Like she was lighter than air and nothing could touch her. Even her feet were moving. If she thought about anyone looking she couldn’t have felt like this, couldn’t have let go. But now she was in her own bubble, and it was a magnificent feeling. For that one song the world wasn’t ending and there were no missions. Real life was something she knew existed somewhere else, but it didn’t matter for this one moment. Raking her fingers through her hair she threw her whole body into the dance. Her limbs were lighter than they had ever been before, and a smile crept onto her face without her noticing.
As the song came to an end she opened her eyes to find that Marcus was seated again. His elbows were on his knees, and he was leaning forward on the edge of his seat. His wide eyes watched her every moment, and his smirk was looser than usual because his lips were slightly parted. Thea swung her hips and watched as he ran his tongue over his teeth and smiled.
He might be a monster but there was something about him watching her like that which made her never want to stop. No one had ever seemed so struck by her before. She felt like she had him under a spell.
Tossing her hair, she blew him a kiss and couldn’t help laughing when he tilted his head and rubbed the corner of his mouth. See how you like it, she thought.
Slowly standing he took a few steps towards her. Thea was pretty sure he hadn’t blinked since she had opened her eyes.
She continued to dance like no one was watching but his gaze was sizzling on her skin, causing fresh sweat to break out wherever he looked. The impulse to go to him and touch him, just to feel what his heat would be like against her palms, flattened to her body… shaking her head she brought herself back to reality. This might be working to get his attention, but he was a monster in disguise. If he knew who she was then she would have been dead the second she turned up here. Still, when he took another step her way she couldn’t help the shiver of anticipation that ran through her.
Suddenly there were hands on her hips. She knew it wasn’t Marcus, he was still in front of her. The free movement of her body came to a jerky halt as the strange hands slid up her sides and fingers dug into the flesh of her middle. Moving forward she tried to put some distance between her and this intruder, but they were closely behind, holding onto her with enough pressure to make her skin bruise. Her throat closed with panic when he rubbed his crotch against her backside and breathed heavily in her ear.
Juiced up on rage and fear, Thea stomped on his toe with all her might. He swore and let go of her, so she spun and punched him in the nose. She must be stronger than she thought because he went down like a puppet with the strings cut, thundering onto the floor and yowling while holding his nose.
Thea’s breathing was ragged, and she was so panicked that it was hard to see clearly. Taking a minute to calm down as the crowd made a wide circle around where the man had fallen, some gasping and some laughing. Only once her vision had stopped swimming and she was a little calmer did she notice that it was Freddie on the floor. He was moaning like a wounded animal and tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Freddie?”
Before Thea could say anything else Jessica came through the crowd, spotted that it was Freddie who was making the scene and cried out, falling to his side. Cora was not long after her and gasped, covering her mouth.
Sharron was at the edge of the circle glaring at Thea, but she didn’t move to help Freddie.
“Freddie, babe, what happened?!” Jessica was trying to move his hand from his face to get a look, but he shrugged her off.
“Bitch punched me in the face!”
Cora glanced between the two of them with wide eyes. You would swear that someone had just been murdered.
Jessica gawked at Thea. “Why would you do that?”
For a minute Thea couldn’t speak, her mouth had gone too dry. Finally, she managed to force words out, hating that they were having this argument in front of all these people. It certainly wouldn’t make her look attractive to Marcus. “He was perving on me. I had to do something.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes at Thea but before she could respond Freddie spoke up.
“I was dancing with her, and she attacked me. You guys know I wouldn’t do anything creepy.”
Thea noticed that Cora dropped her gaze to the floor, but Jessica nodded. “He hasn’t been like that with anyone ever. Maybe you just read him wrong and freaked out.”
Thea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Read him wrong? There shouldn’t be any room for doubt!” She had raised her voice and people around her gasped or giggled. It was getting hard to breathe. Standing in the middle of an audience while trying to defend herself was not her idea of fun. She felt like she was putting on a show for them. Hunching her shoulders, she lowered her voice. “I wasn’t comfortable.”
“Then say something!” Jessica shook her head and helped Freddie to his feet. Two wide streams of blood ran out of his nostrils and painted the middle of his lips. He watched Thea intently, as if he expected her to jump at him and claw his face off. Cora raked her hands down her face and shuffled off into the crowd without a word. Something told Thea that she wasn’t the only one he had put his hands on, and she was filled with irrational anger that Cora hadn’t said anything. She wasn’t sure what had happened between the two of them, but she was obviously uncomfortable with the situation.
As Jessica cooed over Freddie and Sharron glared at Thea, she suddenly felt like she was being crushed under a million tonnes. Her lungs refused to take in air and anger made it hard to ease any of the tension locking up her muscles.
Growling, she spun on her heel and stormed through the crowd. Initially it was like trying to break through a brick wall but eventually her scowl must have gotten the message across and the people moved out of her way.
Of course, they would all side with Freddie. He was their friend, and they couldn’t imagine him having done anything creepy. What was Thea to them? A stranger? A threat? She didn’t even care, she told herself. They were not her family. Her family were waiting on the outside of this godforsaken region. Once she had done her job she could go back to somewhere she felt safe. Somewhere were there weren’t creeps and monsters at every turn.
She was so caught up in her anger that she didn’t see the person who was right in front of her until she walked smack bang into them.
“What the hell are you doing in my way?” she spat. Deep down she knew it was irrational to give out to this person, they just happened to be standing near her, but she couldn’t make herself calm down.
The man in question didn’t move, instead he tried to take hold of her arm. Thea staggered back and glared at him. “I’m not in the mood.”
“You don’t understand…” He came at her again and Thea saw red. This would be the last time tonight that she was manhandled by anyone. Throwing all her weight into it, she pushed his shoulders. His eyes widened and he waved his arms to try and regain his balance. Thea shoved him again and he went down, knocking over some dancing people behind him.
