Crap.

Shit, damn, crap, and hell.

I practiced breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth as Sabrina and Gwen, the woman I’d just met tonight, dragged me from the VIP area out onto the dance floor.

I’d managed to get through the last couple of hours mainly because we’d spent the whole time up in VIP with a barrier of security guards between us and the masses. But now that buffer was gone.

“Come on, Sut, Shake what your momma gave ya!” Sabrina cried out as she and the rest of the girls danced to the loud song thumping through the club. The bass was so thick it vibrated through the floor, up my legs, and into my chest, making my heart feel like it was about to explode through my rib cage. Or maybe that was the impending panic attack coming on.

“Really, Brina. I just want to sit,” I called over the music. “These shoes are killing me.” It wasn’t a total lie. The new heels were pinching the hell out of my toes, but if I’d really been in the mood to dance, I probably could have pushed through the pain.

There were just too many damn people.

“Just one song, Sut! Please, please, pretty please!”

Not wanting to be the downer of the group, I rolled my lips between my teeth and gave her a small nod. She let out a squeal, threw her hands in the air, and began moving to the music.

I did my best to join in, pretending I was having just as much fun. There’d been a time when I absolutely loved to go dancing. My friends and I had fake IDs made so we could sneak into the eighteen-and-up clubs, and I’d spend the entire time on the dance floor from the moment we entered until the place closed down.

But that was before.

I hadn’t been dancing since, but now, with my sister beside me, and a group of women I’d only just met but liked a whole lot, I found myself loosening up as the intoxicating beat filled my ears.

One song turned into another, then another, and I found myself actually having fun. I lost track of not only time but my anxieties as well. Closing my eyes, I swayed my body, getting lost in the heady rhythm, letting it envelop me. A pair of hands landed on my hips and I let out a giggle.

“Find your own space, Brina,” I started, my eyes popping open, but it wasn’t my sister standing in front of me. In fact, as I did a scan of all the faces around me, there wasn’t a familiar one in the whole bunch.

A man I’d never seen before pulled me tight against him, moving his hips aggressively.

My muscles froze and ice filled my veins. “E-excuse me,” I stammered, struggling to break free from his grasp.

“Where you goin’, sexy?” The pads of his fingers pressed deeper into my hips. “I like the way you move.”

“P-please let go. I n-need to find my friends.”

His arms circled my waist like steel bands as the stench of alcohol on his breath filled my lungs, threatening to choke me. “Just one dance, gorgeous. Fuck. Got hard just watchin’ you move.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Darkness began to creep into the edges of my vision. “I’m serious,” I snapped, placing my palms on his chest and giving him a shove. But it was useless. “Let me go. Right now.”

“You’re a tease, huh? Doesn’t matter. I like a challenge.”

With that, he yanked me even harder against him, pressing his erection into my belly. Everything around me went cloudy, and a cold, clammy sweat broke out along my skin. “Let go!” I shouted, slapping and clawing at his chest. “Let go! Let go! Let go!”

“Sutton!”

“Let me go!” I continued to scream, having lost all sense of time and reality. In only a second I’d been shoved back into the past, to the painful memories of the night I’d tried so hard to forget. “Get off me! Getoffgetoffgetoff!”

“Sutton! Sweetie, oh my god. What did you do to her?”

I could barely make out my sister’s voice past the blood rushing through my ears. I hadn’t even realized the guy released me until my knees buckled and I went down, hard.

Hands pressed against my face, and I thought I heard Sabrina’s panicked voice saying, “Honey, look at me. I’m right here. Look at me, Sutton.”

But it was too late. I was in the middle of a meltdown, and there was no pulling me back.

* * *

Camden

They’d been in mid-conversation when Camden and Bryan both heard his name being screamed from the direction of the dance floor.

“Bryan! Bryan, get over here!”

They shot to their feet and spun around to see Sabrina standing in the middle, her face white as a sheet as she swung her arms in the air frantically.

Placing his hands on the iron rail that separated the VIP area from the rest of the club, Camden launched himself over and barreled his way through the crowd as his stomach twisted into a knot so painful it hurt to breathe.

Bryan was right on his heels, the rest of the guys close behind as they made it to the center of the dance floor, and what he saw made his heart stall in his chest.

