She had nothing new to tell me, but listening to her did calm me down, and Ruslan is right. I didn’t think.
“Let her go! You don’t get to come in here and drag her out like she’s a piece of meat!” Moira yells, surging past me and colliding with Ruslan. “Let her go!”
“Hey!” A man rises up from a neighboring table and the situation very quickly spirals out of control. “You wanna unhand the lady?”
“Yeah, let her go! She clearly doesn’t want to go with you,” calls another voice from deeper inside the cafe.
“I’m calling the cops!” yells one of the staff from behind the counter.
None of this fazes Ruslan. Why would it? He’s got more power and protection than anyone else in here. His grip becomes like iron and on the next jerk of his hand, I don’t fight it.
He’s angry. Furious. But he’s worried. I can see it, and it becomes clearer when we stumble outside and he shoves me toward the waiting car.
“Do you even think these things through, Ivy? Do you even understand what could happen to you without me by your side? You’re like a baby deer wandering right into the path of a fucking hunter. All it takes is a second, do you hear me? One second without me and you’re dead in the gutter, is that what you want?”
“No!” I yell back, rubbing where my arm throbs from his grip.
“Don’t talk to her like that!” Moira yells, rushing out of the café, but she doesn’t make it past Ruslan because he turns, hooks his arm around her waist when she tries to pass, and shoves her back toward the cafe.
“This has nothing to do with you!”
“This has everything to do with me. She’s my best friend, and I’m not going to let some asshole drag her somewhere she doesn’t want to be!”
“Moira, it’s fine,” I call, stumbling back up from the car. “Ruslan, please, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” He whirls to face me and points angrily. “Get in the car, Ivy.”
“Ruslan—”
“Get in the damn car!” He yells so loud that several people on the street jump and gasp. The car door is opened by one of the security team, and I try to catch Moira’s eye. She’s too busy trying to shove Ruslan.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Ruslan snaps, ducking one of her slaps and quickly switching himself out for one of the security team.
The last I see of Moira is her attacking one of the guards with her handbag as Ruslan slides into the car next to me and we race away with a squeal of tires. My heart beats furiously but warmth coils deep in my gut. The way Ruslan hauled me out of that chair was rather sexy, despite his anger. I try to squash that feeling as Ruslan glares at me.
“Have you seriously learned nothing? Not from the kidnapping, not from what happened at your house?”
“It’s not… It’s not like that,” I say as anger warms in my stomach. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, okay? Everything that woman said was… I couldn’t breathe. I was too hot. I had to get away, and then I just happened to bump into Moira. She wanted to talk and I just needed to get away so I said yes, and that man came with me!”
“Tony,” Ruslan grunts out.
“Yes, so what’s the problem?”
“Theproblemis that I told you not to leave. I told you that I had to stay by your side, do you understand? Me. Not Tony. Not Moira. Me. I’m the one who’s responsible for you.”
“And yet it’s clearly such a hassle,” I snap.
“Of course it’s a hassle because apparently, you can’t listen to a simple instruction! Anything could have happened to you, Ivy, and then I would be looking for your body. Did that not cross your mind at all? I came outside and you were gone and—” Something catches in Ruslan’s throat and he cuts himself off suddenly, running one hand back and forth on his thigh.
The pained expression on his face, as brief as it appears, hits me like a slap in the face.
He was worried. Notmight lose his jobworried. Honest to God worried about me.
Me.
“I’m okay,” I say after taking a deep, calming breath. “I’m okay.”
“This time,” he snaps. “You can’t take risks like that, do you understand? It’s not worth it. You have no idea how quickly someone can kill you if they get the chance.”