Without waiting to hear how hurt his feelings were, she turned to leave, not really knowing where she was going. She got five steps when someone gripped her shoulder. She let them spin her around and punched them in the eye socket as soon as she got the chance. There was a crack and he howled in pain. Her knuckle was throbbing, but she hardly felt it. Besides, it was worth a broken knuckle to get these people off her. She didn’t want to be touched anymore, what was so hard to understand about that?
The guy she had pushed was on his feet again and coming at her with a stern look in his eyes and his lips set in a grim line. Thea glared at him and raised her fists. If these guys wanted near her then they were going to have to be ready for a fight. She wasn’t a deadly weapon by any stretch, but she could throw a punch and a kick. That would be enough to keep these people off her long enough to find somewhere to hide and get her head together.
“Thea!”
Thea didn’t move though the voice calling her name was coming from behind her. There was no way she was taking her eyes off the man in front who was glancing from left to right, he must be looking for a weakness.
“Thea calm down, we are not here to hurt you.”
Thea clenched her teeth as footsteps got nearer to her back. If she didn’t turn now then she would risk someone getting the jump on her. But what about the guy in front? This was getting impossible to handle. Maybe the man behind was right and they didn’t mean her harm, but she was too highly strung now to breathe evenly, let alone let her guard down.
“Stay away from me.” She made sure to hold the man’s gaze while she spoke, implying to him with a look that bad things would happen if he got too close.
Feeling the heat of someone behind her, she peeked over her shoulder. Jimmy scanned her face while holding his hands up where she could see them.
“Thea we are guards. We are here to take you to Marcus.”
Marcus, the name broke through her haze, and she lowered her fists a fraction. That’s right, before she let everything throw her off she was meant to be following the plan. This was her chance. She was tense and on edge but if she didn’t accept now then she didn’t know when the time would come around again. Looking between the guards and their grim expressions she wasn’t sure if they would take no for an answer anyway.
Taking long calming breaths she lifted her chin into the
air. “I will go and see him, but I don’t need to be carried.” She gave the
guard whom she had knocked on the floor a meaningful look.
Jimmy scoffed. “Apparently not. If I had known you had this in you I might have told my men not to touch you.”
Thea kept her mouth shut though she was inclined to defend her actions. She had to get near Marcus, besides, talking about Freddie and the girls might make her angry and out of control again. The most important thing now was keeping her head.
The guards assembled in a square around her, one of them
rubbing his left eye, and walked her towards where Marcus would be lounging.
Thea was surprised when she rounded the corner to find that he was not laid out on the long sofa like the last time she had seen him but was sitting up with his hands clasped in his lap and a stoic expression on his face.
He must have heard her steps as she drew near because he smiled widely and stood to greet her. He was a good head taller than her, but she refused to feel small next to him. Tonight had been a long night and she would be damned if she appeared weak in front of anyone again.
Looking her head to toe he gestured to the seat behind him, stepping out of her way. “If you like you can sit down while you glare at me.”
Thea blinked, she hadn’t realised that she was looking at him in a hostile manner and she quickly concentrated to drop the expression as she moved past him. This was no way to win him over. Besides, who knew what a monster would do to you if you were aggressive with him.
There was little give in the cushion of the chair as she sat on the edge of it. Placing her hands in her lap she did her best not to fidget. She had to look pleased to be here.
Marcus remained standing, putting his hands in his pockets, and studied her intently. Thea wasn’t sure what he was trying to see but she held a placid smile in place and didn’t break eye contact. Swirling shades of amber in his eyes reminded her of honey.
Silence stretched between them for a long minute. God she wanted to move or laugh awkwardly. Why call her here if he wasn’t going to say anything?
“I saw that you gave one of my men a bloody nose.”
“He grabbed me.” Thea held her breath, was he going to punish her for fighting the guard? Yet there had to be a reason he had sent them for her in the first place.
“The other man was rubbing his eye a lot.” He cocked an eyebrow at her.
Thea thrust her chin into the air and met his gaze head on. “He tried to grab me too.”
Marcus chuckled. “I guess Jimmy is lucky he didn’t get injured. Although if my men can be bested by one girl maybe I need to tell him to hire new ones.”
Thea bristled. “Or maybe you should hire women. I find they are less likely to underestimate someone based on sex.”
He surprised her by laughing and rubbing the back of his neck. The sound was almost like windchimes and oddly pleasant.
“There’s the girl I spoke to before,” he said, “the one I saw on the dancefloor.”
Thea assumed he was talking about how she had been dancing and had to try hard not to roll her eyes. Of course, he had noticed her preforming for him but not what happened after. She wouldn’t be surprised if he asked her to dance in a bikini next.
Marcus was sitting beside her before she knew he had moved. His large shoulder brushed against hers, transferring some of the searing heat of his body. He was watching her with slightly narrowed eyes and his head tilted. Thea’s whole body became as if it was made of steel rods. No matter what she tried she couldn’t relax with him this close. All she could think was that he could take her apart with his bare hands. What horrors lay behind his charming smile and bright eyes?
She couldn’t take him looking at her in that silent way anymore. “What?”
Marcus shuffled and rubbed his palms on his knees. “I was
wondering if you are okay?”
Thea couldn’t speak as all the air fled her lungs. He was wondering if she was okay? Why did he care? Digging her nails into her palm she reminded herself that monsters were cunning as well as dangerous. He knew how to mess with her, and she had to keep her feet on the ground.
“I saw what happened. How that guy grabbed you.” He smiled and shook his head. “How you punched him in the face.”
Thea’s cheeks heated and she looked down into her lap.
“I think you did the right thing.”
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