by E. C. Land
“Did you see her out there?” One of them says.
“Oh, I saw her,” another cackles.
“It was pathetic,” a third voice states.
“More like gross. I mean, did you see how she was dancing with those two chicks that came in with the hotties from that club? She must be a lesbian,” the first woman snickers.
Oh God, they’re talking about me.
“I saw and I felt like I needed to bleach my eyes out. I mean seriously. What do those men see in women like them. Give me a chance at one of them, especially the dark haired broody one that came up to the bar near us. I don’t know why he’s kept his eyes trained on that ugly bitch when he could have this,” the third one giggles.
Are they talking about Shadow?
I’m going to be sick, leaning against the stall’s wall, I close my eyes to keep that from happening.
“I know he could do so much better than her. Maybe we should approach him again and give him a taste of what he could have. Show him he deserves better than some twit who would throw herself at two women rather than him,” the second woman taunts.
Do they know I’m in here?
I don’t think they do, but I wish they would leave. I need to get out of here. Get away from this place.
“We should. That hottie looks like he could rock all of our worlds in one setting,” the first woman giggles.
The other two women burst into a fit of giggles right along with her. A moment later the giggling dies down and the door to the restroom opens and closes behind them.
I stay where I am for several more minutes trying to get ahold of the tears ready to spill from my eyes. Feeling somewhat like I can leave the room, I suck in a deep breath and step out of the stall. Washing my hands really quick, I mumble the birthday song in my head, since you’re supposed to wash your hands for twenty seconds.
With dry hands, I open the door and step into the hallway. I glance between the two ways warring with myself. Go back to the party and pretend to have a good time or go out the back exit.
It’s not a very long battle, as I turn toward the exit at the end of the hallway, pushing through the doorway into the alleyway.
Most people would say this was stupid, but right now I don’t care. Strolling quickly to the mouth of the alleyway, I look in both directions and move down the sidewalk until I’m able to flag down a taxi.
When the taxi stops at the curb, I climb in the back and close the door.
“Where to, Miss?” the driver asks politely, and I give him my address.
Fifteen minutes later, yep I counted the minutes by the seconds until the driver pulled into the apartment complex, since I didn’t have my wallet with my credit card or cash on me, I asked him to wait a moment so that I could run inside and grab him the cash for the fee. He must have known I was upset because he agreed without sounding annoyed.
Once I have the driver paid and head back inside, I lock the door behind me and lean against the wood. Sliding against the thing, I fall to my butt where I finally let the tears fall from my eyes.
Tonight, has to be one of the worst nights I’ve ever experienced in my life. And that’s saying something considering all the shit I’ve been through in my life. Only this time, the pain goes deeper than before, because I now know I’m disgusting. Which explains why Shadow would never ever in a million years look at me. Let alone want to be around me.
My life officially sucks beyond belief.
Chapter Four
Shadow
“Has anyone seen Luna?” One of the chicks that came in with Luna asks as the two of them approach the section my brothers and I were sitting in. I hadn’t bothered to find out their names since I honestly didn’t give a damn.
I did however give a damn about the hard-on I was hiding from watching the way Luna moved on the dance floor with all the women. After whatever Raven whispered to her when she’d first got to the club, something inside her shifted and fuck if it wasn’t hot watching her have fun.
Didn’t know she had it in her to not only look like a walking sex magnet, but she captured my attention. That’s something hard to do. Plus, a part of me, a major part of me, wanted to discipline her for not only hiding such beauty behind the dull persona, but for being a fuckin’ cock tease on the dance floor for every fucker in this club. I wanted to demand she only dance the way she did for me in my room.
“Luna went to the bathroom ten minutes ago and still hasn’t come back.” I whip my head around to face Victoria as she states something I already know. I’d seen her head that way.
“Did you see the women that came from that way a few minutes ago? They were laughing their tails off and pointing in our direction,” Raven mutters.
“I think we should go check on her,” Tinsley states.
“I agree,” the other chick who came with Luna murmurs.
“Come on,” Victoria states as all the ol’ ladies and Luna’s two friends head in the direction of the hallway leading to the restrooms.
“What the fuck is with women always going to the bathroom together?” Whip grumbles from next to me.
“Better they go together than alone,” Venom mutters, lifting his beer to his mouth.
“I don’t know about you all but I’m thinking us single brothers should head out to DP for some real fun,” Nerd says, shoving his phone back in his pocket. He’d been on the damn thing the entire time.
“I’m down with that,” Whip chuckles, getting to his feet.
“Shit, might as well,” I mutter, my gaze darting back to the hallway to see the women coming back a worried look on their faces.
“What’s up, Doll?” Stoney asks the moment Rachel was in reaching distance of him.
“Luna wasn’t in the bathroom,” she says.
“What?” I demand, becoming angry.
“You don’t think someone took her, do you?” Tinsley asks, moving to where Coyote was standing.
“I don’t know, Luce Mia. We’ll find out though,” he says cupping her cheek.
“I’m going to go find out what those bitches were talking about,” Victoria declares, her gaze focused on the direction of the bar. Turning my head to see who the fuck she’s staring daggers at.
