Authors: Jenika Snow
Chapter Twelve
Cain opened the door for Violet, and he loved that she ducked her head and a blush covered her cheeks, as if she were embarrassed. The steakhouse they were at was still in Chatham View, but further out of the main square of town, and closer to the next city over. Country music played overhead, and the lighting was dim. The restaurant was also a tavern and had its own brewing company. The crowd was loud and wild tonight because of a football game on, and although it was a bit much for Cain, when he looked over and saw his woman smiling it was all worth it.
“Good evening. Two?” The hostess was a young girl, probably still in high school, with braces across her front teeth.
“Yeah,” Cain said, then cleared his throat. The waitress averted her eyes from him, and her uneasiness was tangible. It was either the fact he wore his Brothers cut, or the fact he looked uneasy as hell in his skin right now, or maybe because he felt like kicking someone’s ass because he felt that way. But Cain was used to this reaction because his size and overall presence tended to have people keeping the fuck away. And he preferred it that way.
The waitress showed them to their seats, with a buck horned lamp hanging above the center of the table, and situated right by a fire that crackled softly. Despite the fact there was a rowdy group of men at the bar watching the game, this particular table was off to the side and more intimate. As much as he was trying to be a gentleman, none of this felt like him. After the waitress came and got their drink orders he leaned back and ran his fingers over the edge of the napkin. The waitress came back with a glass of white wine for Violet, and a draft beer for him. After they gave their order, the waitress left. He really didn’t need alcohol, but he also needed something to help calm him down a bit, because this was out of his element.
“I know you’re uncomfortable, but thank you for bringing me on a date tonight.” She smiled, and his fucking heart warmed at the sight. And like a dirty bastard the image of clearing the table and taking her on top of it flashed through his head over and over again.
She took a sip of her wine and set the glass down. “You’re looking kind of intense right now.” She smirked. If she really knew about what he was thinking, that he’d love to have her face down on his bed with her ass in the air and his handprints marring the big, round cheeks of her bottom in shades of pinks, she might run out of here. His cock jerked, and he practically felt his lust shoot out of him like a cannonball.
Violet licked her lips, and he knew she could read his thoughts by the expression on his face. “You’re insatiable, and others are looking,” she said but didn’t sound like she cared.
He grinned, leaned forward an inch, and rested his forearms on the table. The sight of her tongue moving along the swell of her bottom lip, licking at it like he imagined her doing to the head of his cock, had this low sound leaving him. He knew others close by had heard, knew by the fact they glanced his way and he spotted the action in his peripheral vision. Cain gripped the edge of the table, and flashed his teeth as he pictured just saying fuck it all and taking her home. Their faces were now only inches apart from each other.
“I’m not really the type of guy that gives a shit about what others think.”
She flashed a smile of her own. “I know, and I love you more because of it.”
Cain reached out and captured her hand in his. “I want to kiss you right now, even though people are probably watching.”
“You don’t care what others think, and neither do I.” Her voice was slightly breathy, but she stopped breathing all together when he lifted her hand to his mouth and ran his lips back and forth over her knuckles. He stared at her, and watched as her chest rose and fell with her increased respirations. Then he just went for it. He rose up slightly, grabbed the back of her neck, and planted his lips right on hers. He stroked her tongue with his, loved that she moaned softly, and finally he forced himself to pull away. The way she looked, lips parted, cheeks red, and eyes slightly glossy, told him he had put her in a good damn place.
But then the food came, and he was forced to be a gentleman. It wasn’t that hard, not when the woman he loved more than anything was animated across from him. He loved hearing her talk about her work, and about what she had done with her life since he had been locked up. He didn’t talk to her about his nine years inside the fucking hellhole that was his shackled home, didn’t want to bring himself or her to that place. He was content in just listening to her tell him about the life she’d led, despite everything that had gone down.
They were like that for another half hour, the scene fading around them as he was totally focused on his woman. The check came, but he wasn’t in a hurry, even if he was still fucking hard as rock for her. But then she grew quieter, looked down at her napkin, and he knew whatever she was going to say wasn’t something that would vibe well with their current atmosphere.
“I told Fallina about us, about how we’re together, and that I love you.”
He breathed out, thinking it would have been something bad. “I’m glad you told her. I spoke with her earlier today, and we talked about you, sweetheart.”
She looked up at him, and the smile she gave him twisted his fucking gut.
“I told her I didn’t know what in the hell I did to deserve a woman like you, because hell, I’m a damn asshole on the best of days, but that I’ll treat you like gold.”
Her smile widened.
“She’s worried about you being treated well, and I told her I’d rather slice my own hand off then hurt you.” He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “And I also told her I’d kill anyone that thought to take something from you that you weren’t willingly offering.” He knew his voice dropped down to a deadly level, and saw her swallow as she picked up on it, too, but he couldn’t help himself. Talking about, hell, even thinking about, someone hurting Violet sent him into a blind rage.
“I told her you’d never hurt me, and she knew that,” Violet said, and tightened her hand in his.
“I’m glad you know that, baby girl, because it’s the honest fucking truth.”
He leaned back in his seat again, heard the loud cheer come from the group of men to their right, and glanced that way. The guys were hammered, and it was clear by the way they stumbled out of their chairs, raised their voices at the flat screen TV mounted on the wall. The manager came out of the back, told them to keep it down because they were disturbing customers, and when a bunch of them started swearing they were asked to leave. It would have been humorous on any other occasion, but right now it just annoyed Cain because he was trying to spend time with his woman. The men walked toward them since they had to in order to get to the exit. The five men laughed at something idiotic, and when the last one walked by their table Cain noticed how the asshole looked at Violet, grinned, and gave her a wink.
