Chapter 24 You Touched Her, Now You Pay
With a calculated calm, I strode toward them, my presence commanding attention. I noticed a few people turn around to stare. My hand closed around the stranger’s wrist, my grip like a cold vice. "Do you like your hands, Bob-cut?" I growled, my voice low and menacing.
The stranger’s eyes darted to me, fear creeping into his expression before he rushed to mask it. He didn’t know who truly stood before him; it was both a mercy and a curse. If he truly knew who I was, he wouldn’t bother trying to hide his fear or appear brave. It was wasted on him.
"I-I c’mon man. She your girl, or something? I don’t see a ring on her," the fool turned to his friend as they both shared a short laugh. His amusement stopped short when he noticed Jeffery and Bone behind me, Bine looking as menacing as ever. His friend noticed too and spoke instead,
"Hey man, we-we don’t want no s-smoke, he didn’t mean to," he stuttered.
My gaze turned glacial. "You didn’t mean to?" I repeated, my tone dripping with disdain. "You didn’t mean to touch my lady?" My hands were still tightly wrapped around the hands of the other guy. I tightened my grip, my eyes boring into the fool.
"You should have thought of that before you put your hands on her." With a swift motion, I pulled the man away from Cee just as the other guy withdrew from Maria’s side. All the while, Cee just gaped at me, my men moving in to flank me. "Make yourself scarce or you’re going to regret that mistake."
They both backed away, murmuring and staggering as they blended into the crowd that had already gone back to dancing except for a few curious ones.
"You don’t just..." Celene began, only to be cut off by me lifting up my hands in silence. This was not the time for her witty banter.
"Don’t. I’m too wound up right now."
"Did you stalk me all the way here? Did you follow me? Again?" she insisted.
"Celene, you should go home. Take your friend with you and leave," I couldn’t speak anymore. I was so angry, it took all my self-control from letting myself go back to them and make them part with a few pounds of blood, preferably unwillingly and painfully.
"No. I’m staying, and you, stay away from me," she said and then turned to face her friend who looked very drunk.
"Again? Stalk you, again? What are you talking about?" Maria said before hiccupping loudly and swaying on her feet.
I turned and walked away, having reached my limit of calm. With my back to her, I still heard her reply to her friend,
"It’s fine. It’s just a misunderstanding. He thought I was someone else."
On second thought, I went with my rage and decided to share a few friendly punches with those maggots from earlier. I nedded to pound out this rage simmering in my body so tbat I would not take it out on Celene. And what better specimen to beat up than the creatures that causedy rahebin the first place?
I donned my leather jacket to go the route the two men had gone earlier. Before long, I found them seated together at another bar section, this one a lot darker than the previous one.
Jeffery and Bone stood nonchalantly around while I sat, a few seats away from them, watching them. The volume of the music was even lower on this side, and I didn’t need to strain to hear them talking.
"…Man, that was a close call!"
"Don’t even tell me about it! Who the hell was that anyways? The black girl was already into me, I know it," the one who had touched Cee said.
"The white batty was all mine too. Bro, we gotta go back," his friend said.
The one who had touched Celene just chuckled. He pulled out a wrapped paper and spilled the contents into two glasses of wine.
"Oh bro, we are. We aren’t letting those girls go just yet. I mean, we’ve got drinks and everything."
They both laughed as they picked up the glasses and began walking in Celene’s direction again. I was just about too tired of seeing the faces of the men.
The icy cool rage of Paimon himself descended on me heavily. I knew the feeling well. I was familiar with what happened when it came. The bloodlust that dominated my senses was on a whole other level.
Why did they have to tempt me when I was already wound up? When my mind was already on a nonstop train of homicidal thoughts? Little men never knew where to draw the line.
By the time I got to Cee, the men were apologizing and proposing an ‘apology drink’. Cee was the first to notice me as I slid into a bar stool and settled my arms on the counter. She said nothing, almost like she knew she wasn’t supposed to. I wasn’t about to be playful or banter words with her like before.
She dropped the glass back on the counter, looking straight at me.
The first man noticed Cee’s changed demeanor and turned to look for the cause. His eyes locked with mine, and I didn’t look away.
The music went to an abrupt stop while the lights around the club dimmed further except the ones at the bar we currently occupied.
I didn’t need to look around to know that everyone’s attention was on us. A small arc of more of my men had been formed around us.
"Cee, hand your glass over to your new friend."
She quickly slid the drink over to me.
The fool looked at the drink like it was burning lava.
"You, Bob-cut, drink it."
The man had the nerve to try to speak. I held up one palm from the counter, stopping him in his tracks.
The bubbling rage I felt was like a slowly erupting lava. I had given the man a chance to turn away, but he chose to throw his life away instead. Going after Celene was a fatal mistake.
"Don’t. Don’t argue, don’t explain, just… drink it. All of it," I said, my voice chill, a clear contrast to how I felt within.
Bone grabbed Bob-cut’s friend before he could bolt.
They looked around and noticed my men and realized they couldn’t escape.
"I won’t repeat myself," I said, looking directly at the sleazy fool with the bad haircut.
With shaky hands, the man took the cup and swallowed everything.
With a tight, unamused smile replacing my previous cold glare, I waited. It was time to play.