by K B Cinder
He was easy to find thanks to his size, the beast hovering well over six feet tall and packing enough muscle to earn second and third glances. People regularly asked if he was a professional athlete, inflating his already big head all the more. He lived for that shit.
As usual, he was oblivious to my presence as he smiled down at his nectar of the night. He flashed those perfect teeth that felt as great on the skin as they looked. Every shared glance between the two walloped my gut like a bat, joining the pain inflicted by Trey’s nonsense.
Thankfully, a bartender appeared, the angel with shoulder-length dreads saving me from the anguish before it swallowed me whole.
“I’ll take a gin and tonic, please!” I called, hoping she could hear me over the music.
She smiled before vanishing to whip up the miracle drink that would settle my nerves. One was my limit, so I’d have to make it count. I was already two drinks into my shitshow of a night. I needed to be up early to hit the ground running.
I held my head down as I waited, not wanting to attract Trey from wherever the creep was hiding. I wasn’t in the mood to chase him off again. Not only was it tiring, but I hoped he was well on his way to becoming drunk enough to forget I’d slapped him by morning.
A moment later, the bartender reemerged with my drink, handing it to me across the counter. She waved off the twenty I extended in return. “Your tab is covered!” she shouted, her voice dancing with an Aussie accent.
Fuck.
I offered the twenty back to her. “Tip?”
She shook her head, smiling widely. “Already taken care of. Enjoy your night, Mrs. Well-Hung!”
I groaned, spinning to scan the crowd and quickly realizing I’d spend all night searching at the rate I was going. The pink lighting and confetti didn’t make playing Where’s Juni easy.
I took a sip of my drink and pulled my cell from my wristlet, sending a one-handed where are you text to Juni the best I could with my new talon-like acrylics. My nail artist was out of town before I left, so another filled in, a woman who apparently thought I was going for a Catwoman motif. As sexy as they looked, claws were impractical as hell.
Just like the skimpy dress I had to keep pulling down as it inched up, threatening to expose my bare ass, a lacy thong offering a whole lot of nothing in the form of coverage.
I waited, willing the phone to buzz, my eyes drifting over the crowd for a sign of the duo. This time, I did lock eyes with a pair of green Mullen eyes by the bar, ones that immediately hardened.
Sage practically dropped his Poison Ivy knockoff as soon as he saw me, pushing off the bar and marching forward. His redheaded companion looked on in shock while I scampered into the crowd, but it was no use. He was a head taller than almost everyone else and saw the maneuver a mile away.
I wasn’t in the mood for whatever trick he had coming. It’d been a long day, and I’d reached my bullshit tolerance level for a lifetime after Trey’s elevator stunt.
In the frenzy, I collided chest to chest with Trey, of all creatures. My drink splashed all over him in the crash, the liquid beading off the exposed flesh of his pecs.
“I see you’ve changed your mind,” he said with a laugh, reaching out as I recoiled in disgust. “Just had to play hard to get, huh? I love it, you sexy little minx.”
“No!” I swatted his hand, stepping back and directly into a rock-hard body —Sage’s. My lower half pressed awkwardly against his front, the outline of his overwhelming appreciation for his redheaded friend rubbing against my ass.
It had been a long time since I felt that part of him, the sensation rocketing me back to a time when nothing mattered but him.
Sage’s hands fell to my waist to push me away as Trey reached forward again, subsequently forming a nope sandwich with me at its center.
I held out a stiff arm as I was hoisted forward, my palm landing in the center of Trey’s chest and finding nothing but body oil and ew on impact.
Trey took it as an invitation, snaking a hand around my wrist. “Are you ready to go upstairs now, baby?”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Sage answered for me, promptly removing Trey’s long, bony fingers one by one from my wrist before pulling me to his side.
Trey stiffened, his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the giant whose arm draped over my shoulders. “So, you’re the Joe Schmo?”
Oh, no.
I would have given a kidney to avoid the embarrassment barreling toward me like a freight train. The fake fiancé lie would only give Trey something else to hang over my head.