“You talking about those three at the bar?” I ask Victoria, as I take in the three women who I’d ignored earlier when I’d gone up to the bar to grab a beer.
“Yep. Those are the ones who came out of the hallway earlier cackling like a bunch of hyenas as they looked at all of us,” she hisses.
“Let’s worry about that later and find out where Luna is.” Stoney’s voice warrants no room for argument.
“I’ll go speak with security,” Nerd states.
“I’ll come with you,” I grumble.
“We’ll go talk to the manager,” Tracker mutters, pulling Victoria against him.
“I’ll take Raven outside to see if maybe she’s out there.” Nodding at Blaze, I catch Stoney’s gaze for a moment. This shit could go sideways easily if she’d been taken again. Considering we’d given our word to her father that she was safe with us.
Now she’s missing and when I find out what happened to her, all hell will break loose. I don’t give a fuck who caused her to go missing.
“You got to be fuckin’ kidding me. How stupid could she be? Walking out the back exit the way she did,” I snarl as I watch the security feed with Nerd.
“Look at the expression on her face,” he growls, rewinding the footage again and pointing to the screen. “The feed’s somewhat grainy but you can definitely see she’s upset and the way she looks in the direction back to the main room to the back exit you can easily see she was contemplating coming back.”
“So, she fuckin’ left the club without telling a fuckin’ soul she left. Where the fuck did she go?” My lip curls into a sneer, I’m so fuckin’ pissed with her right now.
Luna’s one selfish bitch for leaving the club and not telling anyone she was leaving the way she did.
“Accordin
g to the alert I just received, she’s home,” Nerd says pressing his fingers against his phone. “Oh fuck.” Color drains from his face as he stares down at the screen.
“What?” I demand.
“Brother, she’s not good,” he murmurs turning the phone for me to see.
Taking the device from him, I glance down and fuck if what I see doesn’t gut me. “I’m going over there. Don’t tell the girls what you just saw. I’ll deal with her. Just tell them she’s home,” I state, throwing his phone to him.
“Yeah, you finally gonna claim the girl,” Nerd chuckles.
I don’t respond to his jokes, instead, I flip the asshole off as I storm out of the office to the security room of the club. I stalk through the main room where people were still dancing having a good time, as I pass my Prez, I give him a chin lift while I head for the exit.
I’m not about to waste time explaining shit. Not with what I’d just seen on Nerd’s phone. No, I need to get out of here and to Luna’s.
Pulling into the apartment complex Luna lives in, I park my bike in the spot directly next to her car. Shutting my girl off, I climb off the back of her and storm toward the door. The entire way here, I tried to beat back the anger I’m still holding onto; however, the vision of Luna crying alone spurs it on. She never should have left the club.
Shit, the woman could have easily spoken with one of the ol’ ladies about what happened rather than left us all fuckin’ worried for nothing. Instead Luna pulls this stunt which has garnered her a punishment. One I’ll be handing her once I make sure she’s okay and find out what the fuck happened. Maybe if her reasons are good enough, I might lessen the amount of times she gets my hand against her ass.
Not really. Nothing warrants her leaving without letting anyone know. That shit doesn’t fly with me.
Storming up the stairs, I step in front of her door and pound my fist against the door, “Luna, open the fuck up,” I snarl.
“Go away,” she yells from the other side of the door.
“Swear to fuck, Luna, you open this door, or I’ll break it the fuck down. Now, open the fuck up,” I yell, pounding on the door once again.
“Go away, Shadow.” I hear her muffled voice through the barrier between us.
“Dude, keep it the hell down. If the lady doesn’t want to open the door then leave her be, man.” This comes from Luna’s neighbor, who decided to stick his head out the door and put his two cents in.
“Asshole, I suggest you step back into your fuckin’ apartment and leave me and my woman to deal with our shit without the audience of your ass watching,” I snarl at him and turn my attention back to the door. “Luna, open the door, I won’t tell you a-fuckin’-gain.” This time I hear the click of the locks as she unlocks the door.
A long frustrating moment later, Luna opens the door and I barrel through grabbing hold of her as I go. Using my foot, I kick the door closed as I twirl Luna in my arms.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Luna’s eyes widen and she rears back as I yell at her. “Kitten, you don’t flinch away from me. I’m not going to fuckin’ hurt you,” I growl, using a firm tone.
“W–Why are you here, Shadow?” she asks quietly, her gaze cast down to the floor.
Oh, fuck me she would be a fuckin’ superb sub for me.
Don’t even think about it.
Now’s not the time.
“You know why I’m here, and you fuckin’ know what you did. What I want is for you to fuckin’ tell me what the fuck you were thinking,” I snap.
“You say fuck a lot,” she mutters, her gaze still casted away for me.
“Excuse me?” I demand.
“Umm . . . you said fuck eleven times from the moment you hit my door with your fist.” Is this chick for real right now?
“Kitten, now is not the time for you to be fuckin’ cute with me,” I growl as I release my grip on her arms and turn toward the door to lock up. Seems tonight I’ll be showing Luna just what happens when you fuck up.
Eyeballing the locks, I’m surprised to see she has more than the normal person would.
