by Dawn Doyle
Was Robyn his girlfriend? That made no fucking sense because even though it was pretty obvious he didn’t like me looking at her, like when he’d fucking glared at me the first time I saw Robyn in person, she didn’t give off the vibe that they were together.
“Are you fucking with someone’s girl?” Charlie asked, his mouth drawn tight.
“Fuck, no!” I said, raising my voice. “I might be some things, Charlie, but going after someone with a boyfriend, you know that’s not me.”
His dark eyes bore into mine, his nostrils flaring. “You’re sure they’re not together?”
I lifted my free hand, my palm facing him. If they were, I didn’t know. “On my damn life,” I replied. “Sure, she’s hot, and I’d love nothing more than to get between the sheets with her fine ass.” I glanced at Luca and said, “Sorry, but it’s true.” I turned back to Charlie, “but I’d keep it in my pants and out of hers if someone else were already dipping their fingers in the honey pot.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Nate said as he entered, then dropped down on the other side of Charlie who just nodded while taking his phone from me.
I waited for him to elaborate, but in true Nate fashion, he remained quiet. “And?” I asked, rolling my hand forward. “I know I’m telling the truth, Nate, but I wanna know why my special ass is getting lit up brighter than Lucian’s on fight night.”
“Yeah, you wish,” Lucian said, chuckling, then held Luca tighter.
It’d been almost two years since that last fight in the pit, but the poor girl still had an anxiety attack every time Lucian got into the cage, even though it was legal, there were rules, and he was safe. And, I never wanted them to know about the things I knew and did because it would crush them.
“He’s been looking into it the past couple of days,” Brady said, gesturing to Nate. “I honestly thought Charlie had told you when he picked you up at home.”
I stared at Charlie while answering Brady. “No, he didn’t.” I guess that’s why he never mentioned any more about it, and why the seriousness to the ‘shit’ I’d caused was way down on the list of dramas to over exaggerate. Worrying them about my whereabouts was a big thing to them, I kinda got that, but now it was crystal fucking clear just exactly what had gone on in my absence.
Fucking Mica.
Oh, that chicken shit had started something he wouldn’t be able to finish. I might not be a fighter like Lucian, but I had a whole fucking arsenal of weapons up my sleeves, and Robyn was about to become the fucking battleground.
But first, I had a job to finish, and another job I had to stay employed with. I’d let him think he’d won for now, but that boy was about to find out what it was like to go against a man.
*****
“Blaine.”
I turned around before I could leave, stiffening when I saw Nate coming toward me. “What?”
He stopped a couple of feet away from me and just stared. I rolled my eyes and then rubbed across my forehead. “Look, Nate, I know I’m a work of fucking art, but right now, I can’t be dealing with your weird-as-shit staring contest. If you got something to say to me, just fucking say it. Otherwise, I’m going home.” I opened the front door, then glanced over my shoulder, giving him one last chance to spit out whatever the fuck he followed me to say.
“Watch your back.”
I blinked a couple of times as my brows shot up. “Oh, really? What are you gonna do, Nathan?” I snorted a laugh. “Kick my ass?”
He shook his head slowly. “Not me, dick. Just. Watch. Your. Back.”
I blew out an exasperated breath. “Fine, whatever, I’m going home.” I stepped out of Maison de Love nest and pressed my fob to unlock my car. I started the engine, then looked up to see Nate standing in the doorway, just watching me.
His eyes narrowed, and right then, I saw it—his dark side. It came to the surface every now and again, but he’d always managed to squash it down. But, something had made it rise, and I knew for a fact that if it were me that had done that, I wouldn’t be walking.
No, Nate’s message was loud and fucking clear. I had to watch my back because somebody was keeping a very fucking close eye on me. Maybe he wasn’t being such a dick after all.
*****
“You have to sort them into absolute alphabetical order,” my supervisor, Yvonne, said. She leaned over me, her shirt gaping at the front, giving me a view down her blouse. “So, A-A, then A-B, and so on,” she explained, leaning a little further over as she pointed to the tabs on the files.
“Yeah, I got it, thanks,” I replied, putting my head down and not staring at her tits that were practically hanging out of the pink fabric of her top.
I’d only taken this job because it got me close to the ladies, and not the ones with the soft parts I liked to indulge in. No, these special girls were the kind I could get inside of and ride them so fucking hard I could give myself whiplash. My last job had been a waste of time. Somebody like me working in a garage… Yeah, I couldn’t do what the manager wanted, overpricing and lying to clients about jobs that didn’t need doing. So, he got rid, saying I was a liability to his company.
I continued filing the orders into clients names, making sure to take a mental note of who owned what, and where I could pick it up. I had one more job to do this month, and file number twenty-five was the one that held the magic between its covers.
“You’re doing such a good job, Blaine,” Yvonne purred, slowly batting her clumpy eyelashes. “You’re such a great worker.”
I smiled at her, her over the top flirting not going unnoticed. “I am. Once I get going, I take everything I can, and do whatever necessary to make sure I do an outstanding job,” I said, drawing out my words while maintaining eye contact—a sure-fire way to get what I wanted.
