Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Something primal.
“Did you kill him?” she asks, keeping her voice low enough that only I can hear.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“Who were they?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“What do you know?”
“Only that they said we should go back to the States before something bad happens. And that they really seemed like they wanted to hurt me.”
She tilts her chin up to meet my eyes. “Are you? Going back, I mean.”
“No,” I say quietly and kiss her.
She kisses me back with a surprising desire. I chew on her lip and let my tongue explore hers as my heart pounds. This girl, this nobody girl, she drives me fucking wild and I don’t understand why. She’s a weight around my neck, an anchor that’ll drown me, a distraction I can’t afford, and yet seeing her in this dress right after nearly getting killed, right after potentially killing a man, it drives me fucking wild with lust. I kiss her like an animal, like I’m consuming her, and her fingers dig into my hair, pulling tight. I’ve spent so damn long pushing everyone away—friends, family, women—and never letting myself get burdened by attraction, by love, by embarrassing emotions. But now I want her to keep kissing me until my lips bleed or until I make her scream my name. I want to bite through her tongue and make her gasp as I sink my fingers deep into her slick cunt. I want to ruin her—until she finally pushes me away with a sharp breath.
“No,” she says, shaking her head. She’s fucking trembling right now and it makes me want her so badly I could kill for another taste. “We’re not doing this.”
“Do you remember what I said? I said all of you, and I meant it.”
“Peter,” she whispers.
But a door nearby slams. I take her arm and turn her away. As much as I want to have her here and now, to feel my cock slide between her legs and push deep into her soaking, messy pussy, to listen to her moan and beg my name, to let the adrenaline of that fight mingle with the excitement of having her flesh, we can’t linger out on the streets.
I call that car and we head back in silence. Slowly, the rush of survival begins to fade, and something else comes in. A new voice in the back of my mind.
Why the fuck did you kiss the girl?
It’s one thing to let Adrienne work for me. That’s bad enough. But to kiss her on top of everything else, knowing that I want her fucking badly, knowing that now I’ll think about her taste whenever I look at her? The bright lemony acidity of her tongue, the Chapstick on her lips, the mint on her breath, the deep purr of pleasure in her chest? It’ll be in my head, whether I like it or not, and I’m tightrope walking across a canyon right now without a net, and kissing Adrienne is like putting weights on one end of my balancing pole.
She’s going to tip me into the abyss. The fucked thing is I want her to.
We head up into the apartment and she disappears into the bathroom. The shower water runs and I think about checking on her, but she needs time to process what happened as much as I do. My emotions are beginning to recede and the giddy adrenaline-fueled joy of winning a fight is leaving only a cold, clinical rage.
I call Balaska and he answers on the second ring. “You’re already making news, Peter.” He sounds amused.
I’m not fucking amused.
“Who were they?” I ask with a low growl.
“Careful,” he says, chiding, and I know I can’t push this too hard. Balaska is the one in charge here, whether I like it or not, and if I want to build enough power and influence to start my own family, to strike out and become my own crime lord, I need to play the game first.
“Someone tried to kill me outside of your club. Who were they?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll find out. We have one in custody.”
“The other?”
“Dead. Bled out.”
“Can’t say I’m upset about it.”
He lets out a long breath. “I’m not upset about the dead thug, but I am upset about having to bribe the damn police to keep off my back. You know how hard it is to run clubs without someone getting shot around the corner? It’s bad enough I’ve got them breathing down my neck all the time begging for more money. Now they’re going to tap dance all over my goddamn bank account.”
“If I knew how expensive this would be for you, I would’ve let them kill me.”
“Don’t be a prick.” Balaska sounds more exasperated than angry. “Like I said. I’ll find out who sent them and we’ll deal with this from there. From now on, no more dead bodies.”