"Riley. In the kitchen. Now." I commanded.

My face was scorching with rage as all the blood rushed to the surface. Riley's head snapped up quickly to meet my eyes. Her posture tightened nervously like she knew I had just caught her in the act of doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

Riley spun her whole body around and motioned for the guy to follow behind her to the kitchen. He held his hand out in a phony polite gesture asking her to lead the way. She stepped out in front of him without hesitation and let him creep up behind her.

Riley kept avoiding my gaze as she walked closer. She knew she was wrong for flirting with him in front of me.

The sleazy asshole trailing behind her wasn't making the situation any better. He kept creeping closer to Riley. He even went as far as snaking his hand up to her bare back to attempt to touch what was mine. He lurched forward faster to get up on top of her.

That fucker was going to try to get with her right in front of me.

I stretched my body up tall inside of the doorway to grip the molding on the top. It was slightly loose and ready to splinter off in my hands.  I could easily rip it off the wall right now to beat the guy over the head with it and no one would be able to stop me.

It took a few more seconds for the guy to finally lift his eyes up from the tight leggings that accentuated the spot between Riley's thighs that rubbed together when she walked. When the guy saw finally me looming in the doorway in front of him, his eyes popped out of his head. He knew that I had seen exactly what he was doing to her. 

A flicker of recognition crossed over his face. The dipshit remembered me too.

His repulsive confidence faltered right before my eyes. There was a newly formed stutter in his steps and he tripped over his own feet. He was scared of me, which meant he wasn't completely stupid. There was fear in his eyes as he recalled that night in vivid detail in his head. 

He stopped and let Riley take a few steps towards me. His shadow untangled itself from hers before I destroyed him the same way I did the pink-haired guy.

No one was ever going to touch my girl again.

Riley walked up to me and stopped just short of touching me. The spark between us engulfed every one of my senses. It was always there, but it was a lot harder to ignore when she was this close to me. It charged the air until the feeling became overwhelming. It always seeped into me as a bewildering mash-up of unexplainable rage and carnal lust. The lines between the two blurred whenever she was near.

I stood in Riley's way, not letting her pass by me. I hovered over her petite body and bit back the cruel words forming at the tip of my tongue. I wanted to scream at her and make her regret leaving me. At some point, she decided that Aiden and this joker were important to her than I was and it was shredding me apart from the inside. 

I was the only person she needed and I was going to have to remind her.

Riley started backing up right into the idiot standing behind her. I had to intervene before she tucked her body against his. I stepped forward and invaded her space, furiously breathing down into her.  She moved her arm up like she was going to push me back. I caught her delicate wrist and locked my fingers around it, squeezing it slightly between my fingers.

Riley was going to have no other choice but to stay with me now.

I spun around from the door and dragged her body in behind me. I placed her in the spot next to me in front of the bottle of Bacardi. Even if she wasn't drinking tonight, she was going to stand here until I had my fill.

"Hey, Lil' Bit." JD croaked out. His ruddy skin was brightening as he began feeling the effects of the miniature buzz that he had going on.

JD's eyes shot down to where my hand was wrapped around his sister's arm.  She was squirming and trying to unclasp my fingers.  I didn't care what he thought or what happened at this point. Riley needed to realize she couldn't just walk around and do whatever she wanted. 

If JD, Aiden, or anyone else got in my way to try to take her from me, all hell would break loose. Riley had pushed me beyond my tolerance level and I was in the mood for a decent fight with anyone who wanted to give me one. 

"Ezra, thanks for keeping Riley under control." JD applauded me.

Fuck, he was a moron.

A blind person could see that I had no control over myself or anything else tonight-- especially his rebellious sister, who thoroughly enjoyed testing me.

His approval of my methods sent Riley into a chaotic frenzy. She began tugging and yanking her arm to try to free herself from my grasp. I pinched her wrist hard between my thumb and index finger, giving her a warning to knock it off. Her wrist was going to shatter if she kept fighting against me.

JD grinned as he watched her attempt to take me on in a strength battle.

"Riley, you are so damn stubborn. Ezra, Riley duty is going to be a challenge tonight. You up for the job?" JD asked.

"Screw you." Riley spat at him.

She frowned at me as her large green eyes demanded that I set her free. She motioned down to her wrist and gritted her teeth. Her temper was boiling just as much as mine was. We were about to go into a full-on war in the kitchen.

She sucked in her cheek and locked me in with a bone-chilling glare, giving me one last chance to do the right thing before she went ballistic in front of the room. I shivered from the cold waves she sent crashing my way.

I saw all I needed in that look and it scared me enough to rethink what I was doing. It obviously was doing the opposite of what I intended. She was moving further away from me. If I kept going much longer, she would be out of my reach.

