I was the one who had to act like a mindless airhead who thought Porter was the funniest person alive. At least Roman didn’t have to suffer through the guy’s terrible jokes and all the ass grabbing.
Leaning across the table, I grabbed the wine bottle and poured a generous amount into Porter’s empty glass. He was well on his way to being drunk, which was good news for me. I didn’t want him too drunk, but just enough to make his reaction times a little slower.
When I set the bottle down, hands grabbed my hips, and I almost, almost, jerked away, but I managed to stop myself and allow Porter to pull me close. I giggled like I was supposed to as I landed on his lap, then I wrapped an arm around his neck and traced a finger of my free hand down his nose, giving him a flirty little boop at the end.
My skin crawled, and I wanted nothing more than to punch the guy in his gross face, run to Roman, and then go back to our place so I could shower all the ick off me—I’d probably have to wash at least ten times to accomplish that.
His friends were distracted, and Porter seemed drunk enough, so I ran my fingers through his hair and asked, “You can protect me tonight, right?”
He gave me a squeeze. “Of course, sweet thing. I’ll keep you safe.”
My dragon senses flared, and I knew he was lying, but I held in my shudder. The guy was good, and I had no doubt that other people could’ve easily fallen for his charm if they didn’t already suspect a snake lived beneath his skin. But I knew what he wasdeep down, and my magic helped me detect lies when I was face to face with a person.
I bit my lip, trying to look unsure and innocent. “Have you heard about those missing people? I heard they went missing from somewhere around here.”
I could feel his body tense up beneath me as he responded. “You have nothing to worry about, sweet thing. Like I said, I’ll keep you safe. I’ve amped up the security here to protect my patrons, so you’ll be perfectly safe all night long.”
My dragon senses flared again.Lies, lies, lies.
He didn’t want to keep me safe. He wanted the opposite.
“Thank you, Barney.” I gave a little giggle. “I knew you’d protect me.”
He gave me a squeeze and pulled me closer to him so our faces were only a few inches apart. It made me want to scream, but I held my airhead smile in place. He leaned even closer, but he was distracted by his friend—thank goodness, since I was pretty sure he’d wanted to kiss me.
If he had, I might’ve thrown up in my mouth. So freaking gross.
He held me on his lap like that for over twenty minutes before I had enough. I couldn’t do this any longer. I was disgusted, and horrified, and justblech.
So I leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Ready to get out of here?”
He stared up at me with lust in his eyes, and I wanted to puke. “Yeah, baby. Let me take you back to my place.”
Ugh. Gross. “I like the sound of that.”
I hopped off his lap, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to his feet, giggling as I helped steady him. His friends hooted and hollered as we walked away from the table, and Porter made some gross gestures behind my back—really, this guywas complete and utter scum—before draping his arm over my shoulders and leading me to the exit.
I knew without looking that Roman was following us, so even though I didn’t exactly feel safe under this perv’s arm, I knew I’d be okay.
Not to mention that I was a trained fighter. There was no way this guy could take me down.
Also, hello, dragon here.
If I felt really threatened, I could simply shift and eat the asshole in one bite.
I had to keep reminding myself of those things. That I wasn’t a victim. That I wasn’t going to let this guy hurt me. That Icouldandwouldget away if he attacked me.
We made it outside and walked around to the side of the building where Porter had a reserved parking spot. He walked me over to the passenger side door, unlocked it, and opened it for me.
I giggled again. “Thank you, Barney.”
“My pleasure, swee—” He let out a gasp as Roman silently stepped up behind him and stabbed a needle into the side of his neck. The guy hadn’t even heard him coming.
Rome caught the guy, and I grabbed the keys he dropped before pushing the trunk’s unlock button. The trunk popped open, and Roman threw Porter over his shoulder, walked to the trunk, and stuffed the man inside. He shut it and held his hand up to me, so I tossed him the keys.
“Are you good to drive?” he asked as he walked to the driver’s seat.
I nodded. “You know it takes a lot more than two glasses of regular human wine to get a dragon drunk.” I’d need a hell of a lot more than that, or maybe just some dwarf beer—that shit was so good and could fuck anyone up.
