Page 3 of Angelic Vengeance

I must have only made it five steps before the club’s metal backdoor opened and slammed shut again. I wasn’t planning on turning around, but when the footsteps got closer, I did, almost too ready for a fight.

Dark hair. Black suit. Tattoos.

“Oh.” Disappointment hit me in the gut. I waswaytoo excited to punch somebody tonight. “It’s you.”

The handsome stranger I’d met earlier tonight at the bar, simply stood there, hands in pockets; observing me.

“What are you doing out here?” His dark voice filled the alley.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

He ran his tongue over his teeth. “You should use the front door next time. Bad people lurk in the dark.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not safe–” As the words left his mouth, a loud bang rattled the pavement. He sighed, looking above my head. “Wait here.”

As he walked past me, I turned around to see a man pinning a woman to the cold brick wall further down the alley. Dark rage erupted in my chest as liquid fire spread through my veins and burned my soul to black ash.

I automatically followed him – against his orders – as he pulled the attacker off the woman. I could now see her face; bruised and bleeding.Red.

Before anyone even had the chance to breathe, I raised my fist and punched the piece of shit in the jaw. He stumbled backward but didn’t fall.

So I hit him again.

Left hook. Right cross. Left uppercut. Right hook.

All six feet of him fell, knocking his head on the concrete. I stepped over him, grabbed his collar, and punched him again.

A crunch broke his sounds of struggle. His face turned red from the blood and it was all I could see. The anger inside me blossomed at the color and spread adrenaline through my veins, fueling me.

“You’re gonna kill him,” The handsome stranger’s voice flooded through the cracks of my mind, pulling me back to reality. It only made me punch the scumbag harder.

He didn’t pull me off or try to stop me. He let me finish what I had to do. By now, he could probably guess I wasn’t just another person oblivious to what really went on with the DeMone family or criminal underworld. I worked with them.

Finally, I pulled myself off the man who passed out.

I turned around to see the handsome stranger watching me, hands in his pockets, with a look I couldn’t decipher.

“The girl left,” He spoke nonchalantly. “She saidthanks.”

I nodded, holding eye contact. He looked at me with that… Thatlook– like he found something he’d been looking for. His eyes bored into mine, and I could’ve sworn I felt my pulse slow in my neck. Neither said anything else or moved. I wasn’t sure what it was we were doing exactly, orwhywe were doing it.

He was acting like Iactuallykilled the guy – who was breathing; barely, but still very much alive. Plus, this was probably the least gruesome thing he’d seen, so I personally didn’t know why he would be surprised.

His eyes dropped to my lips when I unconsciously licked them, and my skin buzzed. Stepping forward, he closed the distance between us, and I had to tilt my chin up to keep my eyes on his. His hand came up and brushed the skin above my lip.

He must have had a fever or something because his touch burned against my skin. And the jerk probably passed it on to me because it flamed through the rest of my body and gathered in my chest.

With the back of his hand, he wiped the man’s blood off my face.

I hadn’t stopped him because I wanted to see how far he would go. If he was stupid enough toreallytouch me. I wouldn’t hesitate to hospitalize two men in one night if necessary.

If I hadn’t gotten so good at hiding my body’s reactions, my breathing would’ve turned shallow from the proximity. Maybe I would’ve evenblushedwhen his rough hand brushed my cheek.

My skin crawled at the thought.

He stepped back and placed his hand back in his trousers’ pocket. “I’ll drive you home.”