by Lake, Keri
The living room opened up to three couches, lined against the walls, and a coffee table, where drinks, pills of various colors, and small plastic bags littered the surface. The place smelled like a tuna-fish can, crinkling my nose, and I looked down to see cigarette butts, and what appeared to be chewed up bits of fabric, maybe courtesy of the dog, embedded into the carpet.
What, at a glance, looked like the dealing grounds of a dangerous crime lord on the outside ended up being nothing more than a frat party gone trippy inside.
I’d expected the crowd inside to be the usual crack-whores, like those in movies, wearing lingerie and draping themselves over all the drug addicts in the room. Most of the women looked like students—well, like me—dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and the guy who stood up, extending his hand to Dax, wore khakis, of all things, paired with a Kurt Cobain shirt.
Thank God I hadn’t worn anything skimpy, or I’d have looked like the crack-whore.
“Jesus,” I whispered in Jase’s ear. “Glad I opted for frumpy. Not exactly desirable, you know?”
“Yeah. Except, I can think of two reasons you should be in my bed right now.”
“And they are?”
“Poking through the painfully thin fabric of that T-shirt.”
I snapped my gaze down to where my nipples peeked through the tight T-shirt, and crossed my arms over my chest as he chuckled beside me.
“Danny?” A woman’s voice slithered to my ears from behind, and as I turned, a blonde, with slightly bigger tits than my own beneath a thin, blue sweater that clung to every curve, pushed a half-passed-out dude off her lap.
Danny? Was that Dax’s full name, or something?
Except that she stumbled across the carpet until next to Jase. “Baby, it’s been so long!” She pushed up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck, and when she released him, long fake nails, painted red, dug into his arm as she curled her fingers around his bicep. “My God, you’re … huge. Fucking ripped.” She lifted his arm, running her thumb across the circle seven tattoo on his wrist.
I cleared my throat and set my hands on my hips. Her brief glance in my direction, before she went back to petting his coat, told me I was doing a fine job of not looking like much of a threat.
Jase unraveled her fingers from his arm and took a step closer to me. “Shannon, this is … Ginger. She works for me.”
Fucking Ginger? He called me by a goddamn spice?
He could’ve at least given her the impression that I was the secretary he was banging in secret, maybe called me Anastasia, or some shit.
“Ginger?” The way she emphasized the name raked against my ears. “How … spicy.” Tugging on his jacket, she pressed her lips to his ear and whispered something, stoking the ire in my blood.
“I’ll be right back,” Jase said, his words like a slap in the face, and tapped Dax on the shoulder. “Watch her for me.” He allowed the woman to drag him down another hall on the opposite side of the room, leaving me standing there with Dax and Rhys.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I turned around and followed Dax to the couch, where he took a seat between a zoned out redhead and the dealer and tugged me down with him. Rhys made his way to the opposite side of the room, parking himself beside a brunette in the corner.
“This shit’s spreading like fire on the streets, man. It’s got a mild come down, but the high is fucking out of this world crazy.” The dealer carried the slimy enthusiasm of a used car salesman.
“I’m not down with that homemade shit, man. Too much risk.”
“It’s safe. I’m telling you. You know Vik from Sphinx, right? He’s calling me every week for the shit.”
“You get a lot of Ladder kids come through here?”
“What’s Ladder?”
“Group home.” Dax reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded object, opening it to reveal a beautiful redhead, with milky pale skin and bright blue eyes. “This girl ever stop in?”
“Yeah. She came with Vik. Some other kid, too. Goofy bastard.” The dealer’s eyes narrowed, as if he’d become suspicious. “What about her?”
“I don’t sell shit unless people I know have tried it. Motherfuckers end up dead, and someone comes looking for me.”
Throwing up his hands, the dealer nodded, annihilating the thuggish image I’d labeled all drug dealers with. Hell, Dax fit that bill more than the guy. “I understand. She sampled it. Loved the shit. Toss another name at me.”
