It's 3 am and the club has closed for the night. I'm one of the last girls still here but I'm hardly complaining—I made almost double my usual night's amount thanks to a bachelor party full of drunk wall-street types.

I finish packing the last of my things into my duffel bag and swing it over my shoulder. Most nights the security guys will escort the dancers out, but tonight Ricky is on staff and it's a miracle if he even gets out of his chair for ten seconds. Looks like I'm on my own.

I crack the door and peer out. The parking lot has maybe ten cars left, including my own, and there's no one in sight. I make a quick dash for my car and lock the doors once I'm inside. Luckily, it seems that I had nothing to worry about because there was no one out here.

I turn my key in the ignition and the engine makes a sickly whirring sound, like a lawnmower through mud, but the engine doesn't start.

Shit.

I turn it again. The noise is louder this time, and arguably much worse. Again, there's no telltale growl of the engine coming to life.

Shit shit shit.

I look around the lot. It's still empty, but I know better than to get out of my car in this kind of situation, so I pull out my phone and call the only person I can think of for help.

"Sup, gorgeous?" Kieran answers.

"Hey, I uh... I just got off work and my car won't start."

"Oh really?" I can't hear the smug smile in his voice. I already know what's coming next, and I probably deserve it. "Well, I'd be happy to come pick you up in my... what was the phrase you used? Rustbucket?"

I roll my eyes and huff. I guess it serves me right for talking so much shit about his car.

"You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

"Oh, no chance," he says with a self-satisfied laugh. "Well you're in luck, I literally just locked up. I can be over there in ten."

"Thank you."

"That is, if my deathtrap on wheels can make the journey. It's never a guarantee, you know. Every time I drive it, it's another chance to die in a flaming hunk of corroded metal."

"I get it, your car is clearly superior to mine. There, I said it. Are you happy?"

"Mmm... a little more would be nice actually. Like, 'Oh Kieran, that '79 GMC of yours is a beautiful, underappreciated beast!" He puts on a higher voice in an attempt to sound like me. "'Much like you, it has some impressive hardware under the hood and I was a fool to underestimate it! You should fuck me in the back again like you did the other night!'"

"You mean the back of the truck, or...?"

I hear him let out a puff of air on the other end of the line.

"God damn, girl, why you gotta say things like that when I'm driving? I'm hanging up with you before I crash."

"Okay, see you soon!" I say with a laugh, ending the call.

I open up a game on my phone and play around for a bit while I wait. Five minutes go by—maybe more—when I hear a man shouting nearby. Through my rear window, I can see a young woman and a man getting too close for comfort. I close my game and turn around to get a better look.

The man is quite tall, with a decent build. He towers over the woman, who I think I recognize as one of the newer dancers at the club. Her shoulders are curled inward and she tries to avoid eye contact with him. I only catch parts of what they're saying to each other.

"...need to go... don't want you to..." she says.

It's enough to know she's not enthusiastic about this guy being here.

They speak quietly for a moment and I can't pick up what either one is saying, but their body language is tense. After a couple of minutes, she tries to walk away, but he grabs her arm.

"I swear to god..." he yells.

"Stop! Let go!" she yelps.

I usually find that getting involved in other people's arguments is a bad idea, but this just escalated from argument to possible abuse and I know it's time to intervene.

"I know you're lying!" He shouts at the girl, using his body to block her path.

I look around, hoping Kieran has arrived or that the guy's loud voice has drawn someone's attention, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else in the parking lot.

Shit shit shit. If something happens to this woman, it's going to be on me.

I reach into my glove compartment and pull out a beefy black glass-breaker multitool that I keep in case of car emergencies. It's relatively hefty and has two sharp metal prongs on each side that could certainly do some damage if needed. When Zahra first saw it, she thought it was a taser; right now, I wish it actually was one.

I leap out of my car, clenching the tool in my fist.

"Hey! Whoa!" I shout, running up to them. "Get off of her!"

The man whips around to look at me, still holding her wrist in his hand.

