“How do you suggest I approach the girl without causing issues with Tanaka before you’re ready to introduce us?” Elliot asked.
I tensed as Tanaka pushed the girl down onto his lap, his hand snaking up her thigh, forcing her legs apart. She squirmed, abundantly uncomfortable with Tanaka’s coercion. He gripped her around the throat and said something that made her freeze and had her eyes filling with terror.
“Never mind,” Elliot barked. “I got this.”
Elliot’s tall, commanding figure cut through the crowds as if they weren’t even there. I knew that body language, had seen it in action on many occasions. Hiroto Tanaka was about to learn a valuable lesson.
Picking up my glass of water, I waited for the fun to unfold.
I didn’t get to see it.
Something much more shocking caught my eye and diverted my attention. A woman holding a tray of drinks above her head weaved in between the crammed tables. I squinted, my body automatically leaning forward. It couldn’t be… except it was.
A sickening feeling unfurled in my stomach. Athena? What the actual fuck?
I shot a quick look at Elliot. If he saw his sister working in a joint like this when she was supposed to be traveling the world and having fun—on Elliot’s dime—I’d have to peel him off the ceiling. He’d lose his shit in a major way. Elliot had a fiery enough temper at the best of times—one he did his utmost to control—the fear of turning into his father never far below the surface. Elliot worried that nature would overcome nurture. I thought that was bullshit, and I’d told him so on several occasions. Elliot could no more use his fists against a woman than I could. Yet, for him, it was a real concern, and one I knew gave him sleepless nights on occasion.
Setting my glass on the bar, I made a beeline for her, my trademark calm at risk of failing me when a jerk grabbed Athena’s ass as she passed by his table. The glasses on her tray wobbled, but she kept her balance. She bent down and spoke to him, giving me, and half the fucking club, a perfect view of her tits spilling over the top of the club’s slutty uniform—another change I’d be making on day one. And from this angle, Athena wasn’t offering a mere glimpse. She’d given away the top prize.
Whatever she said to the guy seemed to pacify him, allowing her to move away without further mauling. I almost deviated from my course to break the bastard’s arm. Instead, I took a deep breath and stalked after her as she weaved between the tables, placing down drinks and accepting tips… that one asshole shoved into her fucking bra.
Enough already.
I glanced over my shoulder at Elliot, relieved to see him deep in conversation with a pissed-off-looking Tanaka instead of paying any heed to me. Good. At least something was going right.
Athena finished serving the last drink on her tray, but as she set off toward the bar to collect her next order, I stepped into her path, cutting her off.
“Hello, Athena,” I said, smiling coldly.
Her eyes widened so much that I could see the whites all the way around her amber irises, one of Athena’s many striking features. That had always been her problem. Athena was too fucking beautiful for her own good. Ever since I’d known her, she’d used her attractiveness to get away with murder, often succeeding, much to the chagrin of her parents and her brother. Shame she didn’t have more of the traits of her namesake. She should have been named Eris, goddess of a fuck load of trouble.
“Ryker? Wh-what are you doing here?” she stammered, her eyes darting left and right. “Is Elliot with you?”
“Unfortunately for you, darling, yes, he is.” I clutched her upper arm and spun her around, propelling her forward.
She jerked her shoulder upward. I held on tighter, and a hiss emerged from her lips.
“You’re hurting me.”
“And you’ll hurt Elliot if he sees you here behaving like some slut.”
“I am not a slut!”
Arching a brow, I glared down at her. “No? You’re doing a fabulous impression of one.”
I opened a door to one of the private rooms for hire. Luckily it wasn’t inhabited. Not that it would have made a difference if I’d walked in on some fifty-year-old getting his cock sucked by a girl young enough to be his daughter. One icy glare from me, and I guarantee he’d have left so fast his pants would have still been around his ankles.
“In,” I barked at Athena.
She glanced past me, undoubtedly assessing her options.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Her shoulders bowed, and she stepped into the room.
I followed, locked the door, and stood with my back to it. “Talk, Athena.”
She folded her arms over her chest and pouted. “I have nothing to say to you.”
I gritted my teeth at her infantile response. Give me fucking strength. I removed the key from the lock, pocketed it, then went to sit on the couch at the foot of the bed. Slipping my cell from my pocket I sent a quick text to Elliot in case he noticed me missing and decided to investigate my whereabouts.
Something’s come up. BBL. Get as much information from the girl as you can.
“Fine,” I said, glancing up at Athena with hooded eyes. “Then it’ll be a long night for both of us.” I crossed my left ankle over my right knee and fiddled with my cufflinks. “I’ve got the time. Have you?”
She huffed loudly. “You can’t keep me in here against my will.”
I lifted my head slowly, my gaze steady and uncompromising. “We both know I can and, if it suits me, I will.”
“And what if I scream?”
I traced my bottom lip with the tip of my forefinger, a habit I’d had since childhood. “Go ahead. Scream. It’s hardly an unusual occurrence in a sex club.”
She cast a fierce glare my direction. “Fuck you.”
I stifled a grin. Her comeback amused me, even if it wasn’t the most articulate of responses. “Come on, Athena. All that money poured into the highest quality college education, and that’s the best quip you can think of?” I tutted. “Dear oh dear.”
“You’re an asshole, Ryker. You always have been.”
“And you’re a spoiled little brat. I guess no amount of money can cure you of that ailment.”
She flipped me off and flounced over to the bed, plunking herself on the end. Head bent, she picked at the skin around her fingernails and whistled.
