Page 7 of Beautiful Scars

I get about three yards from the bar before someone grabs my bare arm and digs cat-like nails into my flesh.

“Hey!” I yelp, spinning to face the girl standing behind me.

Big eyes, dark how her pupils crowd out her irises, blink languidly at me. “Don’t cut, bitch.”

I glance around. It takes me a second to realize that the mass of bodies pressing against the bar is an actual queue and not just a bunch of people to whom the idea of personal space is something they’re yet to grasp.

“Sorry, man,” I say. “I didn’t see the queue.”

A perfectly plucked eyebrow pops up as she studies me. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“What’s your deal?” I wave a hand at the mass of people. “I said I didn’t see the fucking line.”

And then she shoves me.

Hard.

My back slams into the guy behind me, and I fumble at him as I try to get my feet under me again.

“Get your hands off my boyfriend!” another girl yells before yanking at my hair.

What the actual fuck? I fend off the jealous bitch’s unprovoked attack with a swipe of my arm, wheeling back to get out of her way.

Forgetting about Little Miss Kitty behind me. “Cow!”

Man, I just can’t catch a break, can I?

I dart to the side, barely escaping her claws, and bump into someone else.

This place is a damn fire hazard with all these chumps in here. I spin around, already apologizing so I don’t get shivved with a stiletto, and find myself staring up at the same dark eyes as before.

“She’s with me,” the man says in a deliciously deep growl of a voice.

And just like that, Miss Kitty and the jealous cow whose boyfriend won’t stop ogling my ass transform into star-struck morons.

“Hi Cillian!” croons Miss Kitty. “Did you get my DM on Insta?” She pops a piece of gum and bats her eyelashes at him.

Instead of replying, he grabs the back of my neck and starts steering me through the crowd. I should have elbowed him in the kidney like I did Horny Druggie, but…

But I don’t want to.

It makes no fucking sense, but for some reason I’m dying to know where he’s taking me.

Maybe it’s the way he moves around like he owns the place. Maybe it’s because I could have been seriously injured in that catfight if he hadn’t rescued me. Or maybe it’s because no matter how ridiculous it seems, there’s something exhilarating about his touch.

Also, it’s been a while sinceanyonetouched me. So there’s that.