Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

Maddox

Tonight was more about practicing restraint. Making sure I could keep my distance while Helena flitted to and fro like a butterfly as she served drinks with Jillian and the brothers. It was absolute hell on my nerves with the Cobras at the Open Road.

"What the fuck has you jumpier than a flee?" Dimitri has asked.

I'd been making the rounds, shaking hands, clapping shoulders, doing all the stupid shit I was supposed to. All I wanted to do was have my woman on my lap where she belonged. Every time I looked, she was out in the bar area serving some other fucker a drink … and laughing or smiling at them. My teeth would be ground to nubs by this time next Tuesday.

Then she was sitting over by Pike, listening to that fucker tell stories about our poor old childhood. He had been watching Helena like she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, which, of course, she was. I wanted to punch him in the face all over again.

"Nothing, it's nothing," I answered Dimitri.

"Sure," he smirked knowingly.

"It's fine. She can handle herself." The words were more for me than anything—to remind me that she could handle herself if needed. Helena shone like a flame on the floor, her natural beauty a beacon. Her father always worried that her appeal would drive someone to do something stupid. I snorted if only he'd known.

She was a beauty—always had been—but now that she'd grown into her looks, she was even more beautiful. Her crazy earring choices and wacky nail polish just made her more enticing.

"She can handle her shit. Just look at how well she managed that crap with her work. She took all that evidence with her as she left. That was impressive. If she can't do things alone, though, we'll take care of it," Dimitri's voice was cold and hard but admiring.

I never thought Dimitri would reach this point, but it just showed that I misjudged him. You could knock me over with a feather right now; I was so surprised.

"She came through for those women and children—those people. We'll come through for her," he added. We'll protect her from Makarovich and anyone else." He shrugged, eyeing the floor carefully, then shoulder-bumped me with a smirk. "I will have a very good time watching you twist yourself into knots while you try to lock that down."

"I don't know whether to say thank you or tell you I hate you."

He snorted and refilled my whiskey glass. "I hate you too, buddy."

Fucker didn't even care that I was suffering. He laughed and went on his way, leaving me to eyeball Helena as she finished. I had difficulty focusing, and everyone knew it, especially Dimitri and Pike.

When the evening was buttoned up, and the Cobras were gone, I could finally head back to Helena's room. I would be lying if I said I didn't plan to pick up where we left off in the hallway this morning. I was going to feast on her all night if she'd let me. I shouldn't. Indeed, I was not the man she deserved, but now that she came back to Haverboro, there was no way I'd ever let her go.