“How you doing tonight?” he asked Violet, and she glanced at Cain. He saw her in the corner of his vision, but had his focus on the asshole that thought it was cool to stop and talk that way to another man’s woman, especially in that pick-me-up tone.
“Move the fuck along,” Cain said his voice low, dangerous, and not hiding the annoyance he felt.
The guy stared at him for a few seconds, and this ruddy color covered his face briefly.
“There isn’t anything for you here,” Cain said in a sterner voice, seeing that he wasn’t moving along. Finally, with one more look at her, a wink, and a grin, the drunken fool staggered toward his friends. Cain leaned back in the booth and stared at Violet.
“He was drunk, and a fool.”
He grinned, but scrubbed a hand over his face, and knew that his jealousy and possessive attitude toward Violet would never change. In fact, he knew it would increase with each passing day, because it already had.
The waitress came by with their check, and once she left he winked at Violet, feeling all kinds of a dirty fucking bastard right now for her. He pulled out a few twenties, and set them on the table.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom, and I’ll meet you outside?” She smiled, and he couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward again and kissed her, that territorial feeling riding him hard, and making him want to claim her in front of everyone.
“I can wait for you, baby.”
“I can meet you outside. No need for you to wait for me,” she said and laughed. Yeah, he was controlling in some things, especially his woman, but he would always be that way. She walked away and looked over her shoulder, a smile on her face. He stared at her ass, her big, round, and fucking juicy ass, and knew they needed to get the hell out of here so he could bury his cock in her sweet body. Yeah, he was so far gone for Violet, and what a fucking incredible feeling it was.
****
Violet stepped outside, and a wind blew by. The scent of cigarette smoke was thick and suffocating. She glanced to her right when she heard the loud laughter of the men that had been at the bar just a few moments before. The man that had stopped by her table, almost started shit with Cain and got his ass handed to him, stepped forward. The neon lighting from the sign above them flashed across his face. His friends were busy hitting on a group of college-aged women, and weren’t paying attention to anything but getting laid.
The man took a step forward and flicked his cigarette away. “Hey you’re the pretty girl from inside.” His voice was slurred, his face red and sweaty from his drunkenness. “The one with the rude as hell biker friend that told me to fuck off.”
She turned her back toward him, looked around the parking lot for the Harley, and saw it just a few feet away. But she wasn’t a fool in trying to go to it, especially since it wasn’t like she could climb inside and lock the door. She knew Cain would be out any minute, so instead of having to deal with this asshole’s advances, she turned and was about to make her way back inside. All she had wanted was some fresh air, and of course shit had to get started with a drunken prick. But of course he’d moved closer, and was now right in front of her. The scent of his liquor-laced breath coated her face, and she clenched her jaw to stem off the nausea.
“You can’t speak or somethin’?” he asked.
“Dude, come on over here and leave her alone,” his friend called out.
“I would suggest you just turn around and head back to your friends, because once my boyfriend gets out here I can’t be responsible for what he does to you.” Violet felt so juvenile calling Cain her boyfriend, because in fact he was so much more than that. There wasn’t a label that could group them together. They just were … together.
He snorted, and glanced over his shoulders at his friends, who weren’t watching anymore. When he looked back at her his smile faded, and he moved a step closer. “I’m not afraid of some guy wearing a leather vest or thinking he is tough shit.”
Just walk away now, asshole. Cain is not just a guy in a leather vest with an attitude problem or acting like he’s tough.
He leaned in another inch, inhaled deeply, and said in a disgustingly aroused voice, “You smell so good.”
Violet turned her head, and tried to push past him, but he countered her steps, blocking her from leaving. She sighed, exasperated that he was being annoying in his advances. “Listen, I know you’re drunk, and obviously don’t know that what you’re doing to get your ass kicked, but I am trying to help you out.” She shouldn’t care if he got his ass handed to him by Cain when he finally came out of the restaurant and saw that the guy was bothering her. But she didn’t want any more trouble, didn’t want the night being ruined by this guy that was drunk and obnoxious. She went to push him away, but her foot got caught on his shoe and she fell forward. Bracing her hands forward, her palms got scraped up when she landed on the pavement.
“Damn, girl. Walk much?” he said and started laughing. His friends happened to look over then, and they started laughing as well. Her anger and irritation grew, and when he reached down to wrap his hands around her waist she pushed him off. He came back again, his hands closer to her ass now, and she pushed herself up and stared at him, her face feeling hot with anger.
“Stop.”
He reached for her again, his laughter increasing when he glanced down at her torn knee in her leggings, and her scraped hands. “You got fucked, girl.” He lifted a hand, as if to push her hair off her shoulder, and she smacked him away.
“No. Don’t touch me.” The front door opened to the restaurant, and she saw Cain walk out, and search for her before finally spotting her. The anger that morphed his face as he took in her appearance was tangible. He let out this low growl when he saw the guy still standing in front of her. Cain charged forward. He grabbed the man that had been next to her, tossed him aside, and stared off at the other four men that were just a few feet from where they stood. The man that was on the ground staggered up, and moved forward, having balls of steel. Cain was enraged, though, and that was clear by his red face, and the way he roared out as he slammed his fist into the other man’s face. He was a monster as he moved forward again, and although she was so stunned by the violence coming from Cain, because she was now experiencing it firsthand again after so many years later, she couldn’t feel sympathy for the asshole that had been advancing on her. He kept coming after Cain, saying curses and insults, his drunken voice thick and slurred from the alcohol he’d ingested. He was a fool, not just because he was blitzed, but because he was stupid, too. The guy’s friends were off to the side, their expression stunned, wide-eyed, and their mouths open. No doubt they had never seen a man like Cain in their life.