Page 68 of Avenging Azalea

I shook my head. “No, I have someone I can call.”

“Okay, I’ll go grab some bottles of water. What name should I give the guys in the front?”

“Titus Mikhailov,” I said, and Oliver’s eyes popped out of his head.

“She’s a Mikhailov?”

“No, I am.” It wasn’t true, but I said it with conviction. “Can you leave a bouncer outside the door?”

“Yes…I’m so sorry this happened,” Oliver said before swearing under his breath and leaving.

“Dat wizzz smexy,” Steph mumbled, her lip pulling up at the corner.

“Don’t start with me, woman. You scared the shit out of me. You know better.”

Grumbling, I pulled my cell out of my clutch to call Titus.

Steph pawed at me, slurring incoherently. I wanted to hug her and smack her at the same time. Titus was already protective. I couldn’t imagine what he was going to be like after this.

Chapter

Twenty

FAWN

My stomach had been tied up in knots since calling Titus. He’d sounded worried, but there was also a furious undertone. The last thing that I wanted was for Titus to be angry at us when this wasn’t our fault.

Steph was still knocked out, but she came to every so often saying the craziest stuff before passing out again. I wanted to take her to the hospital as soon as Titus arrived. Grabbing my phone, I looked at the time. It had been fifteen minutes. He would be here any second.

“You okay,” Oliver asked, and I nodded. “You don’t seem okay.”

“It’s just….”

Before I could get the words out, the office door slammed open like it had been blown off its hinges. Oliver jumped as high as I did when Titus marched in, looking like he was going to rip someone’s head off.

“Sir, you can’t come in here,” Oliver said.

Titus glared at the bouncer. “Like hell, I can’t.”

“I’m getting the manager.”

“Good, I want to speak to him,” Titus said, his voice cool and sharp like a blade’s edge.

His face was so dark and contorted with rage that it took every ounce of willpower in my body not to back away from him. My stomach rolled as he walked toward me like a mountain bearing down on an ant. I sucked in a ragged breath and held it, waiting for him to explode. The pool had been one thing, but this…we’d talked about spiked drinks so many times.

A flash of my stepfather and the rages he got in while drinking filled my eyes, and I had to blink away the image and push down the fear that was trying to break free.

Titus didn’t yell at me. Instead, he looked me over like he expected a limb to be hanging off before cupping my face.

“Are you okay?”

That was by far the most popular question of the night.

I shuddered as he ran his thumbs over my cheeks. His voice was as kind as it always was, even with the hard edge. Just like that, the old fear wiped away, replaced with a wave of comfort.

“Yeah, I knew they were trouble. I was careful. Good thing because they almost assaulted Steph.”

Titus looked down at the couch and shook his head as his hands slowly dropped from my face. I wanted to grab them and force him to keep touching me.