“The who?” Sage raised a brow, his grip tightening around me. The muscled arm was heavy, but with the weight came security. I couldn’t help but relax into him. He was an anti-Trey missile system, if there was such a thing.
“The fiancé,” Trey muttered as he flicked his eyes between us. He didn’t buy the lie one bit, clearly.
I didn’t blame him. It didn’t take a body language expert to figure out that Sage and I couldn’t stand one another. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked like I smelled a fart having to be so close to him.
Sage assessed Trey right back as he continued to look between us suspiciously. “What’s it to you?”
Oh, thank God. I owed him a shot for that one.
Trey’s face tightened in irritation. “Everything. Karine and I go way back. I’d love to know the man that managed to steal my heart from under my nose.”
“She belongs to me.” Sage’s answer was simple, delivered with a shrug in typical cocky fashion.
Any other time, it would’ve pissed me off, but when dealing with Trey, it was brilliant. Pitting the biggest dick ever against the biggest asshole I knew was a match made in douchebag heaven.
Trey laughed, clasping his hands together in delight as he winked at me. “I didn’t know you were into that! My, my, I guess Kinx isn’t just a catchy name after all.”
Sage pulled me closer, my body flush against his. “That’s none of your concern, buddy.”
Trey switched his focus back to me. “I didn’t take you as the kind that likes a man to speak for you, Karine.”
“No man does,” I replied coolly, deciding to roll with it. I’d deal with another decade of Sage taunts over having my name trashed in the business any day. “I do prefer to keep my personal life personal, however.”
Trey’s nostrils flared, and he snapped his fingers, a shot girl appearing out of thin air. Just one of the many perks he enjoyed, I was sure. He was a god in the city of sin, after all. “Get the lady a gin and tonic,” he ordered.
“How did you…?” I began as I looked at the glass in my hand before the girl snatched it away.
“You’re steadfast and level-headed. You have gin and tonic written all over your face.”
And he had GHB plus you and me all over his, but I’d keep that tidbit to myself.
Sage scoffed, his green eyes rolling in disgust. “Or it’s because she spilled it all over you, Captain Obvious. She’s not a gin and tonic girl, bud, even if she was drinking one.”
Sage knew me; I’d give him that. I ordered a gin and tonic because it was something I could sip on that wouldn’t tempt me to have more than one.
“Oh?” Trey huffed, his chest puffing out as he rolled his shoulders back. He looked ridiculous trying to compete in size with a man that could crush him like a soda can. “What kind of girl is she, bud?”
Sage didn’t hesitate. “Sangria. The more fruit, the better.”
Exactly.
“She is a sweet one, huh?” Trey rubbed the pad of his thumb across his lower lip as he looked back to me, the glint in his eyes spelling trouble. “I tell you what, pal. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Sage’s arm tightened around me, crushing my body against his muscled trunk. “I don’t need an offer. We’re leaving.”
He went to turn away with me anchored to his side, but Trey held up a finger in pause. “Ten grand.”
Sage expelled an agitated sigh that I felt clear t
o my toes as it reverberated through his body. “What are you going on about now? This conversation is finished.”
Trey fingered the beads around his neck, his eyes never leaving my body. “Let me have her for one night, and ten thousand is yours.”
In an instant, Trey received his answer: a hand to the face.
Only this time, it wasn’t mine.
And it was a closed fist now.
5
The shit officially hit the fan.
Well, more like Trey hit the floor, but same difference, really.
He went down hard, his face no match for Sage’s sledgehammer of a fist. His artificial pout ballooned, a dribble of blood meeting the soul patch just above the cleft in his chin.
Security descended on us like locusts, pouring from the crowd in a swarm. I was roughly pushed aside by one, though Sage’s arm kept me from toppling over.
“Unnecessary!” Trey shouted, slowly easing to his feet as the bouncers gripped at Sage. Because of his size, there were twice as many around him. “Leave them be. It’s just a little gentleman’s disagreement, boys.”
