“I can handle Theodore.”
Theo’s face hardens at my use of his full name, and Pops doesn’t miss it.
Turning his back on me, he focuses on Theo, although Theo’s eyes remain locked on me over Pops’s shoulder.
I don’t hear what Pops says to him, but Theo doesn’t react at all—although his response, which I can lip-read, sends fire shooting through my veins.
“She’s mine. I know how to get her in line.”
“Oh no,” I screech, stepping forward, but Theo is faster.
He sidesteps Pops and storms toward me, catching my jaw in a bruising grip and slamming me back against his precious car.
“Prez, you can’t let him—” Cruz starts, but he’s swiftly cut off by Pops.
“You will leave them to handle their business. Emmie is a big girl. She doesn’t need a white knight.”
My entire body trembles with anger as Theo’s fingers cut into my cheeks, stopping my mouth from closing as he looms over me.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
If he’s expecting an answer then he’s going to be bitterly disappointed.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I do the only thing my alcohol-fuelled brain can think of and I jerk my knee up fast.
Much more alert than me, he moves out of the way just in time.
“Did you want tonight to be your last one breathing, Hellcat?”
A growl rips up my throat as his face gets closer.
His nose brushes mine, and for the briefest moment, my eyes flicker at the sensation of him touching me so gently, so intimately. But then his fingers tighten on my hip, digging into my skin, and I remember that there’s nothing fucking gentle or intimate about this.
“Get in the fucking car, or your grandfather, uncle and the dick who wants to fuck you are going to get a front row seat to me doing just that.”
“They’d kill you,” I hiss when he releases his hold on my face.
His laugh is wicked and full of spite. “Would they?” he asks, almost in amusement.
“Yes. I’m theirs, I’m—”
“Mine,” he spits, his lips only a breath from mine. “You’re fucking mine, and they know their place.”
My brows pinch as my brain tries to compute his vicious words, but I don’t get a chance to figure anything out because my feet leave the floor and I’m physically thrown into Theo’s car.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Hellcat,” he warns, batting my fighting hands away as he pulls the belt around me and clicks it into place.
“Any harder? I don’t want to be in your fucking car, Cirillo,” I scream in his face.
“No? Want me to prove you wrong?”
My eyes narrow, daring him to do just that, intrigued as to how he’s going to make his point.
“Fine,” he sighs, almost as if he’s bored out of his mind.
Forcefully, he pushes my thighs apart, and before I can argue, he’s cupping my pussy over my knickers.
“Fighting me makes you horny, Hellcat. Admit it. There’s nowhere else you want to be right now.”