"Mind your own business, lady," he spits, his jaw tight. I ignore him and turn to her instead.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"I-" she starts to answer, but he interrupts her with a firm shake of her shoulder. She grimaces and attempts to get out of his hold.

"Don't go telling this chick our personal problems," he grates through his teeth. He looks back at me with malice in his eyes. "Who are you—another stripper? What're you gonna do, shake your tits at me? Mind your business and walk away."

He faces the girl again, clearly undeterred by my presence. The look in his eyes tells me this guy is only going to get rougher if I leave, so I do something stupid and hope Kieran is on his way.

"Fifty-thousand," I say loudly, enough to turn his attention back to me.

"Huh?" His brows furrow as he looks me over.

I hold up the multitool in my hand, giving my best intimidating stance.

"The number of volts this taser will send directly through your testicles if you don't leave her the fuck alone: fifty thousand."

I sound relatively convincing, despite the terror ripping at my insides. I'm hoping he won't be able to tell I'm lying but, based on what I've gathered about his personality so far, he may have been threatened with a real taser before.

He looks down at my hand and smirks slightly.

Uh oh.

"Are you threatening me, bitch?"

There's a loud screech of rubber on pavement behind me and I turn to see Kieran jumping out of his truck. He pulled up immediately behind me and left his truck in the middle of the aisle.

He closes the distance with a gait that is as smooth as it is purposeful, his eyes trained on the man in front of me. His hair is down but swept back and he's wearing a half-unbuttoned silk shirt with a red floral pattern. It's a look that on most days would say 'hipster fuckboy', but when paired with his dark expression reads surprisingly menacing—like a predator.

"What's going on, babe?" Kieran asks, his voice low and questioning.

"We were trying to have a private conversation here," the guy interjects. "Excuse us."

The woman looks to me with wide pleading eyes, but doesn't seem comfortable saying more.

"Get your hand off her now!" I say, stepping closer to him. Having my very own demon here is making me a lot more bold.

The guy tilts his chin up at me and looks back at Kieran.

"Better watch your woman."

"Oh, I'm watching," he says with a wicked smirk. "Seems like she's handling your ass just fine. You heard her. Hands off the lady, dickhead."

I can almost see the debate in the man's head—walk away or risk a fight with a stripper and her boyfriend. Not knowing Kieran is a demon, they would appear from the outside to be evenly matched. But I know better.

He reluctantly releases her arm, leaving a red mark behind. She pulls away immediately and I usher her behind me.

"You and I aren't done with this conversation," he tells her with a raised voice as he peers over my shoulder.

"News flash, asshole," I say with a glare, "if your conversations typically involve you physically restraining the other person, you're doing it wrong."

This seems to set him off. His lip curls into a snarl and he lunges at me. It all happens too fast for me to process, but once I manage to take in the scene, Kieran has pinned the man to the side of a van. One hand has a tight grip on the back of the man's neck, drawing the skin tight around his strained Adam's apple, and the other is crushing his hand against the car window. Kieran's elbow prevents the man from moving his shoulder and, after a moment of struggle, he seems to resign to his fate.

"Did you..." Kieran asks with a low growl. "Did you just raise your fucking hand to my girl?"

His voice is sinister and unmistakably deadly, like the rattle of a snake before it strikes.

"I- I wasn't- No I-"

In a rapid motion, Kieran tugs his hand backward with a sickening crunch. He collapses with a pained cry and the girl yelps in shock.

"You lose hand privileges if you can't learn to keep them to yourself," Kieran grunts. "Come back here again and I'll do a lot worse than that."

He turns back to us and gives us a quick once over as the man groans in a heap on the ground.

"You two, okay?" he asks. His ability to switch from threatening to sweet never fails to surprise me. I nod and he looks at the girl behind me. "What's your name, Doll?"

"L- Lacey..." she mumbles, still shaking.

"Lacey, I'm Kieran. We've got you now—you're safe. Do you want us to call the cops?"

"No, I... I just want to go home."

"Do you want a ride?" he asks.

"I have my car. It's... it's over there." She points down the aisle to one of the few cars left in the lot.

