I attempted to step free from his arms but they constricted around me like a boa.
“We don’t need a hotel.” He spun me around and clamped down on my lower back, pushing my hips tight against his arousal.
His head descended and I frantically fought for a way out of this situation. My arms were held tight at my sides and without leverage there was no way I could dislodge a man almost a foot taller and eighty pounds heavier than me.
So, I did the only thing I could.
When his lips slanted over mine and his greasy tongue stabbed into my mouth, I bit him. Hard. The taste of blood blossomed against my tongue and his hoarse cry rattled my eardrums. He shoved me away and I stumbled on my stupid heels, falling back with a crash against the railing. Pain exploded in my head as it cracked against the metal but I stood as quickly as I could, fighting the wooziness. The pervert was bent over, his hands folded over his heavily bleeding mouth.
“You fuckin’ bith,” he mumbled and took a menacing step forward.
I kicked off my shoes, leaving them on the landing, and took off down the rest of the stairs. I could hear him lumbering after me but I knew I was quicker and that he was crippled by pain. I stepped on something painful as I tore around the corner to the front of the club but I ignored it, stopping only when I saw a large Mexican bouncer. I bounded into him and he caught me without question, pushing me behind him when he caught sight of the man trailing behind me.
“Ignacio.” The bouncer nodded at another man guarding the door and he took off towards the creep who had assaulted me.
Finally, the bouncer turned to me, his large face creased with concern. “Are you okay?”
I nodded but my body was shaking and I could still taste his blood against my teeth.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
There was shouting down the street but the bouncer took me gently by the shoulders and bent down so that his large brown eyes were all I could see.
“I need you to tell me what happened, can you do that?”
The cool air off the ocean made me shiver and gave me the wherewithal to shake my head and request the one thing I really needed. “My boyfriend is inside. He’s tall with reddish hair and really pretty blue eyes. Can you get him?”
He stared at me for a minute before nodding tersely and moving me to the stool that he probably sat on when the line was slow. I started when he slipped a coarse blanket around my shoulders but he smiled kindly at me and moved away a few steps to speak into his walkie-talkie. I could hear the man I’d bitten groan as the other bouncer dealt with him but I didn’t look over at them. I knew I would cry if I did and I wanted to be stronger than that. So, I sat on the stool and dragged deep handfuls of air into my lungs, counting to seven before I released each breath.
A few minutes later, my group burst through the door to the club and Sinclair was suddenly before me, crouched on his knees in order to look up at me.
“Elle,” he croaked, two knuckles skating down my cheek to the corner of my mouth. They came away with blood on them and I realized that he thought it was mine.
“His,” I explained through my chattering teeth.
His eyes were large, the color of wet blue velvet and his voice was unbearably soft when he said, “Désolé, ma sirène.”
I swallowed a sob and wrestled one hand out of the blanket to clutch his damp button up. “Hold me?”
I was in his lap before I could blink, nestled in the cradle of his arms with his firm lips pressed to my forehead. The bouncer was speaking with Candy and Richard Denman, both of them yelling at him for answers.
“Stop,” I called and cleared my throat when my voice didn’t carry as well as I wanted it to. “Stop asking him questions.”
They turned to me, blinking widely, struck dumb by my insistence and probably my awful appearance.
The bouncer bent down before me and I realized that despite his impressive bull-like size, he had a handsome face made swee
t by large eyes the color of melted chocolate. “Can you tell me what happened now?”
I nodded and took a deep breath, drawing comfort from Sinclair’s arms as they squeezed gently around me. Santiago, Kat and Cage all appeared while I told my story but quickly turned away to speak with a policeman who had shown up, interacting in rapid fire Spanish. Sinclair’s body grew increasingly tense as I recounted the incident, until I felt like I was sitting in a cage. When I was finished, the bouncer asked me a few questions before going to join the conversation with Santiago and the policeman.
I looked up at Sinclair but he gently pressed my head back to his shoulder and I knew it was because he didn’t want me to see the anger on his face.
“Candy, I want you to take her home now. Go straight back to the resort and take her to my room,” Sinclair said, once again the cool and controlled businessman.
I was mute as he placed me carefully on my feet and moved a few steps away. The sudden distance was like alcohol in an open wound. Why was he leaving me?
“What are you doing?” Candy hissed, her large teeth flashing as she bared them at her boss. “You should take her back.”