Hearts on Fire 3: Tasha(4)

She felt the significance of his size and build. She smelled his fancy cologne. She usually didn’t react like this to a stranger, and she knew it had to do with the circumstances of her life right now, with her embarrassment the other night with Lance, but she felt eager to accept him, even if temporarily. She never allowed anything like this and he made her nervous.

“Lift it up to those sexy lips of yours and drink it. Come on, we’ll do it together.”

She felt so uncomfortable, but with her cousin right next to her, not coming to her aide, it gave her little choice. After all, she saw what one strike from Dash had done to the big guy that approached her. His deep, dark voice caused goose bumps over her flesh. He sure was charismatic.

She held the shot glass but kept it down on the bar.

“Lift it up,” Dash ordered, and that’s when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her reservations began. She was never one to back down from a challenge, even though lately she was losing the fight to be so bold. She felt her voice shake as she attempted to gain some control.

“I’m not really into doing shots or drinking a lot.”

“No one said you were. Do it for me. After all, I just got rid of that guy who tried to feel you up.”

She turned to look at him, her anger getting the better of her.

“I didn’t need your help,” she snapped at him. His eyes looked darker as they took on a different expression entirely. His eyes roamed over her lips and then the cleavage of the top she wore. She never felt so exposed, almost naked from a man’s expression in a bad, negative way. It wasn’t like when Eddie, Lance, or Tyler Martelli looked at her. Those three men set her heart on fire, but it seemed something held them back from pursuing her. Why she thought of them right now this second she didn’t know. But she wished she were with them. Then she remembered the café and that Cynthia woman. The guys didn’t want Tasha, but this guy seemed interested.

She felt Dash’s hand wrap around her midsection and his palm landed on her hip bone. He squeezed her to him.

“On the count of three. Don’t defy me, baby. You’ll regret it,” he told her.

Maybe if I just take the shot, he’ll leave me alone? Why did his demand just cause a reaction in me? Any attention seemed better than none at all.

“Do it, Tasha,” Melanie whispered. As Tasha glanced to the left toward Melanie, she saw that James had one arm wrapped around her midsection and his hand in a restraining-like manner over Melanie’s throat. Although James was caressing her throat slowly, she could tell he was exerting control and Melanie seemed accepting. It made Tasha’s heart race.

Tasha lifted the glass up to her lips.

“On three. One, two, three,” Dash said and they both drank down the shot.

Tasha felt her throat burn as she placed the glass down and then tried to turn out and away from Dash’s hold.

He stopped her with one arm snug around her midsection and his hand over her wrist tight on the right side. She stared straight ahead, uncertain how she was going to get out of this situation.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered against her ear, and she felt his tongue touch her ear lobe.

She pulled away but he didn’t release her. “I’m not your girl,” she said through clenched teeth.

He gripped her hard and pulled her back tightly against him. “Not yet, but soon. You’ll see.”

The sound of his cell phone ringing and vibrating against her back saved her from further groping by the man. “I need to take this. Don’t leave. We need to make plans.” He lifted the phone to his ear and walked away. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Tasha. I should have known that Dash was interested.”

Tasha swung her head at Melanie. “What are you talking about?” Tasha asked and Melanie bit her lip as James pulled her closer.

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Just sit down, Tasha, and wait for Dash,” James ordered her.

“I don’t think so. I’m outta here. Melanie, are you coming with me?” Tasha asked with attitude.

James gave Tasha a smug expression and Melanie shook her head as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. It was obvious that James was in charge of Melanie. Was her cousin in an abusive relationship? James sure did look like he used force in words and in actions. Even the way he held her now, with his arm around Melanie’s waist and his fingers over her one wrist like a shackle, could pass as indicators. She wasn’t sure what to do, but her gut took precedence warning her to run and get the hell out of there.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Tasha turned to leave, grabbing her small purse off the chair.

“I’d wait for Dash. He’s going to be upset.” James now reprimanded her in that tone he used with Melanie.

Despite her gut instincts telling her to just head the hell out of there and keep her mouth shut, Tasha shot from the hip on instinct to James’s order.

“Fuck him, and fuck you.”

Tasha saw the stunned expression on Melanie’s face, and as she turned to walk away, Tasha could hear James chuckling. It irked her. It made her see how much of a dick the man really was, and she wondered why the hell her cousin was with him for so long?

Tasha slammed the door to the place closed as she passed the inside bouncer and then the outside bouncer who told her good night. She gave him a wave, despite the fact that she was so angry. She pulled out her keys, her vision solely on getting to her little convertible Beetle that sat in the parking lot across the street from the pier. She clicked the button, heard the door unlock, and as she reached for the handle, she heard his voice.

“Going somewhere?”

She turned around to see Dash standing there. Where the hell did he come from? She hadn’t heard a sound. A creepy feeling consumed her. This guy was a professional something. She wasn’t sure what but she knew whatever it was, it was illegal and really bad.

“Home.”

He approached, towering over her, invading her personal space.

“I thought I told you to stay put.”

She chuckled low, well more like snorted at his audacity. Did this guy really think that women liked being ordered around?

He moved fast like lighting, and an instant later she found herself pressed hard against her own car, his ultra-thick thigh wedged between her thighs nearly tearing the skirt she wore, and her one wrist restrained by his hand.

She went to shove him with her right hand, and he grabbed that, too, pulled her forward, squeezed both wrists behind her back with one hand, and then gripped her hair and neck.

She gasped as her eyes locked with his.

She had no choice but to look up at him, chin tilted forward, her body wedged against his and the car.

“You need a lot of discipline. I get that. I’m not a patient man, Tasha.”

“What do you want?” she asked, and swallowed hard. In this position the move caused a hard gurgling sound in her throat.

“You.” He pressed his mouth against her neck. She tightened her eyes and tried to free her hands, her legs, but it was no use. The man was super strong and way bigger than her.

“Stop it. I don’t want this.”

He nipped her chin with his teeth and then suckled it. “You don’t know what you want.” He pressed his thigh deeper between her legs and against her mound. She gasped. “I’m going to teach you.”

She shook her head, felt the tears in her eyes, the pain against her wrists, and she knew they would be bruised.

“My mind is set. You’ll submit. I have the ability to tame even the most resistant females.”

She was disgusted by his comment, his chauvinistic, narcissistic attitude. “Get away from me. I don’t even know you.”

“I’m going to change all that.”

“No. I’m not interested.”

“You will be.”

He covered her mouth with his. He pressed his tongue deep and she tried to pull away but his hold on her hair and head was firm and relentless.

Cigar smoke and tequila filled her nostrils as she tried pulling away. She opened wider, gasping as he squeezed her wrists tighter and wedged his thigh so hard between her legs she cried out.

When he released her lips, he stared into her eyes, holding her by her hair she was still forced to look him in the eyes.

“This is only the beginning. I’ve chosen you, baby.”

He slowly started to release her, and she felt her body shaking, she could see in his dark eyes and expression that he knew he had complete control. What the hell was she supposed to do? The bouncers were right there and they didn’t do a thing. This guy knew everyone. They cleaned up his mess in the bar when he slugged that guy. They turned their backs as he forcibly kissed her, and she knew she just needed to get out of here.

“I need to go,” she said in a shaky voice.

He placed his hands on her hips, rubbed along her skin under the shirt she wore.

Dash stared down into her eyes. She could see the definition in his chest, shoulders, and arms. She wouldn’t stand a chance physically against him. She didn’t know what she was going to do. His phone went off again.

He licked his lower lip as he stared at her abundant cleavage. She hadn’t even noticed that her buttons came undone and that her breasts were pouring from the bra she wore.