Page 73 of X's and O's

Searching for a fight.

“Take your hand off me,” I said quietly.

The other guy eyed me. “Walk away.”

But it was clear neither of us could. Something in his eyes told me he was itching for a fight just as much as I was.

“Not until I talk to Violet. I just need a minute.”

“Violet isn’t interested in speaking to you.”

“Violet can speak for herself,” I practically fucking growled.

Violet sighed. “Levi, Whip and I are on a date. Please, just leave. We have nothing to say to each other.”

I tried to get a glimpse of her, but her date blocked my view of her again. That rage built up inside me, only fueled by the smirk on his smug face.

“You heard her.” Whip stepped in, so we were eye to eye, identical heights, the smile dissolving into something harder. “You aren’t getting a minute. She said she’s not interested, so you aren’t even getting a second with her.”

I looked past him to Violet. “Do you even know what this place is? It’s a fucking sex club, Violet! Did he tell you that? That he was bringing you here not just for dinner but so he could take you out back and fuck you?”

She flinched, and I realized how loud I’d said it. But the thought of this asshole’s hands all over her body, the way his fingers had been stroking all up and down herarm, and the knowledge he had brought her to a place like this when she was so inexperienced, had me seeing red. “She’s a fucking virgin, asshole. Did you even know that? You can’t just take advantage of her—”

Whip shoved me, catching me off guard.

I stumbled back against a wall, and he followed me in until we were nose to nose. “Don’t you ever fucking accuse me of taking advantage of a woman. She knows what this place is. She knows why we’re here.” He leaned in so I would be the only one who heard his words. “She came to me because you’re the prick who rejected her and made her feel like shit about being a virgin in the first place. So I’m going to take her virginity, asshole. And I’m going to do it softly and gently, while she comes on my lips and around my fingers and on my cock. And it’s not going to be your name she’s moaning. But mine. Because she deserves a man who can give her that. Not a fucking piece of shit like you, who has no idea what to do with a woman as beautiful as she is.”

Everything he was saying was true. I couldn’t deny any of it. Violet deserved a man like him, who could give her everything she’d always wanted.

Yet the thought of her with this prick sent rage through my body like nothing I’d ever felt before. I drew my arm back and let every ounce of jealousy and frustration and hate for myself crash straight into Whip’s cheekbone.

His head jerked to one side, and Violet’s shout came from somewhere in the background.

I got a tiny glimpse of the disappointment and horror and shock on her expression before Whip’s return punch sent me reeling.

Chaos broke out around us. Shouts filled the restaurant, but all I could see was Whip and the look in his eye that told me he’d been wanting a fight just as much as I had.

Pain exploded through my cheekbone. Through my knuckles. But it was nothing compared to the broken feeling inside me, knowing I’d hurt Violet so badly and I was only making it worse.

Violence created a swirl of haze around me, one that blocked out everything else. My fists connected with his flesh. His punches ricocheted through mine.

Hands came out of nowhere, Fang and Hayden getting in between, but even that didn’t stop us. Whip and I both lunged for each other, grappling to get back to a fight neither of us would win.

“What the hell are you doing?” Fang growled at me, finally getting the upper hand and shoving me backward toward the kitchen. “Look at her face, asshole! You’re fucking scaring her!”

I caught a glimpse of Violet’s expression, and the fight went out of me. The real world filtered back in, and the realization an entire restaurant of people was staring.

The only one I cared about was Violet.

I let Fang pull me into the kitchen and shove me onto a stool. A second later, Hayden dragged Whip in, pushing him into the opposite corner with a look of complete and utter fury that he shared between the two of us.

“What the actual fuck!”

It was more of a roar than a question.

I breathed hard, shoulders rising and falling, eyeing Whip through a swelling eye.

He lifted a white napkin to a cut on his lip, never taking his eyes off me either.