only think it’s fair that I even up the odds a bit don’t you?” He says, stepping in to her face, leaving barely an inch between them, but being careful to not actually touch her. The girl’s face freezes, she flicks her eyes in my direction for a brief second and I can see the panic floating around in them.
She’s not so mouthy now she’s come up against someone bigger than her.
“Yeah, look. . Listen, I was just asking your girlfriend if we could swap tables, I didn’t mean anything by it. We all thought she was alone is all. No harm done.” She starts to grovel, stuttering her way through it all.
My blood starts to boil at the insinuation that it was all a misunderstanding.
Yeah, cause threatening to smash my face in is really a big misunderstanding. So she can bully me with her friends in tow and the second someone comes to my rescue she acts all innocent and like the whole situation is misconstrued.
How seriously fucked up is that? I can almost guarantee that had Hunter not come to help me, I would be sprawled across the floor, bloody and hurting.
Lifting my eyes from Hunter and the group of girls, I notice the staff have all edged closer to us, keen to overhear what is happening, but in no way offering any assistance.
I am thoroughly disgusted with what has this world come to, that in a restaurant full of people, not one single person will help you.
Apparently, Hunter has no such worries. I can hear the deep rumble of his voice, but I can’t quite get a grasp on the actual words he is saying to her.
Her face drains of colour and she quickly drops it towards the floor, tapping her foot frantically. Her head keeps darting around the restaurant, seeming to look for an exit to escape through, even her friend’s have fallen silent and moved away.
As much as Hunter is one hunk of a man, at this moment in time he looks like one evil S.O.B. The anger radiating off him alone is incredibly intimidating, even I find myself edging my way across the booth obliviously.
I look on in awe, as the girl simply nods at him before muttering what sounds like an apology in my direction as she scurries out of the restaurant.
“Catching fly’s?” I look up sharply as Hunter slides his way in to the booth next to me, checking me over for injury with his eyes and nodding to himself when he sees I’m unharmed.
What the bloody hell did he say to a whole group of about eight girls to get them to tuck their tails between their legs and run?
Snapping my mouth shut, I question him with my eyes. “Those bunch of thugs are lucky I let them walk out of here so easily. Next time they won’t be so lucky.” The intensity with which he spoke that statement making me shiver, the anger is still coming off of him in waves and I shy away slightly.
I know he isn’t angry at me, but in a way I wouldn’t really blame him even if he was.
Ever since he came in to my life it has been full of drama and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sick of the damsel in distress act I have going on, I know I am. It’s as if I have a target painted on my forehead.
“You’d hit a woman?” I ask, shocked that Hunter would harm a female in any way.
He shakes his head vigorously, making it clear that I have misunderstood him. “Baby, I would never hit a woman. I’m not wired that way. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you they will walk away unscathed, it’s just not going to be in the way you think.” Huh, I wonder what that means.
As if to answer my question, he leans my way and says, “Baby, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to. Just know I am fiercely protective of what I class as mine, and you, whether you know it or not, are mine!” My breath catches in my throat, no matter how many times I hear those words, they throw me in to some kind of stupor.
I do want to be his, and in a way, I do class him as mine, even if I think it is too soon. I want him, and god help me but I’m not going to let him get away.
“I want to be yours. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more.” I tell him as I blush. A small nervous smile on my lips.
Hunter makes his way beside me, and for the first time in a hell of a long time I feel calm, fulfilled, exactly where I need to be.
I don’t think I have ever felt more right or like I belong. Why couldn’t this man have walked in to my life all those years ago, instead of Dan?
I know my mum would say you don’t appreciate the good unless you experience the bad, but really? The bad I lived through was a decade long, and very nearly broke me.
Maybe Hunter is my good, my knight in shining armor so to say.
“I’m sorry I left you Connie, god if I had known those vicious sharks were going to attack I would have taken you with me. There was a phone call I should have waited to have taken. I’m so angry at myself for leaving you to fend for yourself. Are you okay baby?” In answer to his question I lean forward and tenderly kiss his lips, a lump forming in the back of my throat and my eyes starting to sting from the impending tears.
This gorgeous, wonderful, caring and loving man wants me, he truly cares for me, something I haven’t felt since I was a little girl in my daddy’s arms.
“I.have.never.been.more.okay.” I say each word between pecks on his lips.
