Chapter 126
-OLIVIA-
The club was too loud.
89
55 vouchers
I danced on Luca anyway. I hated that it was not Roman. That part would not shut up. Luca was a good dancer, at least, and he had not tried anything stupid yet-no hand under the dress, no dragging me toward a darker hallway. Just the performance I had asked for. Lights on my skin. His chest at my back. A camera somewhere I could feel even if I could not see it.
He leaned in so I would hear him. “I’m surprised you asked for a second date. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
I froze.
That was not what I wanted to hear. He wasn’t the type to look for second dates.
“I know you’re a player,” I said. “This is just having fun.”
He chuckled against my ear. “If this has anything to do with the basketball player who punched me for getting too close-do I have to worry about another injury tonight?”
I paused.
I had not actually thought about that. I expected Roman to be pissed. I expected a lecture the next time he saw me. I did not expect him to walk into a club and hit Luca again.
“Roman wouldn’t show up,” I said.
Luca smiled. His hand dragged down my shoulder. “Well. You’re already wrong about that.”
“What are you talking about-”
I did not get to finish.
Someone grabbed Luca by the shirt and ripped him off me so hard I stumbled. The music did not stop. People did. A circle opened around us as they stopped and stared. Phones out.
I gasped.
Roman.
He looked like he had come straight from a gym. His fist was already in Luca’s collar. He drove him two steps into the nearest pillar. Luca’s head snapped back. A glass fell and shattered. Someone screamed.
“I told you to stay the fuck away from her.”
Roman’s voice was rough. Luca tried to shove him. Roman did not move. He looked like he had left sanity in the parking lot.
1/4
14:58 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“Vale-
:
89
55 vouchers
“You put your mouth on her.” Roman’s forearm pinned him. “You put your hands on her. I told you what would happen.”
I could not believe this was happening. It felt like a dream. This was not like the parking lot during the wedding. We were in public and everything was being recorded.
“Roman!”
He did not hear me. Or he heard me and the rage was more important. Luca’s smirk deepened.
Was he enjoying this?
I grabbed Roman’s arm with both hands and hauled him off before his fist could finish the thought.
For a second he fought me. Then his eyes hit mine and something even moved through them-the knowledge that he had almost done this in front of a hundred phones.
“You need to follow me. Right now.” I snapped. I had to get him out of here…quickly.
His jaw clenched. He looked back at Luca like he still wanted to punch him. Then he let me pull him.
I did not stop moving until we were through the side door, down the alley, and inside his Mustang.
The doors slammed. My heart was racing. I could still see Luca’s shirt in Roman’s fist. I could still feel how close the fight had been.
I turned to face him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
He stared at me like I had asked a stupid question. “What do I think I’m doing? You are on the internet everywhere with his mouth on your neck. What are you doing when you know his reputation?”
“That’s my business. Not yours. I do not tell you who you can or cannot date.” I snapped.
“I told him to stay away from you.”
“You do not get to tell him that either.” My voice was loud. “You have a girlfriend, Roman. A public one. You brought her into my house. Are you forgetting that?”
His hands flexed on the wheel he was not even using. “Eden is not-” He cut himself off, jaw tight. “This is not
about her.”
“It is exactly about her.”
“No.” He turned in his seat. “I came because that video is already everywhere. Comments. Reposts. Your name next to his. You know how your father gets when something touches the family name. William will not treat this like a night out. He will treat it like a scandal with a last name he spent years keeping clean. Blair will get dragged into it. Ethan will get dragged into it. The entire family would. You wanted a reaction. You are about
2/4
14:58 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
to get one from the wrong people.”
0:0
I swallowed. I had thought about Roman. I had not thought far enough past him.
ន
89
55 vouchers
“Why do you care?” I asked. “You have Eden. You have your own life. Why is my club performance your emergency?”
He looked at me like the question physically hurt.
“I just fucking do,” he said. “And that is never going to change.”
Never going to change? My heart skipped a stupid beat.
“Then you should be more concerned with your relationship,” I said, “and not what I am doing in a club. Go worry about her. Go to the club with her. Leave me alone.”
I did not mean those words. I didn’t want him leaving me alone. Just the opposite.
His eyes dropped.
To me. The dress. The hem that had ridden up when I sat. The same body Luca had put his hands on. Roman’s hands flexed on his thighs, open, then closed, like he was forcing them to stay where they were.
“Why would you let fucking Luca touch you like that?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why does it matter to you?”
He grabbed my thighs and dragged me across the seat onto his lap in one hard pull.
I gasped. Not prepared at all.
My knees hit the seat on either side of him. I was now straddling him, dress shoved higher, his hands locked on my legs like he couldn’t let go.
The car suddenly had no air. His mouth was right there. So close to mine. I could not breathe.
“If you do this again,” he said, voice hoarse, “I cannot promise you I will react like a sane person.”
He dragged his finger along my bottom lip, “do not test me.”
I gasped. He’s never touched my lips before. I could feel myself grow wet between my legs in response to that one simple touch.
I just wanted to lean down and kiss him. Close the inch. His thumbs pressed into my thighs and I felt it everywhere. He looked at my mouth like he was already there.
Then a knock hit the window.
I jumped.
We both looked outside.
3/4
14:58 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Ethan stood outside the driver’s side, frowning at the tint, phone in his hand.
Luckily the glass was dark enough that he could not see where I was sitting.
“Fuck,” Roman muttered.
He lifted me off him so fast the cold rushed in.
នគ 89
55 vouchers
I dropped back into the passenger seat, yanking the dress down. Roman put as much space between us as possible, jaw locked, hands back on the wheel like they had never been on my legs.
Ethan knocked again.
Roman cursed under his breath.
“I can’t fucking believe it.”
4/4
AD
Comment
Send gift
No Ads
89
14:58 Thu, Sep 17
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.