“Now that’s a problem, isn’t it?” He lounges against the car behind him. I’m in a bad situation between two cars with no viable escape route.
“Take my car.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not what I had in mind. If you scream, you won’t live to see tomorrow.” He advances toward me, and I back up until I hit the concrete wall behind me. I’m in trouble, and my thoughts go to Noah. What happens to him if I’m gone? My parents don’t want to raise a child at their age, and Noah sure as hell doesn’t have a father.
I glance around frantically for a way out of this. I’m small, and this guy towers over me. His dark eyes glow with menace. I calculate whether or not I can squeeze through the narrow space between the car to the right of me and the wall before he can grab me. I bolt toward that opening, bracing myself and expecting to be pulled back any moment.
Only I’m not. Instead, I hear a feral shout, as if from a wild animal, followed by an obvious scuffle. I glance over my shoulder. My would-be attacker is laid out flat out on the concrete floor. In my panicked state, I’m unable to process what’s happened. I don’t know how he got there.
I stare at the scruffy, now-disoriented man, mesmerized and waiting for him to get up. He groans, but that’s all he does.
“Are you okay?”
At the sound of that concerned voice, I refocus my attention on my savior.
Oh, fuck, no.
Drakos.
Yes, Drakos stands over my attacker, but his attention is on me. His brow furrows with worry, and I struggle to come to terms with this version of Drakos. The version I’ve built up in my mind wouldn’t have risked his own safety to save me. I’m not even sure he’d have called for help or just walked away.
Only he didn’t. Nor did he have me banned from the arena. He’s shattered everything I thought I knew about him, with the exception of being the world’s worst father. That alone makes him irredeemable in my book.
“Are you okay?” After a quick assessment of the guy on the ground, he approaches me carefully, as if he’s not sure how I’ll react.
“Just a little shook up.” I hate that I’m admitting weakness to him, and that I’m now indebted to him twice. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’d have done the same for anyone.” His face is neutral, but I get the underlying message.
“That’s obvious, since you did it for me.”
“I did.” He smiles, and I’m struck by how handsome he is when he smiles, something he rarely does around me.
He turns to his phone and makes a call to security. The shock is wearing off, and my knees turn to mush, my hands shake, and I’m on the verge of tears. I slump against the hood of the closest car and gasp for breath.
Drakos finishes his phone call and focuses on me. “They’ll be here shortly.”
He reaches out and squeezes my shoulder in an almost brotherly gesture. His blue eyes cloud with an emotion I’m not able to decipher. The depth of his worry undoes me. The next moment, I’m in his arms, and he’s holding me as I blubber into the shoulder of his jacket.
Chapter 5
Roomies
~~Drakos~~
I hold Aria awkwardly in my arms as she sobs. This is territory I never imagined I’d be in, nor do I want to be here. Her unexpected outburst throws me off-balance. I prefer to see her as my evil nemesis, not as a woman in need of rescuing and comforting. I place my arms around her and pat her back. I’m not good at shit like this, especially with a woman I’ve sworn to hate.
She’s a hot mess, and her vulnerability makes her more human. I prefer the woman I love to hate. Right now, I’m having difficulty mustering my usual level of loathing. Not knowing what else to do, I let her cry in my arms.
A strange thing happens as her body presses against mine. I’m beginning to get aroused. Holy shit, am I this much of a horndog that I’m getting hot over this woman? I must be reacting to the earlier trauma of seeing Aria and her aggressor. Yeah, that’s all it is. Sympathy or pity reaction.
I’m still a little wigged out by what just happened. When I entered the parking garage, I’d immediately sensed something was wrong. An unkempt man advanced on Aria. Fear showed in her posture as she shrank away from him. Long-dormant instincts took over, and I went into protective mode. It didn’t mean anything. I’d have done this for anyone. Unfortunately, the fact that it’s Aria makes my rescuing her all the more problematic. Our mutual animosity is our common ground. Feeling protective toward her is troublesome at the least. On the positive side, she owes me a solid.
Finally, Aria comes to her senses and pushes away from me. Relief floods through me as our bodies separate, yet I’m missing the close contact too. Aria looks everywhere but at my face. She’s clearly disturbed by her behavior. I get it. I’m disturbed, too, and not just by her behavior but my reaction to it.
Before one of us embarrasses ourselves more than we already have, multiple security staff and Portland police burst onto the scene. They take the guy into custody while detectives separate and interview both of us. I’m done before Aria is, and I’m reluctant to leave until she’s safely on her way home, wherever that might be.
“You can leave now, Drakos. We’ll make sure she’s taken care of.” Ike, the security guard, reads my mind.
