“Not true,” Amelia admonishes, reproaching me. “The word is you’ve got yourself a shadow... she could be it.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “More like a girl with a death wish. That doesn’t make her marriage material.”
“Okay, if that’s so, then what is your plan for her?”
This time, I have a response for the question. I didn’t want Jackson to know the full extent of what I’m thinking, but Amelia’s like me; she’ll meet me halfway, I know she will.
“I plan to bring her to the dark side with me,” I comment casually, taking a sip of my drink.
Twisting in her seat, Amelia looks at me with a wicked glint in her eyes. “Dante?” she asks, looking ready to lick her lips in anticipation. “What I mean is... what do you plan to do with her exactly?”
“I plan to tear her apart,” I reply, opting for a smirk rather than the huge grin I want to give way to. “She wants me to do my worst, so I’ll do my worst.” I shrug, coolly showing Amelia that this will be a great delight to me. “I actually expect you to partake, Amelia. Show her how a woman acts in the company of men like me.”
“How should a woman act for you?”
That’s the easiest question to answer.
“Like my fucking queen.”
Amelia giggles, taking great delight in the idea.
“You do this, Amelia, and you’ll secure your grounding and your relationship with Zane for a lot longer than you know.” My comment ignites a new light in her eyes. “I know you can do this, piccola. This is something you’re capable of. Be loyal to me and I’ll see that your relationship remains untouched. You know I’d sacrifice a lot for you. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.”
She begins to twist her lips together, the thought dancing around
“Deal,” she says, putting her hand out for me to shake. “Just you be careful.”
“You’re warning the wrong person,” I counter, smirking. “Maybe when you meet her you can give her that pep talk. I know exactly what I’m doing with this one. She planted the seed. I’m just doing what was asked of me and helping her grow.”
I’m well aware that I want her to delve into what she's already started to explore. I want her to follow me, notice me, yearn for me more than she already does. But with that comes the constant threat that I could just as well destroy her.
Then it strikes me – I could destroy her.
A devilish laugh ripples from my soul and a callous smile forms on my lips. If she wants me to believe she is stronger than most assume she is, then all she has to do is survive working alongside me.
It's really that simple.
“When do I get to meet her?”
“Soon.” I don’t tell her any more, but I watch her green eyes darken, fixing me with a look as she fights herself not to press. “I think I’m ready for her, Amelia,” I say rubbing my hands together. “And I know exactly where we are going to start.”
“Where’s that?”
I grin at her, unable to let her in wholly just yet. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
6RYLEIGH
“She’s here!”
Jodi greets me animatedly, and while her mood is usually infectious, today I’m too nervous to feel the buzz. I look at her beaming expression and gulp.
“Dante’s not in yet, is he?” I ask, feeling worrisome. “I was running late.”
“No,” Jodi replies, giving me a reassuring glance. “I’m here because he had a meeting, so I was told to be here to welcome you. He needs me to help look over some new stuff for the bar anyway.”
“That makes this easier, I suppose,” I say, allowing her to put her arm around me and guide me across the bar. “I was panicking about the time.”
“You’re not that late, but what had you running so behind? It’s not like you.”
“I was with that private detective,” I remark, and she halts. Turning to me, she keeps her hand on my bicep; her smile diminishes and gives way to a more empathetic expression. “It’s been a bad morning.”
“Did he find anything out?” Jodi asks, knowing my struggle.
“No more than I already know. The costs are raking up and I’m unable to pay him, so the last thing I need is to lose my job.”
“That won’t happen, and just think, we’ll have an easy day tomorrow when you come and work with me in the bookstore. We can read and drink wine while Sasha and Chloe keep everything perfect in the front of the shop. I’ll tell them I’m training you.” She giggles playfully and resumes guiding me to the other side of the bar. “Ladies, you remember Ryleigh, I’m sure.”
“About time you worked your way up to Dynasty,” Bethany tells me, coming over to give me a hug. “How’s it feel?”
“Scary,” I jest, nervously laughing.
