By the time I was done, his own mother would run for the hills at the sight of him. I was pissed beyond words at the news Lorenzo had just dropped on me, and this nobody was going to bear the brunt of it.
“Kick his ass, Mike,” said his piece of fluff.
But then, sometimes people surprise you. His eyebrows twitched a bit as he lost nerve and backed down, slowly lowering himself to his hands and knees in front of Kendall.
No self-respecting man ever literally licked somebody’s shoes, but that’s what Mike did. For a second my rage threatened to boil over, as if he had robbed me of a fight specifically to piss me off. I almost kicked him in the head right there, he was at the right height for it now.
“Please forgive me,” he mumbled to my date.
Kendall’s mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish as she tried to find the words. Honestly, how could the hottest woman in the room stand to have these pretentious cunts look down on her?
Tell him to stand up and fight like a man, I thought.
“It’s OK, it’s OK! Please stop!” she managed to blurt out.
Mike got up and murmured something at me that was probably an apology as the blonde arm candy belittled him.
“You should fuck off, if you know what’s good for you,” I said. “Take that noisy bitch with you.”
“C’mon, Liv,” said Mike, reaching for Liv’s arm and heading towards the front.
She stumbled after him, spouting words of disbelief, and I turned to watch them go. Not a single pair of eyes in the entire restaurant was on their own food, they were all on us, and it was deathly silent.
“Anybody else got a fuckin’ problem?” I asked.
Instantly, not a single pair of eyes was on us, they were all trained determinedly on their own plates.
I was practically shaking with pent-up energy when I sat down again and waved Coralie away. Across the table, Kendall was wearing her heart on her sleeve.
There was fear there, a certain shock at the promises my body language and tone had just made to our dear friend Mike, but overwhelmingly she was looking at me with awe. She was looking at me like I was some kind of hero.
I was nothing of the sort, but I could see myself reflected in her eyes. In them I was practically wearing shining armor and riding a white horse while lightning shot out of my sword.
“Th-thank you,” she said, so quietly that I could barely even hear her in the near-silence of the stunned restaurant.
Her hair, naturally lush and dark, shone and flowed over her shoulders, some of it grouping together in curls and ringlets. She may not have much money, but she had movie-star hair, and my eyes followed it down until I saw she had undone the top button of her shirt.
There was no doubt in my mind it had been done for my benefit. Shy as she was, it seemed she’d made a decision while I was outside, decided to give me exactly what I wanted.
She couldn’t know how much I wanted, though. At this point, denied a fight, I needed to release this energy and I bet Kendall had the most perfect little pussy to take it all.
I’d been thinking about fucking her from the moment I laid eyes on her, hadn’t I? It was time to stop teasing myself with this prize. It was time to fuck this little teen within an inch of her life.
Chapter 7
Kendall
He stood up for me. For the first time in my life, somebody thought I was worth standing up for. I was still shaking from the shock. Things had moved so quickly from being ridiculed, to the entire situation being reversed, my head was spinning.
When that man and woman were standing over me, mocking me, I was scared. However, that was nothing compared to the way Jace terrified them.
When most people thought of Jace Barlow, they thought of the multi-millionaire sitting in his office running a diverse portfolio of companies. As the head of such an empire, they probably thought he was decisive at the very least.
Well, that was the understatement of the century. They didn’t know the half of it. I’d just been given a glimpse under the hood, at the unrelenting power that drove Jace to the heights he had achieved.
It was intoxicating. Imagine going through life like that, knowing that you’re coming through like a freight train and people better get on board or get out of the way if they don’t want to get pulverized.
When he sat down, he looked like he was still on edge from the encounter himself. So full of energy, he was practically buzzing with it.
“Th-thank you,” I squeaked.
His eyes! His eyes! They were on me again, drinking up all the bare skin they could see with no apologies for it.
I remembered the button I’d undone and felt an electric pulse of excitement make my skin tingle as his gaze lingered there. When he brought his eyes back up to mine, that delicious sensation seemed to gather between my legs and I could feel my heart rate climbing.