Suddenly, a woman from the crowd charged at Bethany, grabbing the shoe out of her hand.
“You stupid twit,” the woman yelled.
Erik got between Bethany and the woman as the woman swung the shoe, hitting Ivy in the face. Gabe watched, his heart in his mouth, as she fell to the floor.
Erik hustled Bethany out of there while River Stone barked orders in his ear. Gabe didn’t care.
He offered his hand to Ivy. “Going to get you out of here.”
Ivy’s perfectly shaped mouth formed an o, and her eyes blinked frantically.
The woman who charged Bethany was still screaming and waving the shoe about. Above the crowd, he saw two men from Stone Security; backup had arrived.
She put her hand in his, he hustled her out of there through the exit doors that led to the second-floor lobby.
He heard her raspy breathing and wanted to reassure her. As his fingers touched her flesh, he felt like throwing her against the wall. But his dick twitched.
Because the truth was, he wanted to throw her against the wall and fuck her brains out.
He tightened his grip.
“Ow,” Ivy said.
“Oh please, you like it rough.”
Yeah, that got her blushing and her eyes shooting lasers at him. He had spent many sleepless nights wondering why she had to destroy him.
He wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman.
He noticed the cut on her cheek. “You’re bleeding. Sit down.”
“This is outrageous! She grabbed the shoe from me. I can press charges, right?” Bethany said.
“I’m not the person to ask about that,” Erik said.
“What do you mean I’m bleeding?” Her voice shook.
He stopped her hand before she could touch the blood. In his experience, it made it worse the moment the person saw the blood.
“Need a first aid kit,” Gabe said into his mic.
“Got it,” River said.
“How long do I have to sit here?” Bethany said. “I need to get back to mingling. Ivy, do you have my phone?”
Ivy reached into her kitty purse and passed Bethany her phone.
“Eww, you’re bleeding,” Bethany said.
“How bad is it?” Ivy asked.
Her green eyes met his, and the hurt in them seared his heart, but he brushed it off. Why would she be hurt? He’s the one she hurt.
“That depends on how long it takes to stop the bleeding. I’m giving it nine minutes before sending you to the hospital for stitches.”
“Don’t want stitches.”
“You don’t want a lot of things,” Gabe bit out before he could stop himself.
