“So?” he snapped. “That’s what I paid for.”
“No,” she said sharply. “You paid to look. And you crossed a line.”
His mouth twisted. “You embarrassed me, and your bouncer embarrassed me.”
“He did his job,” Ruby said. “Now you need to leave.”
The man laughed, low and ugly. “Nah. I think you and I can settle this privately. Right now. You give me what I paid for, and we’re even.” Her heart slammed against her ribs. This wasn’t the club. There were no cameras. No stage lights. No security standing ten feet away. She was in real danger.
Ruby took a step back, angling her body toward her bike, toward the building, toward anywhere she could run if she had to. “Get away from me,” she said. “Right now.”
He reached out—caught a handful of her jacket, and Ruby’s instincts took over. Ruby slammed her keys between her fingers and drove her elbow back hard into his ribs. He grunted, stumbling back a step, shock flashing across his face.
“Don’t touch me,” she warned, her breath coming fast now. “You have no idea who you’re messing with.”
He recovered quickly, eyes darkening. “You think you’re better than me now? You’re just a dancer, and you owe me a lap dance still.” The words sliced deep, feeling too close to the truth. She tried to take a step back from him, and he grabbed her arm.
“I said no,” she snapped, trying to tug her arm free from his grasp. “And no means no.” He grabbed her other wrist, and she panicked. Fear surged through her, but so did fury. She twisted, using her weight as leverage. It was something that she learned in self-defense classes, the Harlots insisted she take. His grip loosened just enough for her to break free.
“You’re making a mistake,” he snarled.
Ruby backed away, voice shaking but strong. “So are you.”
“You think that you can stop me, but you can’t. I’m going to get my lap dance from you, one way or another,” the guy spat.
A voice cut through the night—low and dangerous. “Let her go.”
Ant stepped out from between two parked cars, and Ruby couldn’t help but gasp. He wasn’t wearing his cut and didn’t flash his FBI badge. He was just a solid, coiled threat in human form, and she had never been so happy to see someone in her life.
The man froze, as though reading Ant as a threat. Ant’s eyes flicked to Ruby—quick and assessing. “You okay?”
Ruby nodded, even though her hands were shaking. “He followed me home.”
Ant’s jaw tightened. He turned his full attention to the man. “You need to leave, now,” he ordered.
The guy scoffed, bravado crumbling at the edges. “She owes me?—”
Ant moved faster than Ruby could blink. One second, he was standing there; the next, his hand was wrapped in the man’s collar, slamming him back against a car hard enough to rattle the doors.
“You paid for a fantasy,” Ant growled, voice deadly calm. “You don’t get ownership.”
The man’s face went pale. Ant leaned in close. “You follow her again, speak to her again, or even think about her—and I promise you, the consequences won’t come from a bouncer.” He released him with a shove. The man was smart enough not to argue with Ant. He didn’t look back at them as he ran back to his car. Ant waited until the guy pulled off, heading back to the highway, before he turned to face her.
Silence fell heavily over the parking lot, and Ruby’s knees nearly gave out. Ant caught her before she went down, concern etched deep on his handsome face. “Thank you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. “I thought someone was following me, but I wasn’t sure until he cornered me here. God, I’m such an idiot. I should have been more careful.”
“You shouldn’t have been alone,” Ant insisted. “You should have come back to the club to tell me about your suspicions.”
“I didn’t know you were still nearby,” she whispered. “I thought that you had left.”
“Then you should have called me,” he insisted.
“How did you know that he was going to follow me?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” he admitted. “I had a bad feeling, so I doubled back.”
“Wait, how did you know where I live?” she asked.
He gave a sheepish grin, “Um, I’m FBI, remember? My little background search on you gave me your address.”