Dax leaned forward, entwining his fingers. “Ever sold any of this shit to a guy named Pasák?”
The guy frowned. “Uh … Pasák? No. Is he a dealer?”
Dax waved his hand. “Nah, man. Just curious if you knew him.”
“I haven’t, but if you think he might be interested, I’ll hook him up. I’m telling you, this is the shit.”
“Show me.”
The guy popped up from the couch and disappeared into the kitchen, and Dax eased back into the seat, casually wrapping his arm around me. “What do you think, baby?”
“I think anyone associated with Viktor is shady,” I answered, breaking my momentary obsession with the hallway, down which Jase had disappeared with the woman.
He tongued the corner of his mouth and stared off. “Yeah. Hey, where’d Hawk go?”
“With that girl.” I folded my arms. “Shannon.”
“Man, that bitch is trouble. Keep an eye on him.”
“He’s a big boy.” I glanced to the side. “But why?”
“Law student. Smart as shit, but crafty. Used to be his fuckbuddy.”
Fuckbuddy? “Really.” It was bad enough that she was pretty and had a great body, but she had to be smart on top of it, and his former fuckbuddy. Perfect. “How long ago was that?”
“'Bout a year ago. They never dated, well, you know J-hawk, but she was psycho clingy, and he doesn’t do psycho clingy.”
“She called him Danny?”
Dax snorted and shook his head. “He never gives out his real name.”
Except to me.
“If he’s in there much longer, might have to send in reinforcements.”
“Be my guest. I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole.” I hated jealousy. Worse, I hated that I was getting jealous over him, a man with whom I knew I didn’t exactly have a future.
Dax’s hand rubbed against my thigh. “Ah, don’t be jealous baby. You know how he looks at you.”
“How does he look at me?”
“Like a starving man about to tear into an all you can eat buffet.” Dax took a hit off his vape pen, blowing smoke through his mouth, then his nose. “Fucker’s crazy for you, with pussy whip and a cherry on top.”
The short guy returned and set out a small vial on the table. While Dax examined the contents, the dealer’s gaze fell on me, dipping to my shirt, and he licked his lips.
Okay. Let’s see what we can find. I rose up from Dax’s side, ignoring his stare on me as I passed him, and stepped between the couch and coffee table, sliding onto the dealer’s lap.
Gliding my hands down his skinny arms, I lifted his wrist, noticing he didn’t have the tattoo. “So, you know Vik, huh?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, shifting beneath me. “Crazy son of a bitch. You know him, too?”
“From time to time.” I dragged my fingertip down his chest, playing along. His dilated pupils told me he’d gotten into something long before we’d arrived, and maybe it’d act as a truth serum. “What makes him crazy?”
“Ever see the shit he films?” The lazy blink of his eyes accompanied a chuckle, before he ogled my breasts like he was holding a conversation with them instead of me. “Crazy. Hot as hell, but crazy. Heard he and Simon Renwick are hooking up to produce porn together.”
I paused at that, frowning as my mind puzzled the information. Simon Renwick? The bigwig who owned the video chain? The same guy who'd bought the Slaughterhouse where the body had been dumped?
The dealer’s pupils damn near looked the size of dimes, and the way h
e licked his lips, breathing hard while staring at my chest, told me he’d definitely gotten into the sauce.
Hooking a finger beneath his chin, I guided his eyes back to mine. “You want to find a quiet place to talk?”
“Nah, girl. I want to find a place to fuck.”
46
Jase
Cigarette dangling from her manicured nails, Shannon sat across from me on the counter, her legs swinging back and forth between us. “What are you doing here? I thought the college scene wasn’t your gig.”
“It’s not. I’m here on business.”
“That’s why you brought your … employee?” Her snicker left me deadpan, and I pushed forward to exit the bathroom, but paused at her, “Wait.”
“You said you had something to tell me. What is it?”
