King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (34 page)

Of course she had. She was fucking gorgeous and men would be crazy for her, just like he was.

Two beers later Zurry excused himself to use the restroom and hated himself for shooting Alex a mean scowl on his way past her. He knew he was being an ass, but it fucking hurt, seeing her talking to another man, knowing that Darren would be the one to walk her home and possibly make love to her tonight. And it didn’t help that she was wearing the exact same dress that she had worn on their night together. He had peeled that same dress off her a million times in his mind.

Zurry’s thoughts were occupied by the images that were torturing him, and maybe that was why he didn’t see her at first when he came back out of the men’s restroom.

“Zurry.”

He turned his head to see Alex standing in the dimly lit and narrow hallway. The walls were full of posters promoting local events and there was an old pay phone in the corner.

“Alex,” he said, acknowledging that he had seen her.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked in that silky voice of hers.

Zurry stood tense, waiting for her to speak.

“Well, can I?” she asked.

He frowned. “Go ahead and talk.”

“Okay, but would you mind coming a bit closer? I won’t bite, you know.”

He stepped farther into the shadows and joined her in the corner. “What is it?” he asked, sounding brisker than he intended.

She looked up at him with those amazing blue eyes that shone with fierce intelligence and worry. “I wanted to thank you.”

He arched a brow.
If she thanks me again for making love to her and making her fantasy come true, I’m going to lose control.

“Jenna told me how you killed a man to save her.”

He cut her off. “It was nothing.”

“Nothing? How can you say that?”

“I just threw a knife; Kioni took a bullet and almost died.”

She gave him a stubborn expression. “Jenna thinks they both would have died, if not for you.”

“Well, I’m happy I could be of service.” God, he sounded so cold when all he really wanted to do was to kiss her and tell her how much he missed her.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m grateful for what you did.”

“Thanks.”

An awkward silence filled the space between them and he buried his hands in his pockets, looking down, feeling unsure whether to stay or go back to the others. A selfish part of him wanted to keep Alex to himself as long as he possibly could.

“So how have you been?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “Getting by.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Jenna said that you’re flying in early for the wedding.” His voice was softer this time.

“Yes.” She gave a small smile. “She made me the maid of honor.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh… you know… I’m just going to be there to support Jenna and help with some of the practicalities.”

Zurry wrinkled his forehead. “I’m pretty sure there are wedding planners to take care of the practicalities.”

“Yes, I supposed there will be… but anyhow, I’m going to be there for Jenna and make it as wonderful an experience for her as possible.”

“And your own wedding?”

“What wedding?” she asked confusedly.

Zurry nodded toward the barroom. “You and that guy in there.”

“Ohh, it’s nothing like that,” she assured him. “This is our first date.”

“Are you going home with him?”

“I don’t know… I mean, we live in the same building so technically we’ll…”

“Oh, there you are.” Darren’s voice interrupted their little talk. “I was afraid something bad had happened to you.” Zurry tensed but he couldn’t really blame the guy for being protective of Alex. Any decent date should be.

“I’m fine,” she said, gave Darren a smile, and pushed past Zurry to get back into the barroom. Zurry’s only consolation was that she didn’t take the hand that Darren held out to her, and that as she pushed past him, he had felt her soft body pressed against his. 

Zurry took a few minutes to gather himself before he followed them back to their group… he really needed to get his jealousy under control. It was irrational and completely out of character to feel so possessive about a woman.

At first Zurry didn’t understand what was going on when he walked in and heard raised voices. The noise level in the bar was loud to begin with, but when he spotted Jenna and the others, he realized that a situation had developed.

Kalen looked absolutely horrified and on the brink of tears. Jenna stood with her arms around him, trying to calm him down, while Darren, Andy, and Alex formed a wall of protection against a large man shouting at them.

What the fuck?

The closer he got, the more the puzzle fell into place. The angry man was mad at Kalen and demanding something from him. A beautiful young woman in a tight black dress stood behind the angry man, trying to calm him down.

“He fucking touched my woman,” the man shouted and lifted a fist to signal what he wanted to do to Kalen.

“Relax, the guy is autistic and doesn’t understand social rules,” Darren explained, but the angry man was drunk and not open to reasoning.

“I don’t care… no one touches my girl.” He made a leap toward them, and the only one to stand her ground was Alex. Both Andy and Darren shied away.

Zurry took a firm grip on the large man’s shirt and pulled him back from Alex. The man instantly swung around, and the expression on his face when he saw Zurry was priceless.

That’s right, you punk. I’m taller, broader, and meaner than you, and the minute you started threatening Kalen, Jenna, and especially Alex, you just got yourself on my people-I-want-to-hurt list.

The angry man looked up at Zurry, who didn’t say a word but just oozed danger. “Who are you?”

Zurry spoke slowly and clearly. “I’m the guy who is asking you nicely to walk away from my friends.”

“Allan, come on, that dude is freaking huge, let’s just leave,” the man’s girlfriend pleaded behind him. 

Unfortunately, Allan was too drunk to know what was good for him and decided to take a swing at Zurry.

Zurry elegantly moved back and avoided the swing, turned Allan around, and secured his arms on his back.

“Let’s take a walk, champ,” he muttered and maneuvered the man out of the bar.

Had he been in Spirima, he probably would have enjoyed a good bar fight as an outlet for his frustrations, but he was on foreign territory with no desire to get into legal troubles for knocking a man out.

