My temper flared again. “He didwhat?”
Thug held a finger up. “Hang fire.” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and clicked on it a few times before holding it to his ear and saying, “Boss. I think your woman wants to talk to ya. Turn her cell back on.”
My throat burned with rage as I heard Pagan’s deep laugh followed by a few words I couldn’t hear before Thug ended the call.
Within a few seconds, my cell rang, and Pagan’s name flashed across the caller ID.
I clicked to answer and screeched, “How fuckingdareyou?”
“Babe,” Pagan's deep voice rumbled.
Ignoring the rush of wet between my legs at the deep rasp of his voice, I bellowed, “Don’t youbabeme. Why are you sending your goon to my apartment to scare me half to death? I thought I was being burgled.”
Thug cackled.
“Should do as you’re fuckin’ told then,” he crowed.
“Oh my God, Pagan!” I cried. “What the hell are you doing? I’m going out to dinner with my girlfriends, for God’s sake. What’s the damned problem?”
“Last time you went out with those bitches, I walked into a bar and caught you with your lips on Captain fuckin’ America. If you think you’re gonna get a repeat, you’re crazy.”
“He won’t even be there,” I protested.
“Well, excuse me if I don’t give a fuck,” he grated out.
“You’re the asshole who goes off into back-room offices with strippers,” I accused. “So I can’t imagine what gives you the right to tellmewhat to do.”
“Told ya. Nothin’ happened,” he argued.
“The intention was there,” I shot back.
“If the intention was there, I would’ve been balls deep in her within five minutes. It’s not like you’re my ol’ lady. Fact is, I can do what the fuck I want, so believe me, babe, the intention wasn’t there, or else the outcome would’ve been very fuckin’ different.”
“So you can do what you want, which incidentally includes strippers,” I hissed, “and I can’t even go out to dinner with two girlfriends? Do you know how unhinged you sound?”
“I’ll say it again, Ash. I don’t. Give. A. Fuck. I told you you’re not goin’ out, and I meant it. Now go get comfortable. Thug’s got orders to feed you and make sure you’re okay, which means he’s stayin’ there until I can get down, which won’t be for a few days. I suggest in the meantime, you behave ’cause he’ll restrain you if you try to get smart.”
I watched, unseeing, while Thug picked up the remote, dropped onto my couch, and toed his boots off as he settled in to watch TV.
“Told you,Dubheasa,” he murmured. “Bein’ with me will affect your peace of mind and probably your dignity. You still signed up.”
My response died on my tongue.
“I don’t want you goin’ out with those girls. They’re plottin’ to get you and the asshole together. If he touches you, Ash, I’ll kill him, and I don’t mean metaphorically. If his hand so much as brushes against yours, he’ll be chopped into bits and ground into worm food by the mornin’. Nobody touches you but me. You’re my good girl and the only clean thing in my life. I know you’regonna get ruined one day, but it’s gonna be me who does it. In the meantime, it’s my job to keep you untouched in every sense of the word.”
My forehead creased curiously. “Why do you think my friends are trying to get Kieran and me together?”
“I’m not here to play, Aislynn,” he told me softly.
My eyes widened. “Have you tapped their phones?”
Silence.
My stomach dropped.
Good God.
My brain started to short-circuit, and I raked a hand through my hair. The silence on the other end of the line pricked at me like tiny, sharp needles, and I breathed, “Oh my God, Pagan. That’s a total invasion of their privacy. It’s illegal.”
