Lyon
Chapter 23

Apparently I didn’t hit her hard enough because she was climbing to her feet again. Damn.

I guess since it was my first time doing it I’d pulled back a little, Colton had warned me about that.

As much as I would enjoy kicking her snooty a*s, I didn’t necessarily want to end up a feature on YouTube.

Meanwhile Carol was on the phone trying to call someone, but a crowd was gathering, and the bitch was back on her feet with b***d in her eyes.

“You f*****g little bitch, how dare you?”

“Jennifer, you need to stop, people are staring and taking pictures for heaven’s sake.”

“Shut up, Carol, do you think I’d let this little nobody get the best of me? I know all about you, yeah, I had a look into your past, so why don’t we tell these nice people here how you and your friend lured those poor boys and then cried rape you little…”

I’m not sure she got any other words out, all I know is my ears began to ring and my b***d was up. My first swing drew b***d, but that didn’t stop me. I just kept going, and if she could or could not fight I couldn’t tell you, all I know is nothing connected to me, but I was wailing the hell out of her.

I beat her for me and Donna and the hell we went through, and I beat her for having the nerve to want to sink her filthy hooks into my man. I’m not sure how long we were at it, and it didn’t seem that long at all, but the next thing I knew there were running feet coming towards us, and mall security was trying to pull me off of her.

“Get your f*****g hands off her a*****e.”

“Oh shit.” I looked at Carol questioningly. How the hell had Colton made it here so fast? There’s no way.

Greenville is at least an hour away. Whatever, Colton was pulling me out of the guard’s hands while most of his crew surrounded us and Carol.

Jennifer was screeching about having me arrested along with some other very imaginative threats, and the kids were yelling that she’d started the whole thing and they had the proof.

“Call your security chief, and tell him get his a*s down here now.” Colton ordered the guy who’d been about to haul me off.

He wasted no time getting on the horn to his boss. He said a few words to whoever it was before turning back to Colton.

“Your name, sir?”

“Lyon.”

I didn’t miss the look of apprehension that crossed the guard’s face at that.

There was a whole lot going on thanks in part to Jennifer’s vociferous outbursts and calls for action. Carol looked like she was about to deck her one, and I just wanted to be done.

“Did you hurt yourself, Angel?”

Colton pushed the hair back from my temple where she’d clocked me the first time. There wasn’t any swelling or anything that I could tell, but it was apparent that there was some kind of bruising since he kissed the spot before hugging me close.

I took a chance and looked up at his face to gather how angry he was at me, but his venom was directed elsewhere.

The look he was directing at Jennifer was almost lethal, and I actually shivered when his eyes moved to mine. The raw intent I saw there before he hid it behind the softer look of concern he gave me, was scary as hell.

“Mr. Lyon, the boss said to come on up.”

“Let’s go.”

Without waiting for an answer, he turned with me under his arm, and Carol and his crew followed behind as we headed to the control room. Jennifer of course yelled all the way there.

In the office the head of security greeted Colton like they were old friends. The way Colton acted and played it down made me a little suspicious, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that should be.

The crew refused to wait outside, so we all squeezed into the room with the monitors.

“Okay, so I’m going to run the tape back, so we can see what we’re dealing with here.”

He hit some buttons, and we watched as just one of the screens went back while the others remained on current time. On the screen we watched Jennifer’s approach, and you couldn’t hear what was being said but the look on her face said it all.

Then there was me looking all smug and dare I say, smarmy myself. Her slap came next, and the head of security stopped the tape.

“As you can see, it clearly shows that you threw the first punch.” He directed this to the still yelling Jennifer, who had yet to shut up.

“Obviously you doctored it, everybody knows the Lyons own this mall, and everything in it, including you, so you’d say anything…”

“I’m willing to bet that those twenty or so cell phones down on that floor will tell the same story, what do you want to bet. Now the question is, Miss?”

He turned to me.

” Sloane, Katarina Sloane.”

“Miss Sloane, the question is, do you want to press charges?”

I looked to Colton for guidance, but all I got was a squeeze and an ‘it’s your call babe’ to which Jennifer huffed like a racehorse coming down the stretch.

What the hell was her problem anyway?

“No, no charges, just as long as Miss. Rossetti understands that if she comes near me again she’d get more of the same.”

Don’t ask what possessed me to do it, but I raised my fist and shook it at her, which made the guys laugh and Colton k**s my knuckles with a grin.

“We done here, Dmitri?”

“We’re done.”

Colton left my side and walked over to Jennifer, and my heart constricted painfully in my chest.

It’s weird, although I knew there wasn’t anything in the least bit romantic about his approach, I still hated it.

I didn’t want him anywhere near her.

His words were loud enough for all of us to hear, though he didn’t raise his voice.

I know one thing, if I’d been on the receiving end of that, then I’d leave the state first chance I got.

“I warned you, yeah! Told you what would happen if you touched her, and you chose to ignore my warning, so now you can reap the whirlwind.”

“The fact that Kat kicked your sorry a*s does not in anyway negate what’s coming your way. So not only did you suffer the humiliation of an a*s whipping in front of witnesses, but now I’m going to make you suffer even more. You should’ve known better than to f**k with me and mine.”

“Colton…” She reached for his arm, but he evaded her touch even as I moved towards him to block her move. I couldn’t bear for her to touch him, and in that moment I realized he was mine as much as I was his.

All those things he’d been saying to me, worked both ways, and I owned him as much as he owned me, heart and soul.

The thought made me almost delirious, and I forgot myself for a moment, threw myself into his arms, and ignoring the slight pain from my sudden movements, laid one on him.

His hands came to rest on my a*s as he angled his head, taking the k**s deeper.

“What the hell, Angel?”

He whispered as he pulled back when we’d ran out of breath.

“What was that about? Not that I’m complaining.”

“I’m just happy you’re here that’s all.”

He squeezed me gently before rubbing his nose against mine before turning to lead me from the room.

My face flamed bright red when I came face to face with my audience. Crap, how could I forget them? The guys were grinning and elbowing each other until Colton glowered at them and the snickers subsided. Barely. I didn’t even spare Jennifer a glance as we left.