Chapter 27

Nikolai

I stood watching Hannah walk away with Ava, or more specifically watching the ass I had just spanked walk away, feeling small darts of trepidation at her departure. I was not comfortable with her out of my sight, and that made me uneasy. It was one thing to play into this bullshit charade to help her out, it was another thing to actually care about her. I didn’t like how powerful my need to protect her was becoming. I mean, was I actually willing to sacrifice graduating high school just to beat the shit out of some guy who was harassing her? I was sure acting like I was.
I looked up to find Jack watching me with a shit-eating smirk on his face. I frowned. “What?”
Jack let out a snort as he took a big sip of his beer. “You have got to be the best fucking actor I’ve ever seen,” he said sardonically.
I punched him on the shoulder and looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on our conversation. “Shut the fuck up. I’m just helping her out.” Even as I said it, I knew I was full of shit, and so did Jack.
“Oh, well, if that’s how you help her out, would you mind if I ‘helped her out’ after you?” Jack said drolly. “I mean, if you aren’t into her, I’ll be happy to take her off your hands. She’s looks pretty damned good, now. I knew she had a banging body under there. I especially like it when her shirt slides forward, and I can see down the front—”
I couldn’t help it, my hand shot out and I pushed Jack against the wall. “Keep your fucking eyes off her, Becker.” Jack laughed again, and I knew he had been baiting me, but I couldn’t fucking help myself. The thought of Jack putting his eyes, let alone his hands, on Hannah had me ready to swing on him.
Jack shook his head as he pushed my hand off his chest and reached over to refill my beer. “You’re fucked, Nik.”
I knew he was right but ignored him.
“So, what’s up with you and that Ava chick?” I asked dryly. I could tell he was interested in her, and I was giving him a little payback for the shit he had given me about Hannah.
Jack narrowed his eyes at me in a look a lot of other people would have probably found intimidating. “Fuck you.” A total dismissal, no doubt because he had no idea why he was so interested in Ava. Probably because she was blowing him off. Sometimes guys were simple.
I looked at my phone to check the time. It had been longer than ten minutes and I was getting antsy. Hannah had about two more minutes until I went looking for her. Jack noticed what I was doing and laughed again.
I was about to take a sip of my beer, when Ava came running in the kitchen, barreling past people in her way. Jack stepped forward and started frowning, as if trying to figure out if she were being chased or someone had scared her. I looked behind her, searching for Hannah. A bad feeling permeated my chest. When Ava finally made it over to us, I barked out, “Where is she?”
“She’s down in the basement. Jeff cornered us down there. He is pissed. He has her trapped and he’s ranting and raving at her.”
I started moving towards the basement, yelling back to Ava as she and Jack followed. “You left her down there with him?” Anger and worry made my words sound harsh.
“I didn’t want to, but Hannah told me get you,” she shot back, defending herself and revealing how conflicted she’d felt leaving Hannah.
I couldn’t argue with her reasoning, but I wanted to when I thought of Hannah facing Connors by herself.
I stormed toward the basement, practically throwing bodies out of my way. I flew down the stairs and turned the corner to find Connors holding Hannah against a wall by her wrists. He was either talking very closely to her face, kissing her, or trying to kiss her. It didn’t matter because I was going to fucking kill him.
I grabbed Connors roughly by the shoulder, holding on to his shirt as I swung my fist and hit him squarely in the face. His knees folded beneath him, but I wasn’t letting go. I usually never needed much reason to fight but seeing him touching Hannah put me in another dimension of anger and aggressiveness. I felt a red haze drop over my eyes, and the only thing I wanted to see was his blood.
I held him by the shirt and punched him again, letting him fall this time and then kicking him in the stomach. Connors clutched his stomach and groaned, but I felt no sympathy for him. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt as he put a futile hand up to try and stop me. I got down in his face and whispered, “You like stalking girls, you asshole?” His eyes widened after hearing my question and darted quickly to where Hannah was frozen against the wall and back to me.
“That’s the last fucking time you ever look at her, you got me? If I hear you even so much as whisper her name, I am going to fucking annihilate you.” I didn’t wait for him to answer; I simply tightened my fist on the collar of his shirt and punched him over and over until I felt someone finally pulling me off of him.
When my vision cleared, I realized he was unconscious and covered with blood, not that I gave a fuck. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him. Jack, who had pulled me off him, must have seen the expression on my face because he kept a strong hand on my shoulder in case I went in on Connors again. Coming fully back into a rational mindset, I looked around and realized I had attracted a crowd.
I looked down at myself and saw I had splatters of Connors’ blood on my t-shirt, but thankfully the shirt was dark, so they were hard to see. I knew it was all his because he hadn’t even managed to land one punch. When I saw him on Hannah, he never stood a chance. My knuckles were bruised and bleeding, but it had been fucking worth it.
I looked around, searching for Hannah. Jack quickly understood who I was looking for and said, “She’s upstairs with Ava.”
“Shit. How did she look?” I asked, worried that seeing me pummeling the fuck out of Connors’ worthless ass might have scared her. She must have thought I was a fucking animal.
Jack shrugged and gave me a how-the-fuck-should-I-know look. I sighed at his lack of help. A couple of guys were asking me what Connors had done to make me fuck him up like I did, but I didn’t even answer. I just cut through the crowd and went off in search of Hannah.