Her cheeks flushed, and I wanted to laugh. She had a good twenty years on me, but I let her have her fun. Fuck, if it were the other way around, I would be marched out of here so fast my ass would be bouncing off the pavement.
“Well, I better let you get back to it,” she said, fiddling with the front of her shirt, her matching fingernails dipping inside. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
I shook my head as she walked away, chuckling to myself as her heels clicked across the floor.
“Come to daddy,” I whispered as I opened the file with the signed agreements. “Oh, baby, I’m gonna do things to you that’ll make your bumpers groan.” It was a shame it wouldn’t last, and even worse that she wasn’t going home after I’d had her.
Did I feel like shit? Of course I fucking did, but it was a necessary evil.
There were cameras all over the place, so while I couldn’t be seen copying any information from the documents, I had a great memory that only needed the zip code and house number. This little lady was in Dover city, just like another one I’d taken before.
All I needed now was to plan how I was gonna get my hands on her.
*****
She sat there, right where I knew she’d be, ready and waiting. And, with her owner’s keys in plain fucking sight, it was a piece of cake to copy the signal. I walked up to the shiny black door, fresh from the expensive hand car wash and interior clean, and gently pulled on the handle until she opened for me. I slid inside, relaxing my ass into the plush seat, the leather cradling my cheeks like she was just begging me to get the party started. I threw Cecil onto the passenger seat, then opened him up to reveal my equipment.
I knew where the sweet spot was, I made sure to find out first—like I always did for these kinds of jobs—and plugged my new toy into her willing socket.
“Fuck yeah, baby,” I whispered when I’d overridden the car’s system, making her purr like the sexy little kitten she was. “Let’s get you out of here, sweetheart. I’m gonna show you a good time before we have to part ways.”
Oh, and how I did. Once I’d gotten her away from her home, I’d changed her plate and disabled her tracker at the empty rear of the mall.
I pulled out
of the parking lot, immediately changing gears to slip through the busy traffic, judging the spaces and the speed of the other vehicles, careful not to get a scratch on her bodywork. The A/C worked just fine, but I opened the windows anyway, letting the rush of wind blow through my hair, feeling the blast over my face as I drove faster and faster, hitting the limit, letting that needle dance in the fifty mark until I was on the open highway out of Dover City.
I put my foot down and tore her ass up, slamming my foot down on the clutch and dropping a gear to dart past a car, shifting up when I was open again and cruising at a solid one hundred. Driving in the dark never bothered me one bit. It was in the night where I could take chances, to be who I was and let myself go without having anybody looking over my shoulder and telling me I couldn’t, that I had to stop, that it was over…
I ground my jaw, my eyes steeled on the road as I concentrated on the junctions ahead, already deciding which turn I was taking and when I needed to maneuver to zip between the slower cars on the road.
“All available units dispatch over Charleston Bridge,” the voice said on my radio. “Dangerous driver reported in a black car, possibly stolen.”
Fuck, that was definitely me. “Sorry, beautiful, but our journey is going to be cut a little short.”
I pulled off the bridge, knowing that by the time the cops got here, I would be long gone and this car would be off these roads for good.
I continued driving, taking the quieter roads that led to my destination. The metal frames of the old building came into view, the rusted bolts looking like they were barely holding them together.
I slowed down next to a huge shipping container, then stopped when a man appeared from the side, folding his arms and staring right at me. I stopped, turned off the engine, and got out.
“You’re early for once,” he said, his eyes not leaving the vehicle whose turbo was still ticking from the ride.
“I guess I was a little excited tonight,” I fired back, blinking once, slowly. “I came before I was supposed to. I guess it happens to the best of us.”
“There is something fucking wrong with you.”
I dropped my act and glared at him. “You have what you want, so we’re done here.”
He looked over the car again, nodding his head and running his tongue over the inside of his lower lip. “Yeah, we are.” He took out a fat envelope from his inside pocket and threw it to me. “The list is inside. Get ready, kid, cos we’ve got serious work coming up.”
I shoved the envelope into Cecil and turned away from Eddie, not wanting to look at his greedy face, his rat features just like those of a guy that was getting ready to serve a stretch inside. “Go choke on a flaccid dick,” I mumbled to myself, not looking back as I swung Cecil over my shoulder.
“Oh, and Blaine?”
“What?” I called, not turning around.
“Darcy says hi.”
I gritted my teeth, my face contorting so much my entire head ached. He knew just how to twist the fucking knife deeper into my gut, and once it was all the way in, there was no coming back.
I unzipped the pocket of my hoodie and called the familiar number that had recently brought me the only true happiness in times like these.
“Hello, Alpha cabs, how can I help you?”
“Robyn,” I breathed.
“Hi, Blaine.”
“Is Greg available? I need a ride.”
“I’ll check,” she replied, then a short silence followed. “You didn’t call… The other night.”
