My nose twitched, instantly overwhelmed by the saturation of overpowering cologne mixed with beer. I looked up from the polo-covered chest in front of me to a face that nearly had me rolling my eyes.Gregory.
“Hey Greg.” I offered a small, tight smile, wishing that he would screw off. He was one of Max’s ‘friends,’ and this wasn’t the first time I had to deal with him appearing out of nowhere to bother me. Before the Brooks twins even moved here, the guy had always taken any opportunity to make me feel uncomfortable.
At first I had thought it was just a terrible attempt at flirting, but then I realized the darker reason. Greg was the type of man that got satisfaction from intimidating women, and he was unfortunately good at it. He was a large man, and while I didn’t find him particularly attractive, he was handsome enough that he got away with pressuring women into a myriad of uncomfortable situations.
I wasn’t fooled. I saw through his crap, but he still made me super uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I think he was just pissed that I continued to put him off, so his tone had gone from ‘flirting’ to ‘aggressive’ really fast over the past year or two.
“Dahlia.” He drew out my name, chuckling as his dark eyes ran over my frame. I felt a cold chill roll down my spine as I crossed my arms, feeling suddenly very alone despite there being people around us. That was the effect his gaze had, that cold, cruel gaze that cut to my core and made me instinctively fear him a bit. Something that he no doubt got off on. His game was a dangerous one, and while I would have loved to tell him to screw off, that could land me in more trouble.
Panic started seeping over my skin after everything that had happened the night before. I could not do this again.
“I haven’t seen you since school let out,” he continued.
That had been on purpose, for the record. I stepped back to clear the distance between us and shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, I heard,” he said, offering me a sneer. “Is that still going on?”
“Is what still going on?” I asked softly, feeling tense about his answer.
Although, I would take his dumb line of questioning over him bringing up last night. Greg was exactly the type of man to bring up sexual assault to a victim the day after it happened, even if just to catch them in a vulnerable moment.
Greg tilted his head, offering me an indulgent and patronizing smile. “Are you still fucking them?”
What?
Oh. He meant the guys. Seriously? God, this guy did not know when to stop. There had always been rumors about us, but some boys at our school had found it a bit too interesting… almost fixated on the concept.
“That is not your business,” I responded smoothly, unable to help the coolness that invaded my tone. He didn’t deserve an answer, let alone one about my sex life. Greg deserved nothing from me, and I was honestly very disappointed to realize that he was probably not leaving for school. No, I was almost positive he would be attending Silver Oak… which was just my luck.
I was cut off by Lincoln suddenly appearing, rounding the annoying bastard and circling my waist with one hand, his beer and my drink in the other. I took it from him, clutching it against my chest, as I realized that Greg was holding two drinks as well. I frowned, noticing that there was a tension building, and I shivered slightly, seeing a change overcoming Lincoln that I’d never experienced before.
I should have been scared, but instead I was excited.
Seriously, I had some problems.
Lincoln’s voice was darker and more threatening than I’d ever heard it before. “What the fuck did you just say to her?”
Christ. I could see his temper literally bubbling close to the surface, threatening an explosion. Honestly, if you didn’t know Lincoln, his temper would be extremely surprising because he hid it so damn well. I could always tell when he was about to lose it, though, and we were getting very close to that… I just didn’t understand why. He had dealt with Greg before, but this felt different.
“I was asking if she still fucks you,” Greg chuckled, his antagonistic tone filling with malice, “because if not, the guys and I would fucking love—”
The man stopped mid-sentence, his eyes wide as silver dollars and his face drained of color completely. I didn’t need to turn to see who had joined us. I could feel him there. Honestly, I could usually tell if one of my guys was in the room—it was almost instinctual.
“No, Greg, please continue.” King’s voice was filled with a cold, rather terrifying anger that made me tense in Linc’s arms. I had the urge to turn and look to my left, but he kept me against him, his body shaking with the effort to restrain his fury.
Greg’s mouth opened like a fish, searching for words he clearly didn’t have.
King stepped closer to him, easily dwarfing the large man. “Finish what you were going to fucking say.”
A bit of fear, a lot of excitement, and honest awe filtered through me at seeing him like this. He looked furious, and honestly, I found it way too attractive. What did that say about me? There was something unhinged in his posture, and I momentarily wondered if he was going to hit Greg.
I would love that.
“Nothing,” Greg hissed. “I was saying nothing.”
“Go. Now,” King demanded, his voice quiet and lethal. My gaze moved up to Lincoln, who was completely focused on me. That part didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me? The darkness there. For the first time in my life, I was a bit scared of these men. Not that they would hurt me, but this darkness was different than the anger from last night. This was different from hearing about it in passing. This felt more intense than anything I’d ever experienced before.
It was also lighting up my entire body in a dangerous way I hadn’t expected.