She sucked in a drag and blew an upward cloud of smoke, scratching her nose with her thumb. “I couldn’t help but notice the tattoo on your arm.” Her gaze fell to the circular design and back to me. “So … after we broke up, I started fucking this guy I’d known a long time who rolled with the underground scene. Big guy. Really kinky. I mean, you like rough, but he’s almost brutal.” She cleared her throat. “He told me he belonged to this club where they film girls and shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Sounded fun. So, you know, I did it.” Her brows pinched together. “Look, Danny, I don’t know what you’re doing with that tattoo, but that’s not who you are. That’s not what you were with me.”
“What happened to you?”
She stared at me for a moment, her jaw sliding back and forth, before she cast her gaze toward the floor. “Everything.”
“And he let you go afterward?”
“He had to. His father is one of the partners at my father’s law firm. He likes to use the video against me. Threatened that if I don’t meet with him and all his friends every so often, he’ll send it to my father.”
“It’s on video, right? Won’t your father go after him?”
She exhaled a breath, and unless I was mistaken, her eyes carried a sheen of tears. “He wasn’t the one in the video. He watched.”
I frowned. “He’s part of this club?”
“Yeah. You think this is scum drug dealers and sleazy strip club promoters? They’re lawyers. Doctors. Fucking Boy Scout leaders.”
“Where did this happen?” I asked.
“There’s a building behind Sphinx. Set off a bit from the club. An abandoned factory, nothing but a shithole on the outside. In the basement, there are a bunch of rooms, with cameras, dungeons, all set up. As long as you got the tattoo, you can get in through Sphinx and take the tunnels across.”
Tunnels. No wonder no one ever saw Viktor. Bastard probably came in through the back.
“I was so shitfaced, I didn’t even know there were people … watching the whole time. I thought they were just rooms for hooking up, you know?” She eyed my tattoo again. “His name is Brantley. If you come across him …” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she swiped it away. “Let’s just say, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if the guy cross-examined from a wheelchair for the rest of his life.”
“I’ll keep an eye out.” As I made my way to the door, I glanced back at the way she her rested her forehead against her palm. “Shannon, take care of yourself.”
As she gave a nod, I walked from the bathroom. Rounding the corner, I halted and scanned the room.
Rhys stood talking to a woman off in the corner. Dax had two women fawning all over him on the couch, but Lucy was nowhere in sight. Unable to grab Dax’s attention with a wave of my hand, I kept on through the kitchen and, letting out a sharp breath, skidded to a halt.
Propped on one of the kitchen chairs, Lucy straddled the lap of the skinny bastard dealer, her laughter kicking up waves of fury in my blood, while she stroked the arm he'd wrapped around her like a drowning man clinging to a life raft.
Red bled into the scene, a haze of anger that had me storming toward her. Hooking my arms beneath hers, I lifted her up off the asshole’s lap, dragged her into the adjacent pantry, closed the door, and slammed her against the wall beside it.
47
Lucy
It took a moment to process what the hell had just happened, as I watched Jase pace back and forth across from me, between the shelves of the walk-in pantry.
The man was pissed.
No, pissed would’ve been appropriate for when the barista at the local coffee shop got the order wrong and mixed up a cinnamon dolce latte with a latte macchiato. The veins popping out of Jase's neck and the crimson fury burning in his skin told me he was enraged.
“'The fuck do you think you’re doing?” he barked.
“I played the role, Jase. Don’t put a label on me when I walk through the door, and act like you’re surprised when I act it out.” I cocked my hip to the side. “What the hell were you doing with the girl in the bathroom?”
“She pulled me in there. She gave me a fucking tip.”
“She did? Or you gave her your tip?”
“I didn’t do anything with her.”
“Right. And I’d believe you. Except, Dax told me she used to be your fuckbuddy.”
He rubbed his hand over his dark stubble and placed both hands on his hips, his gaze cast away from mine.
I lifted my chin to an angle of defiance. “Exactly. So, fuck you, if I played the same game.”
“Back to playing games, now, are we?”
