“Nicky baby, why are you going to talk to her?” The shrill voice I will never be able to forget meets my ears.Oh joy, Julia is with him.“Come on baby, we have to go meet with the Head Start for Avery, there is a wait list a mile long.” I finally spot the bleach blonde Barbie doll, with a toddler in her arms, following just behind Nick. Her hair is so hair sprayed that I’m sure an F4 tornado wouldn’t move it. The pink skirt and blazer combo looks like a cheap version of Elle Woods, and Lord knows Julia failed out of college. She was hoping to snag herself a finance man anyway, not actually get an education. Avery was an adorable toddler, unfortunately, they were born to these two demons from hell.
“Nothing fucking changes around here does it?” I say under my breath and turn to finish running back to my car.
“Don’t go, Nyx, I want to talk to you.” He pleads, before turning around. “Julia, take Avery to the car, I will be there in a moment. I just want a second alone with Nyx.”
“There is absolutely nothing you could want or need to say to that woman. You know damn well that she didn’t make you happy when you were with her, why bother trying to fix things four years later?” The sneer on her face shows me that she is still threatened by me. I can see the unsureness in her eyes, not willing to leave Nick alone with me for fear I will take her precious Nicky.
”Julia, I can promise you that I have zero interest in your precious asshole. Keep him, he's all yours.” Lord knows I want to throw Demitri and Hutch in her face, but knowing her, she will run off and try to find them just to make sure she gets them too. Making direct eye contact with Nick, since I remembered how much he loved when I glared at him, “Nick, I have absolutely nothing I want or need to say to you. Please escort your skank to the Head Start meeting you have and leave me the fuck alone.”
Turning to run again,why is running all I seem to be doing lately,when I am yanked back to his body. Fuck how did I not realize he was that close. Feeling his breath on the shell of my ear, causes chills to run down my spine. “You will stand here and talk to me, you little cunt. When you told my mother what happened with Julia, she disowned me. Not only for cheating on their sweet Nyx, but also because I had gotten Julia pregnant. I lost every dime to my fucking name.” His menacing growl, causing every muscle in my body to tense trying to figure out how to escape this situation.
He isn’t much bigger than me. But he has my arm pinned behind me. “Your mom called me and asked us to come to dinner,” I groaned. “I had to tell her we were no longer together. She would have found out, eventually. What did you want me to tell her?”
“You could have just said I broke up with you. You didn't need to tell her why.”
”Get fucked Nick, your family was always good to me. I am not going to lie straight to her face.” His grip tightens on my arm.Damn it my mouth is going to get me killed or at minimum, a broken arm.Trying to wiggle myself out of his hold, but he grasps even tighter, causing a whimper to leave my throat.
“You will step away from my woman.” A deep growl emanates from behind Nick. Suddenly he releases me to turn around and stand face to face with my own personal demon or savior in this instance. Demitri grabs Nick by his tie, practically lifting him onto his tiptoes to look him eye to eye. “Would you like to tell me why you had your hands on something that does not belong to you? Didn’t your mother teach you to look, not touch?”
I can visibly see Nick shaking in Demitri’s hold. When movement from the corner of my eye startles me. It’s Blue coming to soothe me and make sure I am okay. I snuggle into hisside, while trying to stretch my arm out to make sure there is no damage.
I definitely should not be this comfortable in a stranger's arms.
CHAPTER 8
DEMITRI
As soon as Nyx bolts out of the pub, we share a glance and we both shoot out of the booth and are off. “God Damn, that girl is quick.” Hutch laughs to himself as we are exiting the building. I look in every direction to see if I can see which way she took off.
“She’s on foot in downtown Detroit. I need to find her.” I murmur to myself. I feel Hutch lean closer to me.
”We will find her brother, not to mention she is a cop. I don’t think she would let anything happen to herself.” He says it with such conviction that I almost believe it, but I have a bad feeling about this. We just found her, I will not let her run that easily.
“The river is behind the pub.” I point over my shoulder with my thumb. “She probably ran that way to follow the river walk down to the precinct.”
“Alright, do you want us both to head that way, or do you want to split up? Whoever finds her first gets the first kiss?” His shoulder shook slightly with a silent laugh. He is lucky he is my best friend. Anyone else would have been punched.
“Let’s both head down towards the river. No need to split up. If we can’t see her running down the sidewalk we will golook somewhere else.” Reaching behind my back, a subconscious action, double checking to make sure my sidearm is there for my own piece of mind. You never know what you might run into wandering the streets like this. While downtown has gotten much better since the Illich family has revitalized most of it, I still don’t trust anyone.
Once we make it to the river walk, I can see her shape running off in the distance. “There she is!” Hutch points off towards her like I can’t see with my own eyes. I have never been more thankful for our long legs than I am right now. Our strides eat up the distance between us in no time at all.
There is a guy who is trying to talk to her. She goes to run away from the stranger and he puts his hands on my Little Fox. My vision goes red and I fear that my demons are going to come to the surface. I can feel Hutch standing next to me, but I am not able to see him through the crimson tinting everything around me. Much like the years we have spent deployed together, his steady presence next to me is something that will always ground me. He won’t let me slip too far into the dark.
I am unhinged at this point, and I am not exactly sure what I will do to this man when I get my hands on him. He has her arm twisted behind her back. He got the jump on her and she couldn’t have expected him to touch her. By the way they are talking, she knows this dead man. “You will step away from my woman.” I hear it come out of my own mouth. Had I not felt my own chest vibrate with the growl I wouldn’t have believed I had said it and the shocked expression on Nyx’s face says she’s just as surprised.
Grabbing this asshole by the ugly ass tie around his neck, this mother fucker decided to wear an Guardians tie in Detroit during the playoffs. Bringing him up to my eye level. He is definitely teetering on tiptoe trying not to be choked by this scrap of material. “Would you like to tell me why you had yourhands on something that does not belong to you? Didn’t your mother teach you to look, not touch?”
I feel Hutch leave my side and as my vision clears around the edges, I see him walk over to her when she is released. Feeling my heart rate start to calm, I am now unnaturally still. I'm in complete control of everything, running completely on instinct. She is safe, the voice inside my head is reminding me. The only other person I trust with my own life has his arms wrapped around her. She is shaking but is trying to still hold her head high and not let this prick see her scared.
“So, let’s talk man to man.” I look him up and down. “Ok, well, man to a wannabe.”
“Who the fuck are you?” He tries to puff his chest out and be big and bad. I just chuckle.
”I will be your ending unless you start answering my questions. You had your hands on someone who obviously didn’t want to talk to you. We don’t play those games in this day and age. If you can’t get someone to suck your Tic Tac of a cock, then pay someone. You definitely don’t put your sleazy hands on a Marine’s woman.”
I can see tremors working their way through this prick’s body. I haven’t even truly got my hands on him yet, and I’m sure I can make him piss himself with very little effort. I walk over to where Nyx and Hutch are standing. Running my hand over her cheek, visually making sure she is ok. “Hey, Little Fox.” I whisper just loud enough for her and Hutch to hear me. “Do you want to tell me who this waste of space is?”
“He is my asshole ex. He decided that one of my best friends at the time was a good pussy to fall into. I found out when I came home from work and heard her obnoxious voice moaning from my bedroom. I left him at that moment. He’s pissed, I told his family, and they cut him off. They loved me and treated me like one of their own.”
