Like she had no clue he was coming up behind her, he has no clue I’m so close until I lean over him and bring my knife to his throat. “Stop.”
He freezes.
She freezes.
Chest heaving, nostrils flaring, her bright eyes wheel around as she works through her fight-or-flight reactions. Lying on her back, her legs splayed wide open, she stares directly into my eyes.
Lance’s dick turns flaccid against the woman’s thigh, producing a terrified squeak that rolls up her throat. Sliding my knife along his flesh, no deeper than a paper cut, I grin at the line of blood that dribbles along my blade and drips onto her creamy flesh.
“Bishop… Don’t–”
I press my blade harder against his skin. “We talked about this, didn’t we?”
“It’s none of you–”
“But it is.” I fist his hair and yank until he cries out and drops his knife to the ground. “We talked about you taking women when they say no thanks.”
“They’re just b–”
I look at the woman – she’s both terrified and pissed – and study her exposed thighs. Too beautiful to be out this late at night. Too stupid to know she’s not invincible. “Do you know Lance? Is this consensual?”
Holding her breath as though it’ll help her keep her shit together, she shakes her head.
“Bishop! Get off m–”
I slide my blade along his throat in threat and take pleasure in the way his words come to a garbled stop. “Don’t speak, Lance. Listen.” He gives a jerky nod and helps me rip chunks of his own hair out. “Jess is mine.”
In sync, their eyes widen.
Neither of them expected me to know her name.
“She’s yours?”
I look to her. “I told you not to be out tonight, Jess. Why’d you follow me?”
Panicking, confused, she looks between me and the man whose dick is still exposed. “Um.” She licks her parched lips and draws my eyes to the wild pulse in her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I lift a dangerous brow. “And because you didn’t listen, you almost end up Lance’s bitch. You want that to be your life? You want your family to find you on the news?”
Shewouldn’t end up on the news at all. She’d go missing, her family would cry on national TV and beg for her return, then eventually, people would forget.
It’s the way it is. Short attention spans. Too much else going on to entertain the masses. A pretty girl on the news would interest viewers for an hour, then her ocean blue eyes would haunt no one but her loved ones…
And me.
Standing tall, I pull Lance to his feet and move back half a dozen steps. With her legs splayed wide and her panties on show from beneath her fancy coat and pretty dress, I nod for the woman to get up. “Come here. You didn’t stay at home like you were supposed to, so now you have choices to make.”
Climbing to her feet, she limps forward and clutches at her ribs. Narrowing my eyes, I study her gait. “Did you sucker punch her, Lance?”
“No, I–”
I look to her. “Did he hit you?”
“He…” She swallows. “He was gonna rape me, and you’re worried about a sucker punch?”
I nod wordlessly.
With her eyes piercing mine, she nods.