Page 42 of Wickedly Played

“It is Serena!”

I chase after the guards as they run toward a hallway to see what they're discussing. I see a man flushed against Serena as she’s pressed against the wall.

I don’t think before I act. I have his body slammed against the wall he had trapped her against. My arm is against his neck while his nose crunches. The man lets out a scream from the force, but I don’t let him go.

Serena’s eyes are bugged out of her face as she watches everything happen. I fight the urge to twist the man’s neck for touching her. He must pay for what he did. He doesn’t deserve to live after that.

“Did you touch her?” I growl into his ear.

The man shakes his head. “No! She…”

He passes out before I can say anything more. When the woman arrives, I let the man fall to the ground in a heap. With my eyes trained on Serena, I’m mentally sending a notice to everyone in here. Don’t fuck with my girl.

When did she become mine?

Bundling her in my arms, I fireman hold her on the way out of the club. Fuck her stuff, we can get it later. I know she has her phone with her, and what is essential. She lays her head against my neck and breathes in my scent.

“You’re okay, baby,” I whisper in her ear. After sitting her in the car, I yell at Joey. “Get her shit and get your ass back to the house.”

Serena is staring blankly out the window, tears flowing unchecked down her face. She doesn’t say anything until we are pulling into her driveway. After everything I have learned about the woman since being here, she has never been rendered speechless. I'm not sure if I prefer it or her snappy comebacks.

The woman doesn’t even recognize how much I crave her. How much I want her. How much I need her for my survival.

Her father can say he’s looking out for her all he wants. He wasn’t there tonight when she needed him. It was me.

I’m helping her out of the car when we pull into the driveway. She lets me hold her close until we leave the garage.

“Max?” Her voice is small.

“Yes, sweetness?”

“Why are you being so nice?”

I can’t tell her about what I saw today. I also can’t tell her what I learned today. I feel like it is an invasion of privacy, but I had to know more. Serena has such a hard shell; it is hard to know what she needs.

“I’m always nice,” I chuckle in her ear.

“No. You are hot and cold, Max.”

She opens the door for us just as Joey is pulling in behind us. “Go ahead and get ready for bed. I’ll see you in the morning,” I tell her with a kiss on the cheek.

“I don’t know if I like the sweet version of you or the asshole one better,” she mutters.

She makes it up a couple of stairs before flying down them to jump into my arms. “Thank you for being there for me,” she whispers.

Damn. She really is sweet.

“No problem. I’ll see you in the morning,” I say again.

Once Joey makes it into the house, I have him against the wall. “Where were you?”

He stutters. “I’m sorry! I got distracted!”

“From what?” I’m demanding.

He shakes me off. “My ex was there!”

“What the fuck, Bishop,” I mutter. “You had one job and that was to protect Serena.”