Sutton was on the ground, curled in a tight ball. Her face was buried in her knees, and her entire body was trembling.

“What the fuck happened?” Bryan barked as Camden went down on his knees, reaching out to grab a crying, shaking Sutton.

But the second his hands touched her, she flinched. Her head shot up, eyes he didn’t even recognize landing on him as she screeched, “No! Don’t touch me!” and tried to crabwalk away from him.

Holding a hand up, palm out, he tried for a soothing tone while all he saw was red. “Shh. It’s okay, baby. It’s all right.”

And just like that, she dissolved into sobs so loud and pained the sound tore at his chest. When he reached for her a second time, she didn’t move. He pulled her into his lap right there in the middle of the crowded floor, then lifted his gaze to his friends, ignoring the flashes of the cell phone cameras going off all around them.

His gaze finally found Sabrina where she stood a foot away, her body shaking like a leaf. “What happened?” he growled.

“I-I don’t know. We were dancing, and then this guy…. She was screaming at him to let her go—”

“What guy?” Bryan interrupted.

Sabrina’s head turned and she pinned her gaze on the man in question.

Camden was on his feet in an instant, prowling toward the terrified-looking man. “What the fuck did you do to her?” he snarled, grabbing the asshole’s shirt and yanking him forward so they were nose to nose.

“N-nothing!” the guy cried. “I didn’t do anything!”

Camden gave the man a brutal shake. “Then why the fuck’s my woman on the floor cryin’ her goddamn eyes out?”

The guy’s face burned red with embarrassment and fear, and all Camden could think was You should be scared, motherfucker, ’cause I’m gonna kill you. “We were just dancin’!”

“She told you to let her go!” he bellowed, twisting the material of the man’s shirt even tighter as he continued to jerk him around like a rag doll. He was so goddamn rabid he barely felt the hand land on his shoulder.

“That’s enough, man. Get your girl. She needs you.”

At Declan’s reminder, Camden released the son a bitch with a shove and went back to get his woman.

Bryan was pulling a visibly shaken Sabrina from her sister when Camden turned back to them. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his car keys and tossed them Bryan’s way. “You’re drivin’,” he ordered as he bent and scooped Sutton into his arms without hesitation.

“Back exit’s this way,” the security guard for Civil Corruption told them. “Follow me.”

The crowd parted like the Red Sea as he stormed through, not that he cared. He’d have gladly stomped over any and every person in his way if they didn’t move quick enough.

Bryan beeped the locks as soon as they reached his car, and Sabrina automatically went for the back door, but no way in hell was Camden letting that happen. “You’re up front, sweetheart.”

“I want to sit in the back with her.”

“Up front, Brina,” he replied, his patience quickly waning.

“But—”

“Up front with me,” Bryan cut in, giving his wife a look that brokered no argument. “Cam’s got her.”

The vote of confidence would have moved Camden had he not been freaking the fuck out at that very moment.

Sabrina pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, just as her sister did whenever she was nervous or stressed. Fortunately, instead of arguing, she threw the passenger door open and quickly climbed in.

He climbed into the back seat, never once letting go of the woman in his arms, but before he could close the door, Tate was there, crouching down and gently resting her hand on Sutton’s knee.

The way she flinched made his jaw go hard, and he looked over to meet his best friend’s watery eyes. “You call me as soon as you can, okay? I need to know she’s all right.”

“I will.”

“Promise me,” she pushed.

He was a second away from snapping when Declan got there and saved him from saying something to his friend he wouldn’t be able to take back. All he could think about what getting Sutton home and taking care of her.

“He said he will, baby, so he will. But you gotta let them go so he can take care of her, yeah?”

Tate finally stood and backed out of the door, allowing Camden to pull it closed. Bryan quickly threw the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

The whole way back to Sutton’s, he held on as tight as he could. Her tears eventually stopped, but the damage was already done. Each and every one that had fallen, soaking into the fabric of his shirt, had broken his heart and lit a fire in his belly.

He didn’t know what the fuck had happened, or what kind of demons she was battling, but he was done toeing the line between them.

From here on out, he was going to fight those goddamn battles for her.

Whether she liked it or not.