Sofia’s pov
Everything froze inside me at once, and after a few fleeting moments, it all came crashing down on me. The gripping fear that had settled on my entire body when I had begun to fear what those guys could do to me after I had glanced around and sighted no one. It made my heart pound erratically while breathing Ryan’s familiar scent in.
I didn’t let myself relax into the hug because it only took about ten seconds for me to remember where we currently are– in public, forcing me to tear myself out of the hug. When I glanced up at Ryan, he had a crazed look in his eyes and was panting hard as he stared me up and down, clearly trying to see if I was hurt.
I glanced away from Ryan to the spot behind him, where two guys were splayed on the ground, in the spot where Ethan still had the dude pinned on the ground, underneath his shoe. From the looks of things, it was obvious that Ryan had only been able to catch two out of the three guys who had run off.
When Ryan began to clear his throat, I moved my gaze back to his face and swallowed emptily as soon as our eyes locked.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” He asked, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides like he wanted to reach out and grab me or something: I wrapped my arms around my middle and shifted my weight around as I gave a tentative nod of my head.
“Yeah.” I responded, although the word sounded extremely bitter on my tongue.
“We have to head home now, ma’am.” Ethan explained and I nodded once without bothering to say anything. Of course we have to head home, I don’t wanna be in here for a moment longer, after all.
“Hey, get the hell off and mind your fucking business.” Ethan uttered to the onlookers who all scattered into different directions at once. That was probably what finally alerted one of the workers here, seeing as they were just approaching the scene right now.
I refused to say a thing when asked, and Ryan forbade them from getting close to where I was still standing. I listened as Ethan told off the mall manager who had now emerged, while my hands strayed down to ghost over my shorts while I silently asked myself if the reason why this had happened to me today was because of the length of the shorts.
When we walked out of the mall, I refused to glance up because a lot of people were looking, and because we were undoubtedly attracted so much attention as we walked, seeing as Ethan and Ryan rounded off the three guys and kept tugging them along like a bunch of strays.
I wanted to ask Ryan and Ethan to let the guys go, not wanting to ever set my eyes on them again, but the words felt stuck in my throat.
Ryan put two of the guys in the booth of the car and the third one in the front passenger seat, and I kept staring out the window as the car moved through the busy road.
When I finally tore my eyes off the busy road, having already decided within myself to tell Ryan who was currently driving, to drop off the guys so they’d be on their way while I’d try to forget all that had happened back at the mall. And also because I wouldn’t want Luca to find out about this. As much as I wanted to gauge their eyes out, I knew it wouldn’t end well for any of them should Luca get a wind of this.
“Ryan?” I called out, voice soft as I spoke.
“Yes, ma’am?” He responded at once.
“Can you drop the gu–” I was still speaking when my phone suddenly rang, causing me to stiffen as I slowly trailed off. I hesitated for a few seconds because I wasn’t in the mood to engage in any sort of conversation right now, but after a few fleeting seconds, I decided to fish my phone out and find out who it was that’s currently calling.
I stiffened even more on realizing who the caller is.
It was Luca.
Shit.
“Did any of you tell Luca about this?” I demanded while watching the phone ring on and on. Ethan who was situated in the back of the car along with me, stiffened at once as he slowly cleared his throat.
“I did, ma’am. The boss had to know about it at once.” He responded after a few moments and I bit on my bottom lip while cursing underneath my breath as I watched the phone which had stopped ringing moments ago, start to ring once again.
I puffed out a deep breath before finally accepting the call and pressing the phone against my ear.
“Bunny? Are you fine?” He demanded urgently and I could perfectly imagine the wrinkles of worry etched in his forehead right now. That made a lump which I had been trying to suppress begin to grow at a rapid pace in the lowest past of my throat.
“I am.” I croaked out, silently berating myself over how not-okay I sounded.
“Shit, you don’t sound okay, bunny. Don’t worry, okay? I’m almost home, hm?”
My eyes widened at once and I sat up. “W- what? No! You don’t have to come home. I’m fine, I swear.”
“You’re not, bunny. I know you aren’t and that’s perfectly okay. That’s why I’m on my way right now. Hang in there for me, okay?” As he spoke, the softness of his voice made the lump in my throat begin to swell even more and I squeezed my eyes tightly on feeling it start to sting.
With a resigned but relieved sigh, I gave a tired nod. “Okay.” I finally whispered.”
“That’s a good girl. I’d be there in no time, and then I’m gonna make those bastards pay for what they did. They are all gonna regret doing what they did.” The sudden iciness in his voice made a frightened shudder run down my spine, and in that moment, I felt extremely bad for those guys because I already know their entire being is automatically doomed now.