I smirked. If Athena thought she could best me, she was wrong. If I didn’t get the answers in this room—and I probably wouldn’t stay here much longer in case we were interrupted—I’d get them at the hotel, or on the plane when I forced her to return home, or after we arrived back in the US. One way or another, she’d tell me what the fuck she thought she was doing working tables in a shithole like this, especially as she most definitely didn’t need the money. And if she’d been doing more than serving drinks…
I dug my fingernails into my palms as an uncomfortable prickling sensation crept across the back of my neck. Nope, not going there. I’d kill every son of a bitch who’d laid a finger on her.
My cell buzzed, providing me with a welcome distraction from the thoughts racing through my mind. Removing it from my pocket, I glanced at the screen. A text from Elliot.
Okay. I’ve got her. She’s pretty scared. I’ll see what I can find out.
I rose to my feet, adjusted my cufflinks, then crossed the room and opened the door. I jerked my head toward the hallway. “Out, Athena.”
She flashed me a triumphant smile. Aww, poor little lamb thought I was letting her go. As she drew alongside me, I clasped her hand and played my trump card. “Let’s go see Elliot.”
She skidded to a halt, pointlessly wriggling to try to free herself. “No! Please, Ryker, don’t.”
To the uneducated observer, it would seem as if Athena was scared of Elliot. She wasn’t, though, not in the slightest. They were as close as siblings could be, probably because of their difficult early years. No, what worried Athena was disappointing him. She’d slit her own wrists before upsetting Elliot. I’d known Ell
iot virtually all my life—unlike the rest of the ROGUES guys who we’d first met in college—and ever since Athena could walk, she’d looked up to him, her respect for the one true superhero in her life beyond reproach.
“You give me no choice. If you won’t tell me what you’re doing here, when Elliot thinks he’s funding your round-the-world trip so you can ‘discover yourself’, then perhaps you’ll tell him.”
She kicked the door shut, keeping us inside the room. “I’ll talk, okay. Just not here. Please, Ryker, I know you hate me, but don’t tell Elliot.”
A dull ache surfaced from deep within my chest. I didn’t hate Athena. She annoyed the fuck out of me with her lack of direction, her tendency to revert to ‘drama queen’ tactics if she thought it would give her an edge in winning the battle—or the war. Her flighty attitude. But hate? No, what I felt for Athena was, unfortunately and uncomfortably, far removed from hate.
And therein lies the problem. So much for avoiding the woman who held the key to my ruin. And now, instead of staying clear of her, I’d have to sort her shit out.
“Okay. I’ll take you back to my hotel where I can keep an eye on you. You get one chance, one, Athena, to tell me what’s going on, or I’ll call Elliot and you can tell him instead.”
I opened the door once more and, with my hand pressed against the small of her back, eased her forward. As I turned to head back into the main part of the club, she stopped, her eyes darting around frantically.
“Let’s go out the back way,” she said.
“Elliot’s busy,” I replied. “We won’t bump into him.”
“But we might see Hiroto or one of the other supervisors. Technically, I’m supposed to be working.”
She had a point. Nodding my agreement, I allowed her to take the lead. We ended up in a back alley behind the club. I gripped her hand and headed for the front where my driver would be waiting. He leaped out of the car when he spotted me and opened the rear door. I hustled Athena inside, then followed.
“Hotel, please,” I said, immediately activating the screen to separate the front and back. “Buckle up, Athena.”
I spent the journey back to the hotel answering emails that had come in during the last two hours, while Athena buzzed with irritation beside me. We drew to a halt underneath a large concrete canopy in front of the hotel. I got out, waited for Athena to follow, then clutched her hand again. I didn’t trust her not to run off. She wouldn’t get far—I’d run track in college—but an attempt wasn’t out of the question.
We took the elevator up to my penthouse suite. Elliot occupied the only other one. A risk, maybe, but my suite was big enough to hide Athena should Elliot come by unexpectedly.
I went into the bathroom and returned with a robe. “Put this on,” I said, anticipating an argument and armed with a cutting response.
Athena surprised me by accepting it without making a fuss. She slipped her arms inside and fastened the belt, then wandered over to the large picture window and stared at the street far below. The lights from the surrounding buildings cast a shadow across her face. I stood in place, watching her, a deepening ache hollowing out my chest.
I tore my gaze away. I needed to get back to the club and deal with Tanaka before Elliot became too suspicious and started asking questions. Quizzing Athena on what the fuck she thought she was doing working in a sex club would have to wait. But, equally, I couldn’t leave her alone. I knew her far too well. The second my back was turned, she’d run.
Fortunately for me—not so much for her—I had contacts all over the globe. For all its benefits, enormous wealth also brought with it a shit ton of problems, the need for security on occasion an unwelcome necessity. But in this case, having those contacts worked in my favor. I texted a trusted individual, a man I’d used for personal protection on various occasions when traveling through the Far East. He responded within seconds, promising someone would be with me in five minutes.
Now that was service.
Athena turned around, leaning against the window with her arms folded over her chest. She looked so small and lost swathed in the thick toweling robe, but when it came to Athena, appearances were deceptive. One momentary concentration lapse, and she’d knee me in the balls.
“When does the interrogation begin?” A knock at the door startled her. She widened her eyes. “If that’s Elliot, don’t let him in,” she begged, panic bleeding into her tone.
“Don’t worry, darling. It’s not Elliot.”
I opened the door and smiled at the man waiting outside. “Three minutes. Impressive.” Standing back, I allowed him to enter.
“Who’s this?” Athena demanded.
Ignoring Athena’s question, I cut my eyes to the guard. “Don’t let her out of your sight. And don’t believe a word she says.”
I left the suite with Athena’s spluttering indignations ringing in my ears.
2
Athena
I shot a glance at the big oaf Ryker had installed to…to… what? Keep an eye on me. Babysit me as if I was twelve. I curled my hands into fists, my laser-sharp stare ferocious enough to burn holes in his face.