Even in the dark, moving as I am, I see the cut of high cheekbones, the long lashes, and full lips, and the terrified gaze of a woman, just as I slam into her and we hit the church wall. Without thinking about it, I grab the front of her shirt and pull her toward me to prevent her head from smacking into the bricks.
All without losing my grip on the gun. It’s not Kivisto, but that is no reason to get complacent. Women can be the enemy too. Her eyes are wide, her body shaking as her head comes up and our eyes lock.
Fuck. That one moment is all it takes for her to get her wits about her, and she pushes back, opening her mouth to scream. Or so I thought.
What happens is so fast, I barely comprehend it until she has grabbed my arm, slipped one leg around the outside of mine and shoved her hip into my side, knocking me off balance.
She doesn’t let go, spinning us with the momentum of her hip movement so my back is against the wall.
“Back the fuck up, asshole, before I fill your face with-”
She might have got the drop on me and spun me against the wall, but I still have my gun and when I point it at her chest, her eyes get even wider and she freezes.
“With what?” I snarl.
“Jesus, what the hell?” she gasps.
She holds up her hands, in one palm there is a small bottle, and I have the good sense to turn my head enough that when she sprays it, the stream goes behind the back of my head and misses my eyes. Jesus, she was going to mace me?
I grab her hand, twisting it so she drops the can. She stumbles back, but I fist her hoodie and turn her back into the wall, this time so she is facing it and I step up close so she can't move. She’s tall for a woman, her baggy clothes and the darkness hid a lot, but it hides nothing now that I’m close. The scent of her is undeniably all woman.
“Who the hell are you?” I grunt out.
“Fuck you,” she yells back. “I don’t have any money, I have nothing worth stealing. If you think I’m going to stand here and not fight back, you’re dead wrong.”
“What?”
“You heard me, you fucking pervert.”
She telegraphs her next move, so I’m able to back up by bending at the waist and avoiding her back kick, which was aiming between my open legs.
The fuck? “Why are you here?”
“I’m going to scream bloody murder if you don’t let me go right now!”
“Go ahead, no one will come. No one will step in if they do. You messed with the wrong person tonight, sweetheart.”
“Don’t sweetheart me, you asshole.” She fights against my hold on her again.
“You’ve got five seconds to tell me what the fuck you’re doing sneaking around out here…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence.
Shit, I don’t hurt women. I’ve had to restrain a few. Drunk ones, handsy ones, and a few who’ve tried to attack the brothers or other club girls at parties, but never with violence.
“My cousin works here,” she snaps, wriggling her shoulders.
“Wrong answer. I know everyone who works here. They’re all my brothers.”
“Your what?” She shakes her head, turning and straining to see me, but I keep my face away from her view. “Your brothers? That’s bullshit. There are like three people who work here and only one of them is a man, and he is my fucking cousin.”
What the fuck is she talking about? I glance up at the spire of the church I’ve got her pressed against. Shit, is she talking about the pastor?
“Explain this to me.”
“Because you’re stupid?” She asks in a mocking voice.
If I weren’t so wired on adrenaline, I’d smirk at that, but I’m still not convinced this isn’t to do with Storm.
“Who is your cousin?” I snap, pressing the barrel of the gun into her spine. It’s enough to stop her wriggling.
