Page 72 of Rastor

I liked being out with her. No. Ilovedbeing out with her, because no matter where we were, she brought something into my life that I hadn't realized I'd been missing.

All night, I'd been dying to get her alone. But I was determined to do things right, which is why at midnight, we were at some club off Six Mile, where the music was loud, and the bodies were packed. On the crowded dance floor, I'd held her in my arms, and felt our hips grinding against each other, moving in time with the music.

We'd been out there a while when Chloe glanced through the gyrating bodies toward our table. I followed her gaze and saw our drinks – the ones we'd ordered when we first came in.

With obvious reluctance, Chloe pulled away and pointed. "Look. Drinks."

I'd already seen the drinks, so I didn't bother looking. I was thirsty alright, but not for the beer that I'd ordered however long ago. "Yeah?" I said. "Ready to sit down?"

She nodded, looking flushed and happy, so I took her hand and led her back to our table, where I took a good, long pull of the beer, not caring that it wasn't really cold anymore. As for Chloe, she took one sip of her drink and practically choked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Now, she was half-coughing, half-laughing. "I think they made it a double. Wait." She glanced down and gave a small shudder. "Scratch that. Make that a triple."

I grinned over at her. "They probably thought they were doing you a favor." It happened to me almost everywhere I went, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

"A favor?" she said, still laughing. "Maybe. But it's not exactly thirst-quenching, if you know what I mean."

"Want me get you a new one?"

She looked around. Our cocktail waitress was nowhere in sight. "Nah, that's alright."

"You think so, huh?" I stood and reached for her drink. "Wait here. I'll be back in five minutes."

I left before she could argue, weaving my way to the far side of the club, where I had the bartender make Chloe a new drink. Not taking any chances, I watched personally as he added the right amount of alcohol, not too much, and not too little either.

Drink in-hand, I was halfway back to our table when I saw something that had me setting the drink wherever and pushing my way through the crowd, heading toward Chloe. She wasn't at our table, but Ididsee her, facing off against a guy who looked to damn familiar.

His name was Creed, and he wasn't exactly a friend of mine. The way it looked, Chloe was trying to move around him, but he wasn't letting her. She'd move, and then he'd move to block her path, and not only once.

That fucker was messing with her.

I was moving faster now, but the crowd was tight, and it was taking too damn long.

Creed – a big guy by any standards – was towering over Chloe and standing way too close. She craned her neck to glare up at him as they exchanged words that, even from this distance, were obviously unfriendly.

Chloe looked nervous, and maybe a little afraid, but she was standing her ground.

Damn it. She shouldn'thaveto stand her ground. I shouldn't have left her alone. Iwouldn’thave left her alone if I'd known that Creed was anywhere in the building.

I'd known the guy for maybe seven years now. Way back when I'd been just starting out, I'd kicked his ass in front of his girlfriend, or whoever the girl was. We'd been at this downtown dive, and she'd been coming on to me strong, right in front of him.

I hadn't been interested. Butshewas. It was a problem.

Creed's solution? Kick my ass to prove what a big man he was – except it hadn't worked out that way. I'd left him on the floor and made my escape a minute later – not from the cops, or even from Creed's friends, but from the girl, who the way it sounded, was looking to reward whoever won.

Classy. Just like Creed.

Like once a year, I had the bad luck to run into him. It always ended the same way.

He was such a dumb-ass.

Whatever he was saying now, Chloe didn't like it. She edged backward and bumped into a tall girl behind her. The music was still blaring, but even through the noise, I heard the shattering of glass as the girl's drink hit the floor.

The girl yelled something, but Chloe didn't even turn around. Her eyes were still glued on Creed, who was saying something that Chloe obviously didn't like. By now, I was shoving my way through the crowd, not caring whose drinks I spilled along the way.

Finally, I was there. Probably, it had taken less than thirty seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. I shoved my way between them, with my back to Chloe and my gaze on Creed.