Control

by M. S. Willis

  We continued to stare at each other until my brain decided to focus on the information bestowed upon me earlier by Logan. My decision had been made that Daemon was a man to avoid and just as I was about to break eye contact with him, three women approached him and blocked my view. I should have been thankful for the interruption, but I was actually rather annoyed at the intrusion. The women were dressed in the standard tramp gear for the evening and, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, the way they flipped their hair and rubbed themselves into Daemon made it obvious that they were hitting on him.

  Daemon shifted his attention to his admirers. He started talking to them and they let out high pitched giggles and flipped their hair some more. I believe now is a good time to mention that I have a significant distaste for high pitched giggles and hair flipping. However, witnessing those responses being elicited by whatever Daemon was saying made me hate it that much more. By the time Daemon started his slow perusal of each of their bodies, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up from my table and made my way to the opposite side of the club. It was alarming how watching him with those women had been pissing me off. The man was an arrogant, egotistical chauvinist and I kept reminding myself that I wanted nothing to do with him.

  I approached the bar and plopped myself down into one of the empty stools. The female bartender that Daemon had been talking to earlier sauntered her way over to me and asked what she could get me. I ordered another bottled water and when she brought it to me I handed her some money and then twisted around in my seat to continue my people watching. It was about 1:30 a.m. and the drunken shenanigans were kicking into high gear.

  I looked around the club but was careful not to look over in Daemon’s direction. My eyes betrayed me and briefly glanced over to find that his three admirers were now dancing seductively around him. He appeared to be enjoying his private show. As if he sensed me watching, he looked over in my direction and flashed me his signature smug grin.

  Busted.

  I refused to acknowledge him and returned my attention to the nameless faces in the crowd. As much as I hated it, I couldn’t keep my line of sight from sneaking back over to where he was standing. The pretty redhead of the group was practically glued to him while whispering something into his ear. She pulled a piece of paper from what appeared to be her ample cleavage and handed it to him before suggestively running her hand down his chest and stomach. Daemon took the paper, excused himself, and started making his way over to Logan’s bar. Before reaching the bar, he turned back in my direction and winked.

  Sonofabitch! I was really starting to hate him.

  In order to stop embarrassing myself further, I turned in my seat and busied myself with conducting a thorough investigation of my bottle of water. That served to distract me for only a few seconds because, let’s face it, there is nothing remotely interesting about a water bottle.

  I glanced back over my shoulder and found that Daemon was having an animated conversation with Logan. They both looked over in my direction and Logan was emphatically arguing with Daemon about whatever it was they were discussing. I turned back in my seat and busied myself with reading the labels on the alcohol bottles behind the bar.

  Within minutes I felt someone come up from behind and before I could react, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me. I jerked away from the unwelcome embrace and spun around to face my molester.

  An obviously intoxicated man that I’ve never seen before was standing there swaying back and forth. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and he gave me a lewd grin. His eyes violated my body and I didn’t even want to know what he was imagining himself doing to me. He started encroaching even more into my personal space and I backed up until the bar kept me from retreating farther.

  “Hey baby. What’s a sexy girl like you doing sitting at a bar all by yourself?” He slurred his words and took a swig of whatever it was that he was drinking. He continued to leer at me and I attempted to slip away from him by moving to the right.

  His arms reached out and grasped the front edge of the bar on either side of me. I was effectively trapped and I braced myself for whatever he was planning to do next.

  I attempted to diffuse the situation and, in my best matter of fact voice, stated, “I need to go to the restroom, so if you would kindly move your arms, I’ll be on my way.”

  He must have taken my statement as an invitation because he immediately licked his lips and moved in closer. The smell coming off this man was vomit inducing and I started to get angry.

  “Sure thing sexy. Just point me in the direction you are going and I’ll join you.”

  Figuring this idiot was too wasted to take a hint, I decided to be more direct. “Seriously, Mister, back the fuck off and let me go!” I pushed at his chest to give myself some room for a retreat but this guy wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  “Come on baby. Don’t be like that.” He leaned in closer and when his lips brushed against my ear I saw red.

  “Back off, you drunk asshole!” I shouted and pushed at him even more and that only made him come on stronger. Unfortunately this guy had about 150 pounds on me and my efforts weren’t budging him at all.

  He let go of the bar and then wrapped his arms around me to grab my ass. His fingers were digging into my flesh through the material of my jeans and I reached behind me, grabbed his fingers and pulled them backwards as far as I could. I felt a snap from one of his fingers and he howled in pain.

  “You fucking bitch!” He pulled his hands from behind me and grasped one hand with the other in front of him. He glared at me in his drunken stupor and screamed in my face. “You’ll pay for that bitch! You broke my fucking finger!”

  He cocked one arm back preparing to punch me and then a second set of arms wrapped him in a headlock. I looked to see who had grabbed the guy and my eyes met with Daemon’s. Daemon jerked the guy backwards off his feet and the drink he was holding flew out of his hand and landed on my chest.