“I have a chicken burger, chips and corn on the cob?” I break away from Hunter and turn towards the perky voice. I groan inwardly when I realise it is the same waitress from earlier, the cow is still giving Hunter googly eyes, even if he seems utterly oblivious to her presence.
His eyes have focused on the food and it’s quite clear he is eager to tuck in.
Can a woman get a break? Seriously!
He nods, not once removing his eyes from the plate of food as she places it in front of him.
Her shoulders have dropped and a frown is marring her face
from the blatant rejection, if she also wasn’t such a bitch I would feel sorry for her, instead I’m feeling quite smug.
The next plate is quite literally dumped in front of me, a few chips spilling on to the table as she does it “Oh, I’m sorry, the plate was heavier than it looked.” She throws a false smile my way, and I can’t help but wonder if every bloody person on this planet has it out for me, with the exception of Hunter.
“Don’t worry about it, I can feed her some of mine.” I snap my head in Hunter’s direction, shocked by his comment. Was that really necessary to inform our bitchy waitress?
Our server goes to storm off, clearly unimpressed with his comment but he calls her back. “I forgot to grab two glasses from the counter, can I have them brought over?” She mumbles something unintelligible under breath and goes to do his bidding.
“Tuck in, the sooner we eat the sooner we can join our friend’s.” He says, picking up his burger and biting in to it with gusto.
We eat our meal, learning small snippets about the other as we go.
I told Hunter all about my wonderful childhood, how it turned when I met Dan and fell in to his trap, I even went on to describe how having my beautiful children gave me a new lease for life and they were the reason I carried on living, morbid as it sounds, they were the only reason I fought to wake up every day.
Hunter in turn told me how he and his younger brother were raised by his Mother, they were in a similar situation to myself until their Dad one day turned his fists on the boys, she packed their bags and ran as far as their legs would carry them, all the way from Texas, America to London, bettering all of their lives.
To say I was shocked at how far she came is an understatement, but something I completely understand is the need to run, to take yourself as far away as fast as you can.
I always said if I had the means to run I would have taken the kids and done just that. The bit that struck the most was when Hunter told me what he did for a living, and how he cannot even class it as a job, but as something he loves.
He owns a string of gyms, well a chain really, the biggest chain in England, ‘Jacobson’s Gyms’. I choked on my chicken when he informed me.. To think, one of the wealthiest, successful men in the country wanted to be with me was enough to make me pass out, thankfully I didn’t.
I stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before he waved it off as if it was no biggy. Insecurity started to creep in by this point.
Fair enough I grew up well off, but no where near his level.
When I tried to bring this up he assured me it was only money, and that it wasn’t the be all and end all, of course he enjoys having that amount at his disposal, but he will never forget what it was like to grow up struggling and will never take it for granted.
He doesn’t want some stuck up cow, only with him for money purposes, he wants someone he connects with, someone who is real, and as he said, that someone is me.
The fierceness with which he described money grabbing women was frightening, if I didn’t know any better I would say he has had experience with a few, but hey, who am I to know or say anything.
The past is the past, and unless it ultimately affects me or my children, it can stay there.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The queue for Funky Buddha is huge, and I feel immediately disappointed with the idea of standing outside in a line in the cold.
If we didn’t stop for food, I for one wouldn’t have been attacked and for two we would more than likely be inside, drinking in the warm with our friends. Stepping to the back of the queue along the side of the building, I assume we will be waiting quite a while.
I watch, astounded as Hunter continues walking, receiving several appreciative looks from the females waiting to get in. He stops abruptly, swiveling on his heel and raising his eyebrows in question at me. “I don’t queue baby.” Is all he says as he grabs my hand and pulls me past at least a hundred people lined up waiting, to the entrance. Is he kidding? He doesn’t queue?
“Mr Jacobson, will you require the vip tonight sir?” A big burly bouncer has moved the rope to the side, and hasn’t even glanced at his clip board with dozens of names on.
“Yes please, we will make our way there in a bit. No need to escort us.” He doesn’t even pause to flash his I.D or await an answer from the bouncers. He takes me, stunned stupid by this point through the lobby, and down the stairs.
I watch, amazed at the woman and two men, who at first glance appear to be gold statues. On second glance I notice their chests rising and falling, and their eyes watching the occupants of the club pass from the room on their left to the room on their right. I can’t even look in to the other rooms at this point, I am too preoccupied with watching the people in gold body paint, not even moving in the slightest.
