“Two girls in the back stole three of my flowers. The ones I gotfor my birthday? And they won’t give them back. They ruined one, but can you get the other two for me? Please.” Cleo paused then blurted. “I don’t want to fight anyone.”
He furrowed his brows. “Fight who?”
“Gent said we should have a girl fight, but I d-don’t want to.” Her voice shook. “I just want my flowers.”
“That motherfucker.” Wraith dropped his hand over her shoulder, down her arm, and clasped her hand.
What the… In all the time she’d been around Wraith, he’d never touched her.Now he’s done it twice.For a brief second, she enjoyed the feel of the callouses on his palm rubbing against her hand. She couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, she’d held hands with a man.
“Where are they?” He growled.
She pointed to the hallway. “In the pool room.”
Wraith tightened his grip and started through the room with her trailing behind. He stalked down to the game room still holding her hand. Cleo felt a presence at her back and looked over her shoulder. Cue was following behind them.
As soon as they entered the room, Wraith let go of her hand and all noise ceased to exist.
“Oh fuck,” Gent said, breaking up the tension. “Is this about the flowers?” He looked over at her and burst out laughing. “Calling in the big guns?”
Wraith turned, glaring. “Shut the fuck up.”
Gent shifted his gaze between her and Wraith and slowly held up his hands. “Relax, brother.”
Wraith ignored Gent, turning his attention to the girls in the back.
“You got something that doesn’t fucking belong to you?” Wraith’s venomous tone sent a shiver down her spine, and she looked over to the women. Neither one answered, but Cleo recognized the familiar look of fear. Both girls straightened and shifted closer together.
The redhead released a nervous laugh, looking at Cleo. “It was just a joke.”
“Did she think it was funny?” Wraith snapped, cocking his head toward Cleo.
No, I didn’t.
The other girl’s face paled, and she glanced over at Cleo. “We’re sorry.”
“Too fucking late.” Wraith gestured his chin to the table behind the girls, and one of the prospects grabbed their pocketbooks. He tossed them to Wraith, who caught them in one hand. “You still fucking laughing?” Wraith eyed the women then looked over to the prospect. He immediately ripped the flowers out of their hands. He stopped a few feet away and bent down toward the cooler, grabbing the vase.
He carefully handed her the bouquet, which she cradled against her chest, then offered her the two flowers.
“Thank you,” she muttered, staring down at the tattered petals.
“Look, we’re really sorry. We didn’t mean to start anything.” The redhead’s voice would’ve been convincing had Cleo not seen how much they enjoyed taunting her. It seemed Wraith wasn’t convinced of their sincerity either.
“You did. That’s two. Where’s the third?”
Cleo looked down at the hardwood. The petals were strewn across the floor, matted down under dark footprints. It was unsalvageable. The two in her hand weren’t much better but were still intact.
Cleo watched as Wraith opened the bags, grabbing the keys and wallets, and tossed the pocketbooks on the ground. He rifled through each wallet, pulling out the girls’ drivers licenses. He reached in his pocket, grabbed his knife, and began to cut up their licenses with a few quick slashes. Cleo’s jaw dropped watching it all go down.
“No, please…”
Wraith ignored the women’s pleas.
“You trashed her shit, now I’m gonna trash yours.”
“Can we have the keys?”
Wraith cocked his brow. “Yeah, when your old man comes to get them.”