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself.
“Thirteen,” she whispers.
Jesus fuckin’ H. Christ.
“Why are you counting how many times I use the word fuck?”
Instead of answering my question, Luna rolls her bottom lip between her teeth and clasps her hands together.
If I weren’t so fuckin’ pissed with her right now for leaving the club the way she did, I’d pull her into my arms and bite her bottom lip myself.
Shit, no one has ever caused me to lose control besides once and it was never sexually. Luna is definitely testing my patience.
“I asked you a question, Kitten, you have until I count to three to start talking. One . . . Two . . .”
“I was upset.”
“You were upset.” I repeat.
“Th–they said something. I–I didn’t want to embarrass anyone more than I already had,” she murmurs.
“Embarrass who?” My gut twists and my anger rises, again.
Lifting her gaze for the first time to meet my gaze head-on she answers me with one I didn’t expect to come out of her mouth.
“You.”
Chapter Five
Luna
I can barely breathe as I stare up into Shadow’s gorgeous eyes. Not just gorgeous, he’s absolutely magnificent. The brown in them is so dark they’re almost black right now and the way they seemed to blaze with a fire in them from the moment he stepped into my apartment. Yeah, so all in all Shadow is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
I can sense he’s not just any type of man either. No, he’s dominant and his essence seems to command the room. Especially right now.
“Me?” he growls, eyes narrowing as he waits for me to answer him.
Instead of answering him, I cast my eyes back to the floor and nod my head.
“Luna, look at me,” he commands, closing the distance between the two of us and placing his hands on my hips.
Lifting my head back up to face him, I divert my gaze to look over his shoulder.
“I won’t tell you again, Luna,” he growls closing the little bit of space between us until my body is flush against his and I have no choice but to meet his gaze as he tilts his head down. “Tell me, why would you embarrass me?”
“Because I’m disgusting,” I murmur, softly. It takes everything in me to keep the tears from spilling from my eyes.
“Who told you this?” Shadow demands, his body tensing.
I shake my head in response, I don’t want to further humiliate myself. I’ve done enough of this tonight.
“Luna?” Since he stepped into the apartment that’s the sixth time he’s said my name. Not including the times he called me Kitten. Which I have to admit, I liked, like a lot.
“Swear, woman, if you do not start talking right this fuckin’ minute, I’m taking you to your room lifting that dress, exposing your ass, and spanking you into next week.” Oh God that did not just cause me to clench my legs together. “You’d like that wouldn’t you, Kitten. Maybe instead, I should tie your ass to the bed until you answered me,” he growls, the tone in his voice grows husky as his head dips closer to my own.
“Umm,” I murmur, licking my lips nervously.
“Fuck me, lick your lip again and I’ll bite it,” he growls.
“Umm.” My mind blanks of what I was going to say.
“You need to answer my fuckin’ question, Kitten, right fuckin’ now,” he commands, his hands tightening the grip he has on my hips.
Knowing I best explain, I nod my head and look down at Shadow’s chest. “They came in the bathroom laughing, I was about to open the door to wash my hands. At first, I didn’t realize who they were talking about until they mentioned me dancing with Victoria and Raven. And then how you were staring at me. I didn’t know you were. I–I was just having fun for once. I didn’t mean to embarrass anyone. Not you or my friends. It’s why I left. I didn’t
want to cause any more problems than I’d already done. I . . .”
“Luna, stop right there. Don’t say another word,” Shadow demands, harshly, interrupting me before I could continue telling him everything.
Snapping my mouth shut, I peek up at him to find his eyes glittering with anger.
Great.
I’ve made him even madder than he already is.
Instead of laying into me like I thought Shadow was about to, he surprises me by grabbing hold of my hand and dragging me to my bedroom where he sits on the side of my bed and all but throws me over his lap.
“What . . .” I don’t get another word out before the bottom of my dress is at my waist and I jerk at the searing pain of Shadow’s palm landing against my ass. He does this again on my other cheek.
Shadow delivers several more heat spanks, never touching the same spot twice. Only when I was on the verge of Nirvana did he stop causing me to whimper in need.
Lifting me off his lap, Shadow strips the dress from my body and tosses me onto the bed.
“Shadow?” I whisper as I hold my hands over my breasts to cover myself.
“Quiet,” he demands, sharply, as he removes his belt.
Leaning over me, he grips both my wrists and wraps the belt around them. “Shad . . .”
“Told you to be quiet,” he snaps, pulling my arms over my head and looping the belt to my headboard.
Once he has me secured, Shadow jumps off the bed. Removing his cut, he places it on top of my dresser. His shirt follows, leaving him clad in only his jeans.
“Now it’s your turn to fuckin’ listen to me,” Shadow grumbles. “From now on when the two of us are alone you call me David. When I have you naked you only call me ‘Sir’. Am I understood?”
Since he hadn’t given me permission to speak, I merely nod my head.
“Good, now I’m going to give you three colors you need to remember. Kiwi for if there’s something you really like. Banana for something you’re uncomfortable with but not to the point I won’t try it again. Raspberry if it’s a no-go. Got me?”
