Page 42 of Open To Negotiation

“You don’t love me, Lucas.”

“Stop being a bitch,” he snarled low at me, startling me with the change in his tone. “We are leaving. Now. So we can talk.”

“I’m not leaving with you!”

“You might as well, you’re asking for someone to take you home in that outfit. It’s a little slutty.”

Before I could scream at him, he dropped my left arm and started dragging me toward the exit by my right. I was fighting him but even though he wasn’t much taller than me, he had muscle and wasn’t in heels. My arms were burning and I had lost the angle to knee him.

“Lucas, please, let me—” Suddenly, my arm was out of his grasp, someone screamed and I fell forward from the unexpected change in momentum. Someone caught me easily before I hit the ground.

“Get your fucking hands off of her.” I spun around to see Theo standing there. Lucas was on the ground with a hand covering his face, blood pouring out through his fingers. I tried to fight out of the arms holding me around the waist.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay. It’s me,” Noah muttered in my ear so I could hear him above the music. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline was running in high gear but I stopped fighting him.

“You punched me,” Lucas yelled from his spot on the ground.

“You’re lucky that’s all I did,” Theo growled back.

I looked back over my shoulder at Noah. “Let me go.”

“Sorry, Q, can’t do that.”

“Knight wants you safe,” Asher grunted as he came up beside us.

“I’m going to sue you!” I was surprised I could hear Lucas over the music.

“Good luck with that.” Theo stood there, pulling down his sleeves and straightening his shirt. His jaw was tight but otherwise he looked completely calm. “In the meantime, if you touch her again, I will ruin you.”

“I’m sorry, Knight, I didn’t see it until he was trying to drag her out,” Wade said, coming up to the group.

“Get him out of here, make sure you have his ID scanned into the system and blacklist him,” Theo said, finally turning to look at me.

Noah dropped his arms but I didn’t move.

My heart was beating fast, my arms felt like they were pounding in time too. My mouth felt dry and the music was too loud.

“Quinn.” Theo’s voice went soft as he came up to me. I was shaking a little and my skin was tingling, my thoughts were a mess. “Are you alright, Love?” I swallowed and watched as Lucas was dragged out of the club yelling.

I focused back on Theo when he touched my cheek gently. “You… you shouldn’t have done that.” I didn’t like that my voice was shaky. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

He shook his head in annoyance and opened his mouth but didn’t get the chance to reply.

“Oh my god! Quinn, are you okay?” Aubrey pushed her way past Jaxson who had joined our group at some point.

“I’m fine,” I stuttered as my shaking intensified.

“Shit,” Theo muttered as he placed a hand on my lower back and started to maneuver me toward the stairs. I was too overwhelmed to do anything but go with him.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think Max would tell him you were here. What did he want?” Aubrey asked as she came up behind me, the rest of the men trailing behind as we went up to the VIP area. Instead of moving toward the couches, we went left down a hallway.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are but now is not the time,” Theo growled sounding pissed off.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” I muttered as my teeth chattered. It was a weak protest since his tone still had a soft edge and I could feel how tense he was beside me. I leaned into him more as the adrenaline started to drain out of my body, my legs felt weak and my brain sluggish.

I think I was in a little bit of shock.

Theo slammed a code into a keypad on the door and pushed me through it. “Stay out here.” He didn’t wait for a response before he slammed the door closed.