"Okay, well we're gonna walk you to your car."

The three of us head toward her car and she lets out a shaky sigh.

"Thank you," she says. "Both of you—for everything."

"Of course," I say. "Are you sure you're okay? Who was that guy?"

"He's my ex. Obviously not a great guy. He was never a fan of me stripping. We fought a lot about it. This job has scared away a lot of boyfriends. Or, I guess I did."

"That says way more about them than it does about you," I say. "Their insecurity is not your problem."

We reach her car and she pulls her keys from her purse.

"Yeah, I'm not sure it would have turned out differently if I was the innocent virgin girl he wanted anyway."

Kieran huffs out a hard laugh and shakes his head.

"Don't bother worrying about that bullshit. Any man who obsesses over virgins might as well just tell you flat-out that he's bad in bed. Like, come on, dude—fess up. You want to hear you're the best she's ever had and you know your only shot is if you have no competition."

"You're not wrong," she says with a snicker as she opens her door.

"It's weird as shit that so many dudes fetishize virgins," he continues. "Huge fuckin' red flag if you ask me. Like hey, you do you. Everyone's been a virgin once. But why would you act like that's the holy grail? Not for me. I'm personally not interested in a beginner. I want someone who already knows how to drive stick—if you know what I mean."

She laughs and sweeps a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you both again. I'm sorry if this ruined your night."

"Don't apologize," I say. "You didn't do anything. Just let me know if he bothers you again, okay? My name i-"

"Scarlet, I know. You always do the elaborate main stage dances and the customers are always asking about you. You're practically famous around the club."

I wasn't aware I had such a reputation, but I'm glad it's a good one.

We say our goodbyes before heading back to Kieran's truck. The guy clearly took off after their encounter; it's probably the first smart thing he's done.

"Okay, now that we handled that..." he says, walking toward the edge of the lot with a deep stare. "Where the fuck were you when this was going on?"

Who is he talking to?

A figure steps out of the shadows—an older gentleman with dark skin and gray hair.

"My king," he says with a serious expression. "I've been here the whole time."

"Who is this?" I ask.

"It's TJ," Kieran says. He certainly doesn't look like the same man I met, but I know looks can be deceiving with demons. "He was supposed to be watching you in case Vic made an appearance."

"I am watching her," he says.

"Then what happened just now?"

"The man was assaulting the woman. Miss Fox exited her vehicle, threatened the man with a safety hammer—claimed it was a taser. Then you arrived."

Kieran runs a hand over his face and sighs.

"I got that part. I mean why didn't you help her?"

"Because I'm supposed to protect her from demonic threats. This threat wasn't demonic. Besides, she seemed in control of the situation. I was actually looking forward to seeing her crack the man's skull open with the safety hammer. I'm confident she could have done some real damage."

Kieran laughs and shakes his head.

"Sorry, babe," he says, resting a hand on my shoulder. "I guess your bodyguard took his job a bit more literally than I expected. Clearly you had it handled, though."

"Sir?" TJ calls. "Have my instructions changed?"

"We'll talk about that later," Kieran says with a wave of his hand. "I'm taking her home."

We head to Kieran's truck and hop inside.

"So you decided to rescue a damsel in distress while you were waiting for me?" he asks.

"Well, I couldn't just leave them. That guy was out of control."

"I'm sure you did the right thing. You always do, Sammy girl. Even if it means you have no sense of self-preservation."

"I have a sense of self-preservation, I just don't prioritize myself over other people in danger."

"Stubborn, reckless little white knight," he teases, grabbing my hand. "I like that about you though."

We buckle our seatbelts and I wait for him to start the car, but he doesn't.

"Are we waiting for something?" I ask.

"Yep." He has a subtle smile on his face that I can't quite decipher.

"And that would be?"

"An apology." He looks at me with a mischievous glint in his eye.

I sigh and slump my shoulders in defeat.

"Fine. I'm sorry I called your car junk."

"No, no. Not to me." He pats the dashboard with a smirk. "Apologize to my baby."

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