“She met Dante for the first time a few days ago,” Jodi comments, giving a wink.
“Ooh!” Jade remarks, her eyes lighting up. “What did you think?”
I smile with anxiety and all my ideals of today disperse as I feel apprehension filtering into my system. “He seems a little overbearing.”
“That’s one word for him,” Jodi quips, pulling a stool out to sit on. “You’ll get used to his mannerisms, believe me.” She looks over at Bethany and Jade, smirking. “He saved Ryleigh from a client who wanted a little free play with her. I’ve never seen him get like that over one of you.”
“He doesn’t, that’s why,” Jade replies, exchanging a look with Bethan, who agrees. “He usually lets security deal with any clients who go too far.”
I won’t lie; I’m taken aback by that comment alone.
“Well, what the hell did I do to make him play hero?”
“For once, I have no idea,” Jodi answers, looking baffled. “I’ve never seen him act like that over a girl.”
The idea of that alone doesn’t ease my mind at all. If anything, it causes my stomach to roil. It doesn’t matter how much I wanted out of the other club, away from dancing for men to ogle, the feeling of unease through me at seeing Dante in the light of a new day has me entering panic mode.
“Ryleigh.”
My name bites the air, swirling around me in his baritone voice, and my entire body hums to life. It’s been a few days, but my body reacts to him as it always does. My heart slowly begins to pick up the pace, galloping to a pounding, and my skin prickles, and I look at the girls before me. They’re all so calm, so easy around Dante, and I’m here panicking and about to break into a sweat.
I stand. My legs feel like jelly, but I force myself to face him.
“I’m pleased you wore the correct dress code,” he says, allowing his eyes to trail down my body and back again.
I feel naked again; when in reality, I’m well dressed in wet look leather black trousers, a sheer black blouse, and heels, as per Jodi’s instructions. I’m probably more dressed than Dante’s ever seen me, and yet I feel like the woman who stood before him in nothing but lingerie and his jacket.
“Thankfully, someone warned me,” I respond, watching as Jade and Bethany scatter. “Where do you want me?”
A slow, amused grin graces Dante’s lips, but he’s quick to kill it from taking full form.
“Follow me,” he orders, instructing me with a simple wave of his hand. “I want you to get to work as soon as possible while Jodi and I go over things.”
“Okay,” I say, my voice back to that meekness I loathe.
He offers a sideways grin, obviously enjoying my vulnerability. However, I feel myself cursing him for being able to break my harshest grips on my confidence. I know he feeds off my initial feelings, but I’m in new territory, and others are watching me.
He disappears through a doorway and I pick up my pace. Following, I find him unlocking a new door and anticipation starts to burn. My blood courses with wildfire, adrenaline starting to drip in as it awaits a moment of glory.
He tosses open a door and the overpowering fume of cleaning products immediately stifles me. He steps aside, and I peer
into a room full of brooms, mops, and dusters; everything that is fairly self-explanatory for what is needed of me. My blood calms almost immediately. Ice takes over and I wonder if this is what he had planned all along. He seemed dangerous, but he led me here – to a cleaning closet.
“Everything you’ll need will be in here,” he instructs, putting a hand out as if to add insult.
I look at him, a little miffed. “You want me to clean?”
“Do you have a problem with that?” he asks me, fixing me with a look of amusement. “You work for me now. There are tables that need cleaning before we open for the lunchtime rush. The bar needs to look spotless, too.”
“I thought I was moving clubs to work the bar,” I assume, standing straighter to exude some fucking assertiveness.
“You thought wrong, clearly. I expect to see you out front in five minutes tops.”
I scoff on a burst of laughter as incredulity fixes in my veins. I feel like someone is playing a joke on me. He watches me, fixates on me while I dance half-naked, but when I meet him, I feel like fate has thrown us together just to piss us off.
“Is there an issue?” he asks, turning back to face me.
“Yes, there’s an issue,” I reply, daring myself to be brash with him. “You’re unbelievable. You know that, right?” I ask him, almost rhetorically. “You first call me a whore, and then you degrade me to a cleaner. I get the impression you don’t like me, but there are other ways of going about it.”
