Forbidden Love with the Marine(23)
Big mistake, thought Ivan, bringing his knee up with all his might and smacking the man in the face. The wretch hit the nearby wall before sliding down to slump on the floor. His face was a mask of blood but all that did was to increase the wrath coursing through Ivan’s veins.
The man was still breathing. Fuck that. This f*cker was going to suffer until he’d be begging to die for what he’d wanted to do to my Olivia...
“Ivan stop! Please! You’ll kill him. The police could be here any minute,” Olivia was calling out, making her way over the man’s now prostrate frame and up to Ivan who’d been about to deliver some kicks to the bastard’s groin and stomach.
Ivan lifted his booted foot in preparedness when the man barely managed to lift his shaky arms. “Please, man! I...I’m sorry!” he forced out from his bloodied mouth, his voice tinged with utter pain.
Olivia was seizing on his arm and pulling Ivan back with all her strength. “Ivan, let’s just go. Come on! You know the cops can’t find you here beating up a civilian,” Olivia begged earnestly.
“You know what he wanted to do to you?” Ivan yelled, his fists clenching as he made to spring at the man coiled on the floor in anguish.
“I know,” Olivia said deeply, while still urging him away. “It doesn’t matter. You came and saved me. You’re here.”
Ivan’s eyes closed briefly and he tried to collect his thoughts. Fought to summon all he considered holy to keep him from smashing the bastard’s skull in right then. Simply finish him off, just like that. Toad didn’t even deserve to live...
He suddenly became conscious of Olivia’s soft yet strong touch on him. He could sense her distress as her delicate fingers squeezed on his bulky arm. He drew in a ragged breath and slowly backed away from the body writhing on the ground.
“You come near my girl again and nothing in this world will be able to save you,” Ivan snarled. “I’ll f*cking kill you, you hear me?”
“I hear you,” the man groaned, spitting out blood while clutching to his broken fingers. “I swear. I hear you loud and clear.”
“Good,” Ivan gritted out. Turning sharply, he grabbed Olivia by the elbow and herded her out into the main street amidst the groans of suffering following them from the wretch still on his back on the ground.
Chapter Eighteen
Ivan’s whole body was still shaking with fury as he stood in front of the sink, scrubbing at his battered fists. He almost couldn’t see straight, rage swimming in his vision and making everything go black for a second.
I should have killed him! Ivan thought, mindless to the pain in his hands as he rinsed off all traces of blood. He glanced up in the mirror and saw Olivia approach hesitantly.
“Let me see that. Can I help?” she asked in a timid voice that would have softened him if he wasn’t already past that point. Snatching a hand towel and wiping off, he brushed past her hovering frame.
“You, Olivia Kirkland, will be more harm than help in any given situation,” Ivan snapped, shoving open the medicine cabinet and thumping down everything he would need unto the shelf below. “You shouldn’t even be trusted to be out on your own for one freaking night.”
Dragging in air, Ivan kept his back to her as he folded his fists and tried to regain his cool. How he’d managed to drive them back to his place without tanking the Jeep was beyond him. He felt her come up beside him and take his large hands firmly in hers. He watched her face as she stared down at his bruised, raw knuckles. He saw tears glisten at the base of her lids, and he bit down a curse.
“I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up tonight,” she breathed out with difficulty.
At last, the tight cinch around his chest loosened and he sighed deeply, pulling her into his arms and resting his lips in her deliciously scented dark hair. “I told you I’ll always protect you, little dove.”
“Yes...but how did you know where to find me? And when did you get back?” she asked curiously, drawing back to stare up at his face with wide eyes.
“I got back into the United States a few hours ago.” He paused, and knew he looked unwilling to answer the other question. At last, he continued, “And about knowing where to find you...well, let’s just say – I’ve actually followed you a couple of times.”
“What?” she gasped with a disbelieving smile.
“Yeah,” he said defensively. “After that night we first spent together...I guess I was still worried for your safety – that or just being a love-sick fool and couldn’t stay away from you. You wouldn’t have noticed but I tailed you and your friends once or twice to make sure you were okay especially since you weren’t answering any of my calls. So when I got back today and couldn’t seem to find you, I knew you might be at that particular club so I went there looking for you. I was just in time to see you leave and then followed you outside. It was your scream that led me to where that bastard had you trapped.”
“Oh Ivan,” Olivia sighed, placing her head on his bare chest and sighing with deep happiness. Ivan didn’t hesitate and embraced her right back.
“Come on,” he finally said, reluctantly turning her loose. “Let’s see to these scrapes and then we can talk, okay?”