When Zurry returned to the group, Kalen was still upset and everyone else looked pale and shaken.

“Thank you,” Jenna said with a nod. “That was well handled, Zurry.”

“Yes, good thing that you came when you did,” Andy agreed. “I think we need to take Kalen back to the hotel and call it a night.”

Everyone silently agreed and moved toward the exit. Outside the angry man and his girlfriend were fighting, and he was now directing his aggression at her.

“Hey, get away from her,” Zurry shouted when Allan hit the small woman and shoved her harshly. The brunette was wearing very high heels and took a nasty fall.

“Someone call the police,” Jenna called out while Zurry ran to the woman and picked her up in his arms.

“What’s your name? Are you okay,” he asked her.

“I’m Cindy…” she cried.

“My name is Zurry…”

“Don’t touch her… she’s my bitch,” Allan bellowed out.

Zurry sat Cindy down on the ground and pushed her gently out of the way, before he turned to confront her boyfriend. “You little coward, why don’t you beat on someone your own size?”

Allan saw red and literally bowed his head down and ran straight at Zurry like a bull attacking.

As a trained fighter, Zurry considered the man clumsy and inept in his fighting skills, and even with two large beers under his own vest, it required very little to move out of the way and watch Allan go down in a collision with a car instead. He ended up rolling around on the ground moaning and complaining, but not trying to get up.

Cindy started crying more fiercely. She looked like a beautiful mess with her torn nylons and running mascara.

Normally Zurry’s cultural heritage wouldn’t allow him to touch her, but this was the US and his masculinity demanded he offer her comfort and safety. Without thinking too much about it, he pulled her into a hug and stroked her back. “It’s going to be all right.”

She clung to him, crying.

Zurry looked over to his group, who all stood staring at the frightening scenario that had just played out in front of them. “Jenna, can you take Kalen back to the hotel?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Good. I’m just going to make sure Cindy here gets home safely.”

“We can take her,” Alex offered and stepped closer, sending him a distressed look.

“No, that’s okay… I think Zurry has her,” Darren added.

“But he doesn’t know the city like we do,” Alex argued.

“I don’t need to know the city, I just need to find a taxi, take Cindy home, and return to my hotel. Any idiot can do that.”

“Thank you, Zurry, that’s very noble of you,” Andy said. “What an awful ending to a good night.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Zurry shouted to Andy, while waving down a Yellow Cab for himself and Cindy.

“Yes, dinner at my house at six,” Andy shouted back.

Cindy was quiet and compliant when Zurry guided her into the taxi. Her boyfriend was still moaning on the ground, but at least he no longer threatened anyone.

Zurry was tempted to cast one last glance at Alex, but he didn’t want to see her leave with Darren’s hand in hers, so he focused on Cindy instead.

“Buckle up,” he told her.

“Where to?” the taxi driver asked and Cindy gave him her address.

They didn’t talk much on the way to her apartment, but once they got there Cindy pleaded for him to go inside with her. “I’ll feel much safer, if you make sure no one is inside.”

Zurry walked in and went through every room, assuring Cindy that no one was inside. “Just lock your door and you should be fine,” he said.

Cindy started crying again. “Allan has a key to my apartment, and I’m so scared he’s going to come back.”

“Has he hit you before?”

“No, but I’m not going to wait for him to do it again. My father was abusive to my mom, and I’ve been with abusive guys in the past… I won’t put up with any of that again.”

“Good, then get your locks changed.” 

Cindy nodded. “I can’t believe Allan would hit me. I really thought he was different; he seemed like such a nice guy, and we’ve been going out for six months.”

Zurry didn’t say anything.

“But I guess alcohol brings the true character out in some people,” Cindy continued and bit her lip with a nervous glance at the door. “I don’t want him to come in while I’m sleeping. I’m so
done
with him.”

“Could you go to a friend’s house?” Zurry suggested.

She shook her head. “I’m new in this city… I only moved here because of Allan.”

“How about a hotel then?”

“Are you asking me to come back to your hotel?”

“I don’t know if they have any rooms available,” he said before it hit him that maybe she had meant his hotel room.

“Would you stay here with me? Just until tomorrow morning when I can get the locks changed?”

Zurry shifted his balance to his right leg. “You must really be afraid of him, if you are asking a complete stranger to stay with you.”

She blinked up at him. “You won’t hurt me. You’re not that kind of man.”

“Really?” he tilted his head. “Isn’t that what you would have said about your boyfriend until an hour ago?”

“Yes, but usually I’m very good at reading people. You might look big and dangerous, but you’re really not.”

Zurry was amused by her stupidity. “Then what kind of man am I, Cindy?”
I wonder how she would react if I told her that I’m a trained warrior who has killed more enemies than she has fingers and toes.

“You’re a protector.”

She was right about that part. Zurry had only ever fought and killed in self-defense or to protect others.

“You are right, I am.”

“So, will you protect me tonight and stay with me?” she said with hope in her voice. 

He sighed inwardly and looked at her small couch; it didn’t look too inviting compared to the soft and comfortable bed waiting for him at his hotel room. Nevertheless he would hate to see anything bad happen to Cindy, so he pulled out his phone and wrote a text.

Zurry:
Are you back at the hotel? How is Kalen?

“Give me a second,” he said to Cindy, “I just need to check up on my friend.”

The phone quickly lit up.

Jenna:
He’s calm again. We just came back and he’s with Tomas. He looked tired, so I think he’ll fall asleep quickly.