“Who said I didn’t like you?” he asks me, stepping back down the corridor toward me. “Believe me, cara, if I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be paying you a blind bit of notice.” He comes closer than ever; we’re almost toe-to-toe, practically touching. “I wouldn’t care for you, wouldn’t wish to welcome you into my life if I didn’t like you, and I certainly wouldn’t be wasting this much breath on you.” Tentatively, he puts his hand on my jaw, gently tilting my head up to face him. “I just need you to work for me, right now,” he tells me with a simple tone. “Later, when there’s an opportunity, you’ll work with me, but until then, you’ll clean those tables.”
He leaves me and I force myself to watch him leave. I feel a petty rage begin to beat within me, building up waiting to break free. I don’t understand how Jackson has managed to live with him all these years, but the man is infuriatingly alluring. And I hate myself a little more. He’s a man I love to hate, but also, I can feel myself starting to hate loving him so blindly. Is this even love? I’m not even sure what the meaning of that four-letter word is, especially where Dante Valentino is concerned. I don’t know him, but I do know this infatuation is too intense. The chemistry is too electrifying for me to ignore.
When you’ve spent your entire life listless, abandoned, and unable to feel more than fleeting emotions, the first person you feel absolutely everything for becomes someone you want to know more about; you crave them. He deems himself my worst nightmare, and if that’s so, I’ll find out soon, but on the same token, I want him to feel absolutely everything before we reach our peak.
I collect a bucket, begrudgingly deciding I need to make this work because I need the money. I need to impress him by being a worthy employee. I pick out products and cloths, all the while trying to put a brave face on the situation. I’m not working under Jackson’s watchful gaze anymore; I’ve chosen this, so I have to put up with it.
All I’ve ever known in this life is the ability to take what is dealt to me and keep myself alive. Likewise, this will be no different. Dante may think this is going to demoralize me, break me, and make me feel lesser, but he doesn’t know. His assumptions are empty in regards to me. He can guess and wonder all he likes, but he hasn’t seen me reach my true potential yet.
Today isn’t that day, I guess.
As I enter back into the bar front, I catch Jodi berating Dante over something, but when I look their way, his eyes are wholly on me. I feel a blush flutter across my cheeks; grazing my cheeks with a sweet pink hue, I’m sure. I don’t act coy; I keep my head high, keep a smile on my lips, and set to work. It’s in my ignorance that Dante finally listens to Jodi’s twittering in his ear, but with it, comes his outburst.
“Leave it be,” Dante growls at her, silencing her. “It’s my bar, and I will order them to do whatever I so please. Now, help me fix these so the printer can fill my order.”
“No,” Jodi argues, not even looking at the tabletop. “When you stop being such a cunt, I’ll help, but until then, you’re on your own.” Jodi starts to move, collecting her purse, but I catch Dante’s hand reach for her, stilling her. It does nothing to sedate the fireball of rage. She leans in close, her voice lowering, but I can still hear. “I told you she’s unlike the rest, so you use that as a reason to demoralize the girl.”
Why is she defending me? I chose this new route in my life, and I’ll take it. It’s why I clean as I listen – to prove that I will accept my role in the club, fit in where I can, and just earn an honest wage for the first time in my life.
“You’ll fucking regret this. Mark my words. One day you’ll regret this beginning for you two.”
“You make it sound like we’re going somewhere with our relationship,” Dante leers, laughing at the idiocy. “She’s a lousy worker to me... nothing else.”
“You know she’s more than that. You’ve made that happen,” Jodi remarks coldly. “You’re going to drag her into our world with or without anyone’s advice. I can’t wait to see what hell she brings down on you.”
“Don’t confuse roles, Jodi,” Dante admonishes, sniggering. “Now, sit back down and help me.”
“Go fuck yourself, Dante.”
She doesn’t even say good-bye to anyone; she just leaves in a hail of fury.