“Do they stay there all night?” I stupidly ask Hunter without thinking first.
“No baby, they are on shifts. They get relieved at intervals.”
Hunter starts to pull me to the room on my right. It is packed solid, loud music blasting from the speakers and people attempting to dance in what little space there is. I suck in a breath, as if doing this is going to make it easier to make my way through the crowd. I ignore the several hands that paw my arse as we edge our way through. Hunter doesn’t need to know, I don’t want him to come to my rescue again, an arse grab is easy enough to ignore, a compliment of sorts I suppose.
The walls have mirrors the whole way through, and I catch several pairs of eyes watching Hunter in interest, or lust. We come to an island in the middle of a large room, packed with bodies. I tug on Hunter’s hand, wanting to get to the bar and down a drink. This club is so out of my league, this is only made more obvious by the price tags on the drinks, I can’t even afford to buy one, let drink enough to get plastered.
Hunter beckons the bar tender over, where I promptly order a double Disaronno and coke with a jagerbomb, totally pissed off that I can’t even treat my friend’s to a drink out tonight, and needing something to give me a quick buzz.
Hearing ‘Clean bandit’s, Rather Be,’ start to play, I start to sway my hips, searching through the sea of bodies for a spot to dance.
I do the Jagerbomb and down my Disaronno, feeling the warmth spreading through my veins and taking the edge away from being in a new place.
Finding a spot that isn’t as crowded, I don’t even turn to see if Hunter has followed me. I make my way there and start to swing my hips from side to side to the beat, losing myself in the music. If there’s one thing I truly love doing, it’s dancing.
It doesn’t matter where I am or who am I with, I am always chomping at the bit to get up and dance.
I start to roll my hips, alternating between a sway and a full circle, closing my eyes and allowing the occupants of the club to disappear. It’s just me and the song, all worries and insecurities vanish, leaving me calm and at ease. This was my calling, if Dan hadn’t come along and taken everything from me, I would never have given this up. Who would want a washed up, paranoid wreck for a dance teacher now? I sure as hell wouldn’t.
I jump when a pair of hands slide their way down my hips, making their way to my inner thighs brushing against my sex.
I instantly freeze as the person behind me continues to grind their arousal against my arse, and I rapidly come to the conclusion that the man behind me is not Hunter. The tingles I feel in his presence are nowhere to be found and the body behind me is smaller and less muscular than his.
Trying to step away, I am instantaneously pulled back. My back smacking against the strangers chest as his hand worms its way under my top. My breath freezes in my lungs and I close my eyes counting to ten before I make my next move. The one good thing about being a dancer when I was younger, was the way I learnt to deal with frisky men who assumed they could have a piece of you without your consent.
I elbow him in the gut, just as Hunter steps in front of me and grips Mr grabby hands wrist, forcing it down from my top.
Not only i
s the poor sod now doubled over trying to suck some oxygen down to his lungs as a result of me winding him, he also has his arm being crushed by an angry man with a murderous expression on his face.
I cringe, watching Hunter drag the man in his direction and start to scream in his face. His whole body shaking with rage. “Do not touch what is mine. If I see you so much as glance in her direction, I’ll make you wish you were never born.”
The man gets shoved from behind and falls in to the sea of bodies surrounding us, out of sight.
Hunter stalks towards me, becoming the predator and making me his prey.
The music continued to pulse in the background, people carried on dancing, not paying a blind bit of notice to the ruckus over here.
I catch my breath as Hunter throws his arms around me, forcefully kissing me, prying my mouth open and shoving his tongue deep inside.
I groan in the back of my throat, my body temperature rocketing and a thrill of excitement shooting through my veins.
I lean in to him and just allow him to take control. This is, without a question of a doubt, an alpha male showing his dominance over other male threats. I would laugh, if I wasn’t being so swept up in the display and loving it.
I pull my lips back, grinding my lower body against his straining erection to the beat of the music. Hunter follows my lead and places one of his legs between mine, rubbing it against my throbbing clit.
I push down harder, tilting my head back as my eyes close from the pleasure of rubbing against his muscular thighs.
Hunter takes advantage of my neck being exposed and begins to nip and suck at the skin. My thong becomes soaked with my arousal.
A very small part of me wonders if I will leave a damp patch on his jeans, but the bigger, more aroused part couldn’t care less.
My muscles begin to tense, my movements become jerky and my breathing shallows.