  Daemon spun and threw the guy in the opposite direction of me. When his hand met with the floor he howled in pain again. Daemon quickly turned back to me with a murderous glare in his eyes and asked if I was hurt. I shook my head in response and Daemon returned his attention to my molester who was pushing himself up off the floor and climbing to his feet. He proceeded to get into Daemon’s face and Daemon stepped toward him in challenge.

  “What the fuck man?!” He held up his rapidly swelling hand. “That BITCH broke my finger!”

  Daemon grabbed the guy by his shoulders and started shoving him towards the front entrance. When the guy pushed back at Daemon, I swear I heard Daemon growl.

  “It’s obvious you have no clue how to treat a lady, so I’m sure you deserved it….”

  I jumped at the sound of his booming voice.

  “…now take your drunk ass and get OUT of this club before I personally throw you out!” Daemon pointed to the front entrance and two other bouncers grabbed the guy and started dragging him to the door. Before they could move him five feet away, he turned back to me.

  “You’ll pay for this you stupid whore!”

  Oh no. He did not just utter fighting words. My blood started to boil.

  I let out a primal roar and lunged for him, fully prepared to jab his eyes out. Daemon grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back as the other bouncers continued to drag the drunken idiot out the front door. I continued lunging forward and was kicking and screaming like a rabid animal attempting to break free of Daemon’s hold.

  “Let. Me. Go! That asshole needs a serious lesson in manners!” I futilely pushed at Daemon’s arms which were wrapped like steel bands around my midsection. He must have finally had enough because he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He walked me to a back storage room and closed and locked the door behind us. He was smart enough to know that the lock wouldn’t stop me, so he put me down and then barricaded the door with his massive body.

  Standing this close to him, I realized he had to be at
least 6’5” because I had to tilt my head all the way up to give him my death glare.

  “What the hell?!” I continued glaring. “I had that handled. Move out of my way and let me out of here!” I started pushing at his chest which was solid as rock. He didn’t budge.

  “I’m not letting you leave here until you calm the fuck down.”

  I stalked over to the back of the storage room and began pacing back and forth. I took deep breaths in and out attempting to calm my heart rate and clear the visions of homicide from my head. Daemon stood there calmly waiting for me to get myself under control.

  After a couple of minutes, I was finally able to face Daemon like a normal person. He raised an eyebrow at me then had the audacity to smile.

  “Are we done now? Or do you need me to continue standing here making sure you don’t see the inside of a jail cell or hospital room tonight?”

  I glared over into his crystal blue eyes and held up my hands in defeat.

  “Fine. You’re right. But that guy deserved more than a broken finger. First, he thought he had the right to grope me, but then to turn around and call me a whore because I fought back against his advances? That’s just fucked up. That guy is an asshole!”

  Daemon nodded in agreement and let out a loud sigh. He was quiet for a moment and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He looked at me and walked to a shelf on the right side of the room. He grabbed a brown package and ripped it open to grab the napkins it contained. Walking over to me, he held out the napkins. “Take this. You’re soaking wet.”

  I remembered that the drunk idiot’s drink had spilled all over me. I was so damn angry I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that my shirt was stuck to me from the moisture. I accepted the napkins from Daemon and started patting down my shirt. I lifted the hem of my shirt to better dry my stomach and then had to pull the top part down slightly to dry my chest. When I looked back to Daemon, his eyes had darkened and his gaze was locked on my body. He noticed that I had stopped moving and he shook his head and looked up at me.

  “I have to ask you something,” he stated bluntly.

  I looked up into his eyes. “Shoot.”

  He cleared his throat and then looked down at his feet for a moment. He looked back up at me and asked, “Why did you react like that out there?”

  I looked away from him and retreated farther to the back. “Like I said, he deserved it.”

  “I agree that guy deserved more than what he got, but why did you react so violently? I know nothing about you, and I know it’s not my place to ask, but has something happened to you that would cause you to react that way?”

  My head instantly shot up seeking out his signature smug look and I was knocked off balance by the concern in his expression. It occurred to me that Daemon and I had only known each other for a little over three hours, yet, here he was, asking me for personal tidbits about myself. My gut instinct was to tell him where he could stick that question, but considering he had just helped me avoid a bar brawl, I decided I could give him this small consideration.

  “Nothing’s happened to me,” I said softly.

  “What was that?”

  I must have spoken too softly so I cleared my throat and spoke louder. “Nothing has happened to me.” He nodded his head in relief.

  “Well that’s good. That makes me feel better; but I have to tell you, I’ve never seen a woman react like that to some asshole getting handsy.”

  I huffed out a breath and allowed the rest of my anger to dissolve away. It was time for the abnormal childhood speech.

  “My parents operate an abused woman’s facility in the panhandle. They spend most of their time there so, naturally, I spent a lot of time there growing up. I’ve seen too many cases of women broken by guys like him and I tend to react badly when men try that shit with me.”

  “Well, that’s definitely understandable. I imagine I’d be the same way if I grew up seeing things like that.”