If I wanted Riley in my bed again tonight, I would have to back down and let her think she won.

There were too many eyes and ears in the room to do what was needed to reign her back in.

I had to get away from everyone and alone.

I sighed and reluctantly let her go.

Riley immediately crossed her arms and tucked her hands inside so it would be hard for me to get to them again without causing a huge scene.

The guy she was talking to earlier sniffed out my perceived weakness and crept up behind her without any shame. Riley's moment of defiance reopened the door in his mind.

He had a serious death wish. He wanted me to turn him upside down and drop him on his head a few times.

Riley looked back at him and finally realized what he was doing. He wasn't as slick in the cramped space as he was when her back was turned. She softened her stance and rolled her eyes at me to let me know she was annoyed by him too. She was sending me a silent signal to let it go.

At least now she realized that this guy was a piece of shit.  It took her long enough. She was a terrible judge of character.

The douche grabbed a shot off the table right next to her hip and raised it to his lips. He kept staring at her out of the corner of his eye like he was going to attack her any second. She wasn't safe with him around. This guy wasn't going to let her go that easily--  he was a predator and Riley was his target.

I had to get her away from him to protect her. I didn't want a repeat of last time.

"Go upstairs to my room and wait for me." I leaned over and hissed in her ear.

She shook her head no at me and then stormed off around the table.

Instead of doing what I told her, she did the exact opposite just to piss me off. She couldn't ever do anything the easy way; she always had to be a pain in the ass just to make me miserable.

Riley looped around the table and headed towards the fridge to go stand next to Aiden. She leaned up against his side, practically slapping me across the face while giving me the finger.

I started to follow her to put myself between the two of them when a warm body stepped up next to me. Someone was trying to take the place she vacated-- not that anyone ever could come close. Without even looking, I knew from the overly nauseating floral smell that it was none other than Riley's so-called best friend.

"Take a shot with me." Brynn purred in my ear.

She reached out and poured a double shot out of the Bacardi bottle for both of us.  I looked over at Riley before deciding what to do. She and Aiden were talking quietly, whispering dirty secrets to each other. I grabbed the glass and poured the shot down my throat as I watched them smile and giggle at each other. 

As soon as my glass was empty and on the table, Brynn was filling it back up again.

I grabbed it and emptied it just as quickly.

Two shots became three and three became four until my drink count multiplied beyond my drunken cognitive capabilities.  Brynn kept my glass full, pushing drink after drink in front of me until I could barely stand.

I felt a lot better and relaxed with every shot that entered my body. I was in a much better place to deal with Riley's behavior now.

My eyes went over to the fridge, but she was gone. Riley was nowhere to be found and neither was Aiden.  In fact, the whole room had managed to clear without my knowledge while Brynn and I drained the bottle dry.

How long did I let Brynn distract me?

"Where'd Riley go?" I tensed. I flexed my tingling fingers back and forth, trying to work them out to keep them from going numb.

"Probably off someplace, sitting on Aiden's lap, and watching paint dry." Brynn hiccupped and laughed.

"They are fucking each other, aren't they?" I asked.

"Those two?" Brynn laughed at me again. "Could you imagine?"

"You didn't answer my question." I swallowed the bile and booze rising up inside my stomach. I could imagine them together, which was precisely why I was so nervous. 

Riley's body was sheer ecstasy, topped with a pure adrenaline rush. You couldn't just have a taste of her once without getting hooked.

"They are both, just bleh." She slurred and stuck out her tongue.

"What does that mean?"

"It means... they are both boring. They aren't fun like you and me." Brynn walked over to me and grabbed the front of my shirt in her hands.

"If you don't like them, then why are you even here tonight?"

"I'm just hanging around until something bigger and better comes along." Brynn looked up and licked her lips as her hands slid down my stomach. My hazy brain was bogged down and trying to process what was going on. Her intentions became very clear when she got up on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear. "Let's go downstairs so I can show you how a real dirty girl rides a huge cock."

She started reaching her hand down to grab me.

"Don't. You know I'm with Riley." I pushed her hands off me.

"So? That doesn't matter. Her last boyfriend slept with me twenty minutes before he took her virginity. I even sucked him off afterward when she passed out next to him on the bed. The whole entire time they were together, he kept coming back for me to satisfy him because she couldn't.  Soon you'll get bored with her and beg for me too." She clucked her tongue at me like she was stating a fact.

I started to open my mouth to tell her it was never going to happen when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

Riley and Aiden were standing there watching us. Riley didn't look happy and Aiden just appeared to be confused. They both kept looking back and forth between Brynn and me.

I wondered exactly how much of the conversation they overheard.