“I guess we are. Now, if you’ll excuse me, he’s waiting for me to return to his lap.”
Both of his fists hit the wall, as he planted his arms on either side of me like missiles warning fire. “You don’t want to push me right now, Lucy. Don’t think I won’t rip those jeans off you and spank your petulant little ass right here against the wall.”
This. It was exactly what I wanted from him. I was sick. I must’ve been, because nothing else could explain the way my libido sprang to life every time he looked at me through those killer eyes, threatening my body. Excitement lit my blood and no doubt, I’d need a change of panties afterward. I was addicted to his danger, and holy shit, I had it bad for the ultimate bad boy. More alpha than I probably knew what to do with. “Try it,” I taunted.
He gripped my shirt and gave a vicious yank, dragging me into his body. Breathing hard through his nose, he held me there.
My heart kicked up, my skin tingling, as if coated in tiny little livewires just waiting to connect with his and explode into an electrical storm of raw pain and passion.
His lips screwed into an angry snarl. “You want to fuck, or fight, Lucy? Because I’m down for either at the moment.”
“What if I want both?”
He blinked before clamping his eyes shut, like I’d just diffused a bomb inside of him. “You’re killing me, woman.”
“Do what you want, Jase. You don’t belong to me. You never did.” I pushed against him to release me, but his grip tightened.
“The fuck I don’t.” His mouth slammed against mine, grinding and bruising my lips in a clash of teeth and tongue, and only the vague awareness of movement hit me before the wall crashed into my back.
Angry pulses of jealousy coursed through my veins, tempered by the curl of his fingers around my waist, confessing his own. A tight wall of muscle slid past my fingers, as I glided them across his shoulders and gave a push, fighting against my irrepressible obsession with the man’s lips.
His lips. God, did he just kiss her with them? “Did you—”
“No. I’m incurably crazy about you, woman.” His head dipped to my neck, the nip at my throat telling me he wasn’t done yet. “I can’t fucking think.” The purr in his voice had my knees weak while he kissed along my collarbone. “About anything but …” Teeth grazing my bone, he made his way to the sensitive spot at my neck and shoulder, inciting a shiver. “… how fucking good it feels to be inside of you.”
My lips parted, as his palm gripped my thigh, hiking it over his hip, and he pressed into me.
&
nbsp; “You’ve got my head so fucked up right now, Lucy. But finding you on some motherfucker’s lap is enough to make me lose my shit. 'The hell did you think that’d do to me?”
“I didn’t think at all. Maybe you’ve got my head fucked up, too.”
He leaned forward, claiming my mouth in a white-hot kiss that had the room spinning, and left my body alternating between hot and cold, anger and passion.
A visual of him kissing the other woman flashed behind my lids, and I dug my fingers into his muscles, dragging my nails across his skin.
He reciprocated, biting my lip, a deep animalistic sound vibrating in his chest as he dry-fucked me against the wall.
Tugging at his wrist, I guided his hand to the front of my jeans, and when he pulled away, staring at me without a single sound beyond the merging of our frantic breaths, I nodded. It took a few seconds of fumbling with my jeans before he had them tugged down, mid-thigh, and as he dropped to his knees, my hands searched for something to brace myself.
Oh, shit.
48
Jase
I tore away her panties and breathed in that mouthwatering scent, letting it cast a shudder through my muscles. “So fucking wet.” I pushed a finger inside of her and, as she squirmed against me, so small and soft, a mewling whimper escaping her lips, my body hardened.
Her fingers curled around the back of my neck, squeezing my nape, and she bucked against me. Nails digging into my scalp, she let out a quiet grunt.
God help the poor bastard who might’ve walked in at that moment, because I’d have destroyed anything that got in my way of devouring her beautiful pussy. Frantic to tear into her, I dove tongue first into her perfect cunt and groaned with the first suck of her clit. Fuck me. I pressed my thumbs to her lips, spreading her open, revealing the pink seam that tasted like absolute fucking ruin.
