Page 26 of Outlier

“Why the fuck are you alone?”

Chapter 11

What’s wrong with her?

Mike

“W-what?”Vicky blinked up at me.

I felt like an utter bastard to have brought out the stammer again, especially after what just happened, but I tended to get angry when I was worried and seeing that man grab Vicky had taken five years off my life.

I took a deep breath and made a concerted effort to soften my gruff tone.

“Sorry, Vicky,” I said, my voice softer now, with only a hint of growl. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. Where’s your brother and Lottie?”

“Lottie went after my half-sister. Claire has a bruise on her cheek.”

Fucking Blake. That drunk prick always did give me weird vibes.

“Stay away from Blake.”

Yep, I was just spouting off commands to this woman now like I owned her. But she still hadn’t let go of my hand. She looked absolutely stunning in the long, fitted white dress shewas wearing, and I was still seething after seeing some bastard grab her.

The thought that she could ever be alone with her brother-in-law made me vibrate with rage.

“I don’t understand what you?—?”

“And what the fuck were you doing with those idiots earlier?”

She frowned at me and snatched her hand back from mine. I could feel her retreat, and I knew I needed to rein in my temper and soften my tone again, but I simply couldn’t manage it.

I’d been furious throughout this whole shitshow of an event.

Vicky and Lottie had been going from one group of complete twats to another, charming the pants off all of them. And I could tell from the various expressions on Vicky’s face that she hated every minute.

I tried to stay in the background, but when I saw that forced smile she directed at one particular group of leering dickheads, I had to approach. And I’d felt a deep sense of satisfaction when Vicky’s focus went from the other men to me in a matter of seconds.

But I was still recovering from the shock of her describing her favourite of my work outfits in great detail to everyone around us. Despite the fact I’d hated the attention on me at the time, I still felt huge satisfaction at the further demonstration of Vicky being mine. Especially after I’d had to endure overhearing all of these pricks talking about theice princessand making bets on who was going to be the first to fuck her when she was out of earshot.

But before I could say anything to Vicky, Lottie had dragged her away, and I’d been searching for her ever since until I saw that grabby piece of shit holding onto her arm with her looking terrified.

Her eyebrows went up, and pink stained her cheekbones. “He grabbed me. I didn’t?—”

“I’m not talking about what just happened. I’m talking about earlier when you smiled at all those groups of motherfuckers and made them think they might stand a chance with you.”

She blinked up at me, and the red on her cheeks deepened. “Lottie’s coached me on smiling. It makes me more socially acceptable.”

“Who the fuck cares if you’re socially acceptable to those twats?”

“I have to do business with them.”

I glared at her. “You arenotdoing business withthem.”

“I-I…” She looked so completely and adorably confused then that I just wanted to kiss her again, but the fire building behind her eyes told me that may not be the best plan. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“I can if it keeps you away from bastards like that.”

Okay, I was aware at this juncture that the wooing portion of the evening seemed to have gone seriously awry. I wasn’t sure how wooing translated into modern times, but I knew it probably didn’t involve barking orders and getting cross at the object of your affection.