My hands won’t stop trembling as I pull out my phone to text Lady. She’s okay. She’s with Shady. Diablo sits close enough that his knee brushes mine with every turn. Close enough that I can feel his rage vibrating off his skin. When the SUV finally swings into the alley behind Vice Ink, the building looks like what it really is. Not a nightclub or a church.
A fortress.
Diablo turns toward me immediately. His hands cup my face, gentler than they have any right to be.
“Breathe,” he murmurs.
“I’m fine,” I insist.
My voice shakes anyway.
His forehead presses to mine.
“You could’ve been hit.”
“I wasn’t.”
“That’s not the point.”
He pulls me out of the vehicle and guides me inside. The shop smells like stale smoke and spilled liquor from the night before, like sin that never fully leaves. A couple patched men glance up as we pass. One of them nods at Diablo, then looks away when he sees my face. Respect. Or fear.
His hand stays firm at my back as he leads me upstairs. He doesn’t stop until we reach his private room. The door shuts behind us with a quiet click.
Silence crashes down around us.
My body still hums with adrenaline. My skin feels too tight. My lungs refuse to settle.
Diablo steps closer.
“You think this is a game?” he asks quietly.
“I didn’t invite a shooting.”
“You walked into a room full of sharks.”
“So did you.”
His hands settle on my waist, thumbs pressing in like he’s checking I’m real.
“You don’t understand how many men would use you to get to me,” he says.
The words land heavy.
“I’m not your weakness,” I snap.
“You are,” he says without hesitation.
The honesty steals the air from my lungs.
His rough hand slides slowly along my side, careful as it moves upward. Then, abruptly he cups my breast like I’m his to touch however he chooses. My body reacts anyway. Fire pools in my belly. Memories of last night, that wicked aftershock is still there. More than that, years of passionate nights light my skin on fire.
“You could’ve died,” he says again.
“And you could’ve let me,” I fire back. “You don’t own me.”
He pulls me closer.
“Yes I do.”