I act as if I haven’t seen or heard anything and work on making sure the black tables practically sparkle. If need be, I will scrub until I see my reflection in the damn surfaces! If he wants to give me these jobs, then I’ll perform them as best I can. He might be trying to break my spirit, but they’ve never been admirably high, so he’s going to have to work a lot harder. I work my way through the tables, even wiping the chairs down, and I know I’ll soon be working close to him.
I can feel his eyes are on me, glued to my ass as I clean the tables and booths around him. I don’t even cast a look at him, but out of my peripheral, I can tell he’s not working; he’s not even trying to concentrate. Instead, his eyes have been stuck to me like fucking glue. If anything, it’s caused me to work harder, clean faster, and show him that I was worth the argument he had with Jackson and Jodi.
Suddenly, I sense him standing over me. I gulp, telling myself to stand slowly and meet him with as much ire as he greets me. The indignation I feel for him wavers as lust gives way to invade my entire body. How can I be turned on by a man who acts like an absolute asshole?!
“Something you need?” I ask him, keeping it short and sweet.
“Follow me,” he orders, taking a short step back to turn on his heels and advance back toward the back door, leaving behind all of the paperwork. “We need to talk,” he says over his shoulder as he walks.
About what? my mind asks, but my body follows.
“I have other things in mind for you than this.”
“I thought my job had started,” I admonish, thinking back to the cleaning products left all over the place. “You know... with the cleaning job you handed me.”
“Oh no, that was just so I could watch you. Your ass looks divine in those leather pants,” he tells me, a smug look on his face. “The real job I have for you hasn’t even started yet, little wolf.”
“So, what is this?” I ask as exasperation forces the words out. “Some of us have to earn our money the hard way, and I’m sure me traipsing around behind you won’t pay my bills.”
He stills in front of the door at the end of the corridor. As he turns to face me, his eyes are hooded, but the fire that burns in them causes me to struggle when I try to catch my breath.
“You think
I won’t pay you because I’ve asked you to stop working to follow me?” he asks, wounded by my sentiment.
I cross my arms across my chest and cast him a pointed look. “Anything’s possible with you.”
“I know my reputation is sullied with the stories you’ve heard, but I’m not that heartless,” he remarks, turning back to the door. “Well, not entirely.”
He withdraws a black key from his pocket. Placing it in the lock, he throws the door open, and a large black and white room meets me. He turns to his side, holding the door open, and allows me to enter. I can feel him right behind me, throwing the door shut immediately. I jump and turn to face away from the monochrome office.
“I’ve wanted to get you alone since I arrived,” he tells me, his words dripping with honesty. He takes a predatory step forward, closing the gap between us. Instinctively, I take one back. “I never thought you’d have such an effect on me... and I hate you for it, Ryleigh.”
With that, he takes another step, and I take one back.
“At least we agree on something,” I quip, my tone a little more heated than I had planned. I sound almost conniving, disrespecting him like this. “But this can’t happen,” I say, removing myself from his vicinity with yet another gracious step back.
“Why do you keep moving away?” he asks, taking one more step, forcing me back again. This time the backs of my legs smack into his desk, and he sees I have nowhere to go. “Anyone would think you’re denying what it is we’ve both started because I’m not solely to blame for us winding up here, in my office,” he states, coming closer than ever. He stands before me, peering down at me with a lustful look. “Are you scared of my touch, Ryleigh?” No. “Do you feel nothing for me?” No, again. “Are you going to regret everything I’m about to do?”
Maybe.
“You’re my boss,” I explain, sitting behind that reason most. “This isn’t appropriate.”
“I was your boss when I used to watch you on that pole, but it never stopped you from dancing your best when you noticed me,” he quips. While it irks me, he’s not wrong. “I saw how you used to dance when I walked into a room, when you had no idea I was watching. You were lacklustre, but when you caught a glimpse of me, you came alive. You still do come alive, but this time I see it in your eyes instead of the way you mold your body around a pole for men to see.”
Trigger (Pericolo #3) Page 7
