Page 58 of Stolen Voices

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Wrong answer.” I dig my shoulder into her stomach and throw her over it in a firefighter carry.

“Put me down right this minute, Eli,” she shouts over the music.

“Not gonna happen, princess. It’s time to go home,” I yell back.

With a hand on her ass, I cover Callie’s exposed skin, and I carry her kicking and cursing my name out of the club. Her fists pummel my back and ass as I push through the throng of sweaty clubbers. The flash of a camera in my periphery has me pushing through the crowd with haste until I safely have her at the back door of the club.

I’m going to need Dez to get those pictures immediately.

The same bouncer from before is still at the back exit as I approach. He chuckles, covering his mouth with his fist, as he opens the heavy metal door for me.

“Aren’t you going to help me, you big lug?” Callie shouts as I haul her into the alley toward my waiting car.

“No, ma’am,” the bouncer says.

If I wasn’t so fucking angry, I’d laugh.

“He’s kidnapping me, and you’re just going to let him take me?” she shrieks.

I’ve reached my limit. “Enough.” I give her perfectly plump ass a quick, hard smack.

“What the hell, Eli? Did you seriously just slap my ass?”

I place her on her feet and stare down at her as she huffs, pushing her hair off her face. She’s lopsided, having lost a shoe in the melee, and looks like a pissed-off kitten. All cute and sassy.

Opening the passenger door, I point at the front seat. “Yes. Now, get in the car.”

“No.” The returning fire in her eyes would kill a lesser man.

All it does is turn me on. “Don’t push me, Callie. You either get in the car, or I’ll put you in there myself after I bend your sexy ass over the hood and spank it raw.” The threat slips, but I refuse to take it back when she bites her lip and her cheeks turn pink.

Her eyes glance toward the hood of my car. My palm itches, and my dick thickens as I watch the idea of me spanking her play out in her head. The caveman in me wants to beat on my chest in pride over the fact that she’s considering letting me punish her.

“Get in the fucking car, Calliope,” I grit through my teeth, willing the steel rod in my dress pants down.

Her eyes snap back to mine, and the fire in them burns brighter. Before she comes back at me with a snippy retort, I notice the scratch under her eye and slight swelling on the apple of her cheek. My anger flares back to life, ready to destroy whomever hurt her.

“Who did this to you?” Instinctively, I cup her cheek and brush my thumb over the tender flesh.

Her delicate hand wraps around my wrist. “No one.”

No one.

Callie’s answer pierces my flesh like a sharp dagger. I know she’s covering for someone, and I want to know who. I also know pushing her won’t get her to talk. She doesn’t trust me.

Why should she?Disappointment weighs heavily on my shoulders because I’ve given Callie no reason to trust me. Especially not after the way I spoke to her in the club. I erased what little faith she had in me.

“Please, get in the car?” I ask, forcing myself to be calm for her sake.

Callie’s shoulders fall as she nods and slides into the passenger seat.

“Yo, E.” I look over to find Boone standing at the back entrance, holding a sparkly stiletto. It seems small in his large hand as he extends the heel to me. “This got left behind. Pretty sure it belongs to your girl.”

I take the shoe from Boone and thank him. Gulping down a few cleansing breaths, I kneel beside Callie. “Give me your foot.”

She hesitates before turning sideways, lifting her bare foot for me. We both gasp at the static electricity that snaps between us as I grip her delicate ankle and slide the sparkling stiletto onto her foot.