“Luca was waiting for me,” I replied. Luca had told me she wanted to go back to get something else, but when she was grinning widely, I knew she was a damn liar. “I also had work to do.” When I’d gotten back to Luca’s car, I’d threatened to hang my ass out of the window as she drove, until she told me. She’d relented, admitting she’d come clean to Robyn after seeing how she’d reacted to Luca being there with me. Luca had already been suspicious when I’d suggested going for a ride on the other side of the city while Lucian was training, which was amplified when I wanted to grab a coffee at that particular shop. One look at Robyn and she knew why I was there.
“Oh. Well, Greg’s not available right now, and he won’t be for a while. Um, where are you?”
I hesitated, then looked around as I walked, searching for any sign that would give me a fucking hint of what street I was walking down. I’d been here many times, but it was pretty much derelict. The road was long, and I’d be down the other end where civilization resided by the time I would be picked up. “Dover City, Westhead Boulevard,” I replied when the fading sign stood out.
“I’ll just check the system,” she said, her sexy voice sounding like she was nervous, the hints of tremors in her tone giving it away.
My phone beeped, and I moved it away from my ear, seeing a text notification on the screen for a number that I didn’t recognize. I’d used my personal phone this time, so whoever it was, had my real number.
‘Our calls are recorded. None of the drivers are available to pick you up. You could call another company, or I can pick you up. My shift finishes in five minutes. Robyn.’
I pressed the phone back to my ear. “It’s okay,” I replied with a grin. “I’m sure my sidekick can come to get me. I’ll be waiting for them on the corner.”
“Okay, then. Sorry we couldn’t help you.”
“See you soon,” I said, then ended the call. From where I knew Alpha Cabs to be, and Robyn leaving in five minutes, I didn’t have to wait too long.
Chapter 6
Robyn
What the fuck possessed me to offer him a ride, I’ll never know, but once I hit send on the message, there was no going back.
I looked down at my phone for what seemed to be the hundredth time, checking to see if Blaine had sent me a text. It was wrong of me to copy his number from the caller ID, but I couldn’t stop myself. He now had mine, and I had yet to find out if it was an enormously stupid thing to have done. Fuck, if Oscar found out, I would be fired on the spot, and even though this job was sucking out my will to live, I needed it. It was the only job I could get that allowed me to work alongside the hours I did at Aunt Joan’s coffee shop.
“Where are you?” I whispered to myself, turning a dark corner and driving down the street with only two streetlights working. I checked my GPS, and it was definitely Westhead Boulevard, but this road looked like it went on for miles.
I passed a row of stores, most of them closed except for cheap diners and places that sold liquor. I retched a little, thinking back to the night out at Donnie's where I’d drank far too much.
My phone pinged, and I snatched it from the center console, looking down at the illuminated screen, my heart picking up speed when I saw it was Blaine.
My trembling fingers ran over the screen, and it took me a few attempts to get the damn thing to unlock.
‘Turn around. You drove right by me.’
“Fuck!” I slowed down and twisted around to find him, but I saw nothing. Then, my eyes honed in on a dark figure crossing the street and coming right for me, their black hood up, concealing their face, and a camouflage-colored backpack over one shoulder.
They turned their head as they crossed the road, then back to me. It was then another car’s headlights shone on the side of the figure, lighting up his face and eyes.
Blaine.
God, my heart thudded so loud in my chest I could hear it like it was beating on my eardrums.
What am I doing?
I was putting myself at a massive risk by doing this, by driving into another city to pick up a stranger. But, when I saw his mouth curl up, that disappeared in an instant. When Blaine approached the passenger side, his long fingers reaching out for the handle, that’s when I chose to unlock the door for him.
He opened the door, slid his backpack down his arm and got inside, his masculine scent filling the car, rendering my New Car freshener useless. “Hi, there,” he said slowly, his lips stretching wide giving me a glimpse o
f his teeth. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“Oh, no problem,” I replied, all of the air coming out of my lungs in one gust. My neck warmed, the heat spreading up to my face. “I couldn’t leave you stranded.”
He smiled at me again, then slowly lowered his hood, revealing his mussed up hair. My eyes shot up to that area, watching as he ran his fingers through the pale strands.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, and I tore my gaze away from his smoothed down tresses.
“Shit, yeah, sorry.” My entire face was on fire, burning me with embarrassment. “Let’s get you out of here.”
I pulled away from the curb, the car silent as I made a U-turn to go back the way I came. Blaine sitting next to me didn’t help my concentration. I’d never lost my focus when driving—not ever—but as I’d willingly invited him to get into my vehicle, to be alone with him in such a small space, my brain was finally waking up and telling me that this was not normal behavior.
I glanced out of the side of my eye, noticing how Blaine’s long legs took all of the space in front of him, his knees almost touching the dash. “The seat goes further back,” I said, gesturing to the front of it. “You can give yourself more room to move around.”
From my peripheral vision, I saw his head turn so he was facing me. “Believe me, Robyn,” he said, his low voice laced with something highly inappropriate, “I can move about in this space just fine.”