  God he was gorgeous when he wasn’t being a prick.

  Sharing time had caused an awkward silence to stretch between us. Not able to handle it any longer, I said, “Well, anyway, this has been a great heart to heart and all, but I’ve calmed down now so I believe it’s time for me to go.” I made a move towards the door and he reluctantly turned to unlock it and open it for me. I silently passed by him and walked out the door into the bar area.

  I made my way to the front entrance and waved goodbye to Logan as I passed him.

  As I walked out the front door, I turned left towards the side street where I had parked my bike. I felt a presence behind me and turned to find that Daemon had followed me out. I put one hand up as if to block him from following me.

  “Stop. Why are you still behind me?”

  He look confused for a second and then replied, “I’m walking you to your car.”

  My independent instincts kicked in and I started to protest. “First, I don’t have a car; I rode my bike. Second, I don’t need you to walk me anywhere. I can manage on my own.”

  “You rode a bicycle here?!”

  I chuckled to myself at the mental imagery that question elicited. “No. I rode my motorcycle here.”

  His eyes widened in understanding and he looked like he was about to give me the speech about the dangers of motorcycles. He must have reconsidered because it took him a moment to respond.

  “That’s fine. But I’m still walking you. My boys tossed that guy out of here less than twenty minutes ago and he could still be waiting around for you to leave.”

  I scoffed. “I don’t need a bodyguard, Big Guy. I can handle myself. I’m not even sure why we are having this conversation because I believe I made it clear with you earlier that I don’t need rescuing.” I brushed him away with my hand. “Now skip along, Skippy, because I can manage all by my lonesome.”

  The smug expression came over his face again. His voice was antagonistic as he drawled, “I don’t know about that. By my count, you’ve needed rescuing three times this evening, my little damsel.”

  And there it was.

  Any warm and fuzzies I had for this guy a second ago were instantly replaced with a deep seated hatred of all things Daemon. I turned to him to finally get my point across.

  I pointed my finger up into his face and said, “You know what?! I don’t need anything from you or anybody else. So fuck you buddy…”

  He flinched.

  “…and fuck the white horse you rode in on.”

  I turned and started to walk away and he continued to follow behind me all the way to my bike. It was late at night so the streets were empty except for the people returning home from the clubs. The night air was cool and it carried the smell of oncoming rain. The streetlights cast an eerie glow on the black streets and the sidewalks were lined with replica antique light posts. Shadows were cast across our path from the large Live Oaks that lined the street and the moss hanging from the branches swung lazily in the breeze. I refused to acknowledge him and when I reached my bike, I put on my helmet and climbed on to ride home. I started the ignition and revved the engine a couple of times to allow it to warm up. I kicked the bike into gear and pulled away. His eyes were still watching me as a drove off.

  Chapter Three

  I arrived at the apartment and stood at the base of the stairs regretting having accepted an apartment on the third floor. I started my trek up what felt like twelve flights and turned the corner to my door. I opened the door and then closed it quietly behind me. Annie and David were in bed and Alex had fallen asleep on the couch watching horror movies. I was exhausted from my craptastic evening but the situation was too much to resist. I walked over to the television and turned it to the static channel. I turned up the volume to add more of a spooky effect and I turned to make sure that the noise hadn’t awoken Alex. When I saw that he was still sleeping, I tiptoed into the kitchen and grabbed Annie’s rubber lobster oven mitt. I tiptoed back behind Alex and grabbed his face with the mitt, growling as loud as I could.

 
Alex immediately woke up and shrieked. He jumped up from the couch and was swinging his arms around attempting to hit anything in his vicinity. He knocked over a lamp and then jumped from the sound of the shattered ceramic. He stood still for a second and then rubbed at his sleepy eyes so that he could see clearly. Once he spotted me, his face turned a deep shade of scarlet.

  “Not cool, Paige!”

  I started laughing so hard I had to clutch at my sides from the cramping and fell to the floor. I was rolling on the ground laughing as Alex walked up beside me. He looked down at me and grinned while waiting for me to stop laughing. I wiped the tears from my eyes and reached up for his hands. He grab my outstretched arms and pulled me up into an embrace. He kissed me on my forehead and then lightly kissed me on my nose.

  His silver eyes darkened and his mouth softly brushed against mine. I tilted my head up to him in acceptance of this closeness and he lowered his mouth to mine again. I parted my lips and his tongue ran along my bottom lip and I opened more to allow him entrance. I touched my tongue to the barbell in his and he let out a low moan that somehow pulled on my southern regions. Our kiss was languid and he slowly ran his hands up my sides. I pushed my hands into his hair and pulled him closer to me. He reached around to caress my breasts and stopped suddenly. He started to pull away and I grazed my teeth along his bottom lip as we lost contact.

  “Paige? What the hell? Why is your shirt all wet?”

  Crap, I had forgotten yet again that I was wearing someone’s drink.

  He continued. “You reek of alcohol. Have you been drinking and driving your bike?”