“There’s nothing gentlemanly about you,” Sage spat, the rigidity of his body transforming him into steel beside me. “You’re a coward made of plastic.”
“But I’ll never go away,” Trey laughed, running his tongue over the split in his bottom lip and lapping up the blood. “Long after you’re out of the picture, I’ll still be here, buddy. I’m forever; you’re disposable. Don’t forget that.”
“You mean like your career? You’ve got what, five years left at most?” Sage goaded. “You’re pathetic. You offered to pay for sex with someone’s partner, you fucking loser.”
Trey absorbed every verbal jab with his chin implant tilted high in the air. “At least I can afford to, peasant. You really think you can keep her happy? She’s surrounded by men that can give her the world.”
Before Trey earned another fist to the face, I squeezed Sage’s wrist, his arm still looped around my shoulders. “It’s time to go. Let’s find Juni and Dash.”
Sage ignored me, staring down the walking implant. He was never one to back down from a fight. It was partly why we had been at one another’s throats for so long; we were one and the same when it came to conflict. “I’ve had her for more than ten years, champ. She’s very happy.”
Logic said he was trying to ruffle Trey’s feathers, but my heart still leapt like I was a teenager again. Truth be told, I hated the big-headed jerk, but a piece of me would always lie with him.
“Doesn’t look it,” Trey replied with a glance between us. “Karine is top-shelf pussy. You’re bottom of the barrel dick. It’s a matter of time before she refines her palate. When she does, I’ll be waiting to pressure-wash your filth off and show her how a real man fucks.”
Anger bubbled in my gut, threatening to unleash my own inner She-Hulk, an alter ego that made Sage seem tame in comparison. “You are aware I’m standing here, right?” I barked, floored that the human scum was talking about me as if I weren’t in the room, let alone in front of him.
“Very,” Trey said with a smirk. “I won’t waste any opportunity to tell you the truth, love. You’ll be in my bed eventually. You and I both know that.”
I squeezed Sage’s wrist again, knowing damn well he was on the brink of downing the jackass a second time. If he did, Trey would have a lot more than a bloodied lip to deal with. The first shot was only a jab; the second would be a real punch. “Give it up. I’ll never be in your bed.”
“It’s cute that you believe that,” Trey chuckled. “You newbies are all the same in the beginning. So young and ready to change. Guess what? If you want to make it, you fall in line, doll. That means spreading your legs as wide as I tell you to.”
I felt the flinch in Sage’s body and hooked my free hand in his, preventing the punch that would spell disaster for all involved. My hand was tiny in his and downright breakable in comparison, but it took the fight right out of him.
I relaxed into Sage’s hold, meeting Trey’s fire with my own. “I can’t wait for your world to crumble. Good luck digging yourself out of that. Then again, you could always use that implant you call a dick to try.”
His antics would catch up with him. While there were plenty of creeps to go around, there were far more good-hearted people in our community. People that knew sex should be self-empowering — not wielded as a weapon.
He didn’t appear remotely concerned at my words. In fact, he looked bored. “Powerful men always need a solid woman, Karine. A good mare to take a fucking at the end of a hard day. I’m sure you stay up waiting for this loser while he’s out laying pipe all over town. You’re a good fuck, I’m sure, but not enough to keep any man well-fed. You’d leave me starving, bitch.”
There might have been no fury like a woman scorned, but that was until Sage one-upped it and exploded like a man possessed with a demonic roar. Before he could strike, Trey slipped behind bodyguards to safety with a smug grin.
As quickly as the encounter began, it was over, more bouncers pushing us apart before all hell broke loose. That left me in Sage’s hold, his eyes hard and locked on the man in the distance, the bloodied idiot headed to the VIP section with a buffer of security like the coward he was.
Everything about Sage was hard and hot, the mass of man deserving every hungry eye cast his way in his fitted blue top and jeans. He might have been a rotten son of a bitch, but he’d always been out-of-this-world sexy.
“You need to go change,” he ordered as he let go of me abruptly, his eyes dropping from Trey.
He’d always been an asshole, too, if I hadn’t mentioned.
That explained why he’d stalked over like an angry hall monitor. I tried to ignore the way my belly clenched at his obvious jealousy. “You need to mind your own business.”
His eyes burned right through me as we locked eyes. “I’m not fucking around, Karine. And don’t accept any drinks from anyone. Not even that waitress if she comes back. You’re done for the night.”
“Oh, you’re my boss now?” I laughed, firmly planting my hands on my hips. He must have forgotten that I didn’t belong to him. I didn’t belong to anyone.
He snagged my wrist and pulled me close, his mouth dropping to my ear. “I wouldn’t put it past that sick fuck to drug you. He has enough cash to bribe people to do it, too. Stop being stupid and open your eyes.”
The warmth of his breath against my skin sent a shiver through me, though his words jabbed at my core. “They’re wide open.”
I tugged my hand free to go find Juni and Dash, not that Sage put up much of a fight. He stayed behind as I stomped away on wobbly legs, watching as I dipped into the crowds once again.
I had been in the business for years. I didn’t need him lecturing me about the dangers of the real world.
He’d already taught me rule number one: never fall in love.
I found Juni and Dash lost in one another on the dance floor, answering the question of why my text went unanswered. They were oblivious to my presence until I tapped Juni on the shoulder, her tanned flesh exposed in a halter dress.
She was radiant, her skin still sun-kissed from their trip to Cancun over winter break. Her brown waves were piled high in a top knot, a few tendrils escaping to frame her face. I’d always envied her beauty, a swipe of chapstick and eyeliner leaving the brunette breathless.
Meanwhile, I needed an act of God and a small barge of cosmetics to pass as human.
“There you are!” she slurred, the smell of rum ripe on her breath as she hauled me in for a hug. “I missed you, baby girl!”
“Missed you, too, Juni,” I murmured against her hair, its strawberry scent mixing with her booze breath to form a mid-air daiquiri. “Having a good time?”
“Oh, yeah!” She staggered back and bumped into Dash, his hands immediately moving to steady his soon-to-be-fiancée at the waist as she swayed to the song blasting overhead. “Have you had the rum punch? It’s so good! It helps you really f
eel the music!”
It was hard not to feel it. The dance floor was ten times louder than above, every boom of the bass scrambling my innards like eggs.
“None for me, babe.” As much as I would have loved one, my early-morning wakeup time was at the front of my mind. Sage’s warning was, too, but I chose to cover that unpleasantry with another.
“Is Sage still all over his little mermaid at the bar?” she shouted, looping an arm around Dash’s neck as she swung her hips.
I tried not to laugh at the moves, her motions drawn out to the umpteenth degree thanks to those rum punches she loved so much. It had been a hot second since I’d seen her more than a little buzzed. Adulting tended to do that. I was usually the dancing queen.
“He’s somewhere up there,” I replied, forcing the thought of Sage and his redheaded hottie out of my head as quickly as it arrived. “I’m sure he’s having fun.”
“Oh, yeah. Loads of fun. He’ll need a few months of penicillin once we get home,” Dash laughed, not the teensiest bit tipsy despite being a heartbeat away from promising his life to someone. I would be obliterated if I were in his shoes.
I grinned, masking the sudden stabbing where my heart had once been.
The beat came to the rescue, seducing me with its rhythm. I gave in then, truly letting go for the first time that night.
Anything to escape the storm brewing.
6
As it turned out, the early morning wakeup wasn’t so bad after all, thanks to the time difference. I was already out of the shower before my alarm sounded with If I Could Turn Back Time.
Ever the responsible one, I was back in my room and in bed by midnight — just like Cinderella. A Cinderella who sold things to shove up your chimney rather than cleaning them, of course.
With the extra time, I ventured to the breakfast buffet, grabbing a croissant that I washed down with a mimosa as I plotted the day ahead and handled customer emails.
