My heart thuds in my chest. Rose gasps and grabs my arm. Seemingly unaffected by the raging male in front of him, Doctor Death sighs.

“Excuse me.”

Ray doesn’t move. “I see you here again or anywhere near my girl, I’m gonna rip off your balls and shove them down your throat.”

“Ray!” I take a step forward. “He’s a client. You can’t speak to my clients that way.”

“He wants your hands on his ass.” Ray bites out each word.

“Actually, I already had her hands on my ass.” Doctor Death smirks. “I came back for more.”

Ah. Doctor Death has a death wish.

Before my mind has even registered he has moved, Ray has Doctor Death by the collar and up against the wall. “I know about Makayla,” he growls. “And I know about Amanda. You got a problem keeping your hands off another man’s property. But I’m telling you now, this ends here.”

“Ass work is part of my job.” I fold my arms and scowl. “So it ends when I’ve done the work my client asked me to do.”

Ray doesn’t take his eyes off Doctor Death, but his words are directed at me. “No more ass work. You don’t touch any man below the belt for any reason. And you don’t touch them above the belt unless you’re out in the open. And this fucker you don’t touch at all.”

“This is just like in the movies,” Rose whispers under her breath. “And he’s not joking. Look at his face. I thought Torment was scary but Ray is terrifying.”

“Put him down.” I raise my voice almost to a shout. “You’re being ridiculous.”

Ray glances over at me, but it is not Ray I see in his eyes, it’s the Predator. He loosens his grip on Doctor Death and lets him slide down the wall; then he lifts him and body slams him on the ground.

“Stop it.” But my words go unheeded as Doctor Death struggles on the floor. The four clients on the couch all have their cell phones out and are filming the action. Duncan is shouting into his phone for someone—hopefully not Torment—to come and break up the fight. And Christos has Rose by the arm and is trying to pull her to safety.

Luckily Doctor Death is not just a pretty face. He has moves of his own. With a quick twist, he breaks Ray’s hold and jumps to his feet.

“Come on, Predator.” He waggles his fingers toward himself. “Hit me. Show Sia who you really are. Show her just how much you’re going to hurt her in the end when you walk away.”

“Don’t you dare.” My voice cracks the silence. “You touch him again, Ray, and it will be the last thing you ever do. This is my place of business and you are totally out of line.”

The door opens and Rampage and Blade Saw step inside, their faces covered in sweat. Rampage takes in Ray and Doctor Death squared off in the client lounge and looks over at me. “Everything okay here? Need a hand?”

“No, but thank you for coming. We’re fine. Doctor Death was just leaving.”

Doctor Death straightens and does the alpha-male side-to-side neck crack before taking his gaze off Ray. His mouth opens, and I just know he intends to goad Ray again, so I step between them and usher Doctor Death toward the door. “Thanks for coming in. If you give me the drawing, I’ll make a stencil of it, just so we can be sure you get exactly what you want.”

Doctor Death hands me the drawing and smiles. “I know what I want. I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

Rampage and Blade Saw follow Doctor Death out the door. Rampage thumps Doctor Death between the shoulder blades and asks him what the fuck he was thinking, but before I can hear his answer, the door closes behind them. The clients return to their couch to compare videos of the fight. Duncan grabs the ringing phone, since Rose and Christos are nowhere to be seen. I gesture Ray over to my chair and then spin around to face him.

“What the heck was that? He’s a client. You can’t go around threatening to rip the balls off my clients.”

“Don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him? Oh. Well…that’s alright then. Pound away. Maybe you want to break his fingers too.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice as I fight for calm. “How about we get something straight? I don’t give a damn whether you like my clients or not. I have lots of clients I’m sure you won’t like. Some of them scare me. Some of them make lewd comments. Some of them cop a feel. Lots of them ask me out. It’s the nature of the business, and I can deal with them. I don’t need protecting, and I don’t want you to interfere with my work.”

Ray stiffens. “Which ones?”

“Which ones what?”

“Which ones scared you, made comments, touched you, and asked you out? I want a list.”

“Did you not hear anything I just said?” My brow creases with my fiercest frown. “Do not interfere.”

“Heard it. Processed it. Ignoring it. Now I’m gonna deal with it. After what you went through, you should be kept safe. I’m gonna make sure no one hurts you ever again, in any way.”

My blood chills. Oh God. This is like Charlie and James all over again. He’s going to want to wrap me up and hide me away. He’ll be afraid to touch me the way I want to be touched. He’s going to think I’ll break. “What I went through was over a long time ago. It doesn’t mean I need protecting now. It doesn’t mean I can’t handle men like Doctor Death. I don’t want you to treat me any different than you did before.”