I barely have the time to comprehend what has happened when Jinx is propelled away from me so hard, he lands across a small round table that immediately collapses beneath the weight of him.
“What the fuck?” He grunts as he rolls on the floor.
There’s sweat on Garrett’s brow, and even as I see him wince, Kai rushes over. After a whispered word with Garrett, Kai snatches hold of Jinx, who is coughing and spluttering, and smashes his fist into Jinx’s face.
Once.
Twice.
By the third time, Jinx is unconscious.
“Let me take the trash out for you,” Atom says, dragging Jinx to the door.
“You can strip his patch tomorrow,” Grudge says. “And for fuck’s sake, can we stop groping women without asking, first?”
Andnow, there’s a needle-scratching-record silence.
A man groped me, and while I, at first, want to trivialize it to keep the peace, I see it for what it was. I was just assaulted by a man. I don’t care if he knew me as a club girl, because consent isn’t a blanket. Consent is minute to minute. And right here, today, I did not consent to him touching my breast.
I move to the safety of Garrett, uncertain what to do next beyond wrapping my arms around him and letting him hold me while Kai holds the door open for Atom.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Don’t ask me that when that fucker got his hand on you like he did.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“Then, make it the last time,” I tell him. “Make sure everyone knows I’m yours and Kai’s.”
He draws in a breath, stands straighter than he has since his accident. “In case it’s in any way unclear: Isla is my property. Anyone touches her again; I cut off their fucking hands myself with a blunt hacksaw.”
“Nice visual,” Kai says. “And because some of you are nosey fucks, Isla’s mine too. And I’m hers. And Shade’s.”
Grudge stands and walks over to us, and sandwiched between the two men, I feel strong enough to look at him.
He offers his hand to shake Garrett’s, first, then Kai’s. Then, he looks at me. “I’m happy for you, Isla. For all of you.”
With that, the music starts playing again.
People start to go back to their business, and, of course, people come to us to congratulate us. But my pulse is still racing and faces blur as the music pounds from the speakers.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I say, feeling a little overwhelmed by what just happened. “I just need the bathroom.”
“Don’t use the public one.” Kai tosses me his keys. “Use the one in my room. You want me to come with you?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. After what just happened, I’ll be surprised if people don’t give me a fifty-yard radius.”
The hallway is deserted, and I step into Kai’s room. It’s clean and tidy. Everything has its place. But it’s hard to take it in properly as I close the door and rest my back against it, taking one big gulp of air after another. The room smells of him, and I close my eyes, for a moment, letting it soothe me.
“You’re okay,” I remind myself. My men were watching out for me. Lessons were learned. I take another deep breath. “You’re okay,” I repeat.
When I feel steadier, I force myself to look around. I realize there are limited signs of Garrett, and that makes me sad for the two of them, that they had to hide who they are, but also that, as of tonight, they can just be who they want to be.
I use the bathroom quickly, then take out my lipstick to reapply it. Then, instead of putting it away, I write a message on the mirror.
I love you.
And I draw a picture of the sun with rays and a smiley face because he calls me Sunshine. I love the idea he might not see it tonight, but one day when he wasn’t expecting it. And it will show him I’m thinking of him.
When I walk out the door, Raven is coming out of Wraith’s room down the hallway, her hand on her very pregnant stomach.
