“We used to date back in Seattle. He’s a jerk. He liked to hurt me.”
Millie made a pained noise and he stepped closer, ready to whip her out of here if this was all too much. But the look of anger on her face shocked him.
“I managed to get away from him with the help of my cousins. I don’t know how he found me here. I haven’t seen him in months.” Tawny’s breath started coming in sharp pants.
“Come. Sit.” Steele pulled out a chair and Chardonnay helped Tawny sit. Millie moved forward but Spike reached out and gently grabbed hold of her arm.
When she gave him a questioning look, he just shook his head. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted her close to him. There was no obvious threat in the room. Well, anyone would be an idiot to discount Steele as a threat, but he wasn’t a threat to Millie. Not physically. Although if the other man didn’t stop giving her interested looks then Spike was going to . . .
Chill. Fuck, man. Not yours.
Steele turned to the other girl. “Chardonnay, can you tell us what happened?”
Chardonnay ran a shaking hand over her face. “Uh, we were in here talking—”
“Miss Millie too?” Steele asked.
Spike narrowed his gaze at Steele who didn’t miss a beat. A slight grin twisted up the edges of his mouth.
“I came back here to talk to Chardonnay,” Millie told them. “I caught the end of her act. She’s so good at what she does. She was offering to show me some moves.”
Spike felt his eyebrows rise. What the fuck?
“She wasn’t bothering anybody.” Chardonnay glanced at Steele warily as though she thought they were going to get in trouble for Millie being back here.
Steele just nodded and made a motion with his hand for her to continue on.
“Tawny came in and then that guy stormed in.” Chardonnay looked at Tawny who still appeared ill. “He pushed Lily aside. He was threatening Tawny, telling her how she was going to pay for leaving him. He grabbed her hard and was dragging her out the door, when . . .” Chardonnay stopped talking, looking over at Millie. She swallowed heavily.
“I stepped in front of him,” Millie told them both, shoulders back.
“You. Did. What?”
Spike’s voice was a quiet whisper dripping in menace. She had to hold in a grimace. She didn’t owe him an explanation. He had no say in what she did. So why did she get the sense that she was in a world of trouble?
Still, she forced herself to look at him then over to Mr. Steele. Actually, that wasn’t much easier. Mr. Steele looked nearly as upset as Spike did.
“I stepped in front of him,” she repeated herself. “I couldn’t just let him drag her out of here. He didn’t, uhh, seem very nice.”
“He didn’t seem very nice?” Steele repeated.
“He was hurting her,” she whispered, staring at Tawny. A small shiver worked its way across her skin and she quickly suppressed it. Now was not the time to fall apart. She needed to keep herself together. Taking a deep breath in, she tried to calm herself. “I couldn’t let him hurt her, right?”
“What if he fucking hurt you?” Spike ran his hand over his bald scalp as she shrugged.
“I guess I had to take that risk.”
“For fuck’s sake. This isn’t some damn game, woman. He likely had a weapon on him. He would have gutted you and walked over your bleeding body without a second glance.”
Millie grimaced. She didn’t do well with blood. Especially her own. She knew she’d likely paled and Spike gave a satisfied nod. No doubt he thought he had suitably scared her.
“What would you have had me do?” she asked him.
“Run for help.”
“Huh.”
Spike cursed. “That never even occurred to you, did it?”