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I tilt my head and look down at her. “Is that what you want, Zaiya? To be passed around?”
She shakes her head immediately, eyes wide with dread.
“Tell your friend that.”
“Please,” she says to him. “Just leave.”
He looks between us with a hard, unyielding stare. Then he reaches for my girl.
I release her and move in the same breath.
My hand slams against the side of his head and drives him down onto the bar. Glass rattles. On the other side of the counter, Malik takes one step back and keeps polishing a glass like nothing unusual has happened. Around us, the crowd shifts and widens, making space.
I bend over him, one hand planted between his shoulders.
“Listen carefully,” I say. “You don’t test me with her. You don’t touch her. You don’t mistake her silence for an invitation.”
I haul his head up by the hair and turn him so Zaiya can see his face.
“Is this what you want?” I ask her.
She shakes her head again, mouth agape with horror.
“Then go wait for me at the door. You’re done for the night, and I need to have a talk with your friend here.”
“Edwin, I didn’t mean any harm,” she pleads.
“Go.”
She hesitates. That flash of defiance burns in her eyes. She wants to slap me for telling her what to do. And it makes my cock twitch.
“Now.”
She glances at Diego once more with too much concern, then disappears into the crowd.
Only when she’s gone do I let him push himself halfway upright. I slide onto the stool beside him and signal for a drink as if we’re about to discuss business.
He presses a hand to his head and glares at me. “You’re insane.”
“No.” I take the bourbon Malik sets in front of me. “I’m correcting a misunderstanding.”
He spits blood into a napkin.
“She wanted to dance.”
“Out of obligation.”
He rolls his eyes, but says nothing.
A slow sip of my drink lets my violence compose itself.
“There’s a code the Serpents live by. Respect the Order. Pay what you owe. And never fuck with a member’s pussy.”
“I wasn’t gonna do anything, man. I was just dancing with her. You know? Judging her ability to be Seraph.”
“Did you ask my permission?”
He plants one hand on the bar and leans towards me. “Why would I? She can speak for herself.”
