Chapter 15
Ford
I pulled up to the club and the music was already thumping my gut. I got out and went around back, then paid the bodyguard to let me in. I didn’t want anyone seeing me tonight. Not unless they were intentionally looking for me. I scooted through the back and dumped out behind the bar, then made my way over to my regular seat. A darkened corner with my back to the wall and the dance floor in front of me to keep an eye on.
My whiskey neat was soon set in front of me by the bartender who knew me by name.
A few women came up and tried to speak with me, but I waved them off. I was in no mood to deal with anything remotely resembling a woman tonight. I threw my first whiskey neat back quickly before another was set in front of me, and that one was finished before the bartender walked away.
I wasn’t playing around tonight.
I was going to forget about all of this shit.
I was rolling my third drink around in my hand as my eyes scanned the floor. I recognized a few people. Men whose fathers I’d made examples out of, taking out their rage on the dance floor. Women whose mothers coached them on how to be proper women, even in a club. Hoping not to piss the wrong man off and get herself hurt. It was disgusting, how men treated women in this day and age. It boiled my blood and churned my insides when men decided a woman was their piece of property to use how they saw fit.
And it made me irate that I was being lumped in with them.
I threw back the rest of my third drink and the bartender promptly set a fourth in my hand. I knew it wasn’t smart for me to have another one, especially on an empty stomach. But I didn’t give a shit. If I had to get a cab home, I knew my car would be safe.
Then suddenly, my eyes landed on someone familiar. The way those hips swiveled and the way that hair fell around her shoulders would always catch my eye. I saw her delicate hand in the air, grasping a drink as her dark brown eyes twinkled in the strobing light.
Amelia. She was at the club.
And some man had his hands on her.
I watched his hands massage her hips. I watched his body roll deeply against hers. The smile on her face and the tipsy look in her eye complimented the flush in her cheeks, but it wasn’t me behind her. It was some second-rate asshole with his nose nuzzling the crook of her neck.
What the fuck?
She was mine. Mine to take care of and mine to cherish. She had been gifted to me by her family and they trusted me with her safety. I watched that man place his hands in areas he shouldn’t be touching. Areas I’d touched only a couple of weeks ago. I felt anger bubbling in my gut. I felt a sense of dread pour over me. If Amelia got herself into a bad situation with him, I wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to get him off her.
This wasn’t happening to her.
Not on my watch.
I threw back my fourth drink and stood from my seat. I unbuttoned my suit coat in order to give me more room to move. I glided along the dance floor as the alcohol in my body loosened me up.
The closer I got to Amelia, the faster my heart slammed against my chest.
She was beautiful. Radiant. Happier than I’d ever seen her with me. Maybe everyone was right. Maybe I wasn’t treating her the best way I could. Clearly, I’d never seen that smile on her face before. Clearly, she’d never willingly wanted to be that close to me.
Not without having sex.
Not just to interact with me.
I reached my hand out for the guy and ripped him backwards. He stumbled as I moved between him and Amelia. I loomed over him, listening as Amelia’s voice started yelling at me.
But I wasn’t paying attention to her.
I was paying attention to him.
The man who had his hands on my fiancé.
“Ford, what the fuck are you doing?”
I whipped around at the sound of my name and took in her presence. The flowing blouse that fell off her shoulders and the red straps of the bra she had on underneath. The tightness of her jeans and how they molded to every curve she had on her body. How her tanned skin accented the yellow speckles in her eyes that mesmerized me every time I looked at her.
She even had on a bit of makeup.
I felt my body go careening back as my jaw began to ache. I brought my hand up to my lips, checking to see if I was bleeding. Amelia was yelling as she ran over to the man who had hopped off the floor and made the grave decision to punch me.
Little did he know it would be his last.
“Stop it, both of you,” Amelia said.
But my fist was already cocked back and aimed for his nose.
I crashed it into his face, feeling his bones crack underneath my touch. Amelia screamed, her drink flying backwards as she wrapped herself around my arm. She was clinging to me. Trying to get me to stop. But I reared my foot back and kicked the man on the ground as a growl flew from my mouth.
“Think again before putting your hands on another man’s woman,” I said.
“I am not your woman,” Amelia said.
“She said she was… single…” the man said as he sputtered blood onto the floor.
I kicked him again, feeling his ribs collapsing as Amelia shrieked.
“Ford! Stop!”
“This woman is my fiancé, and you will never touch her again. She deserves more than that. Better than that. More romance than that.”
I picked the man off the floor by his collar before I hoisted him into the air. Security guards were heading to the floor as his blood dripped from his chin. I felt Amelia’s arms around my body, trying to pull me back.
I missed how she touched me.
This man didn’t deserve her innocent touch.
“I’m… sorry…” the man said.
“Ford, put the man down.”
I looked over at the bodyguard who was poised with a taser gun. I glared at him as Amelia’s hands continued to tug at me. I released the man from my grasp and watched him plummet to the floor, groaning in pain like the sack of shit he was.
I turned to Amelia, expecting to see fear in her eyes. Scared about the monster she had just witnessed. I’d done it again. I had exposed her to part of my bear that I tried to hide. I had shown her the true animal within me. If there was any hope of getting back this woman I apparently cared about, I had just done it in.
But instead, I watched her eyes flare with frustration. Anger. Shock. Not fear or any sort of frightening stare, but annoyance.
Like I was an inconvenience.
“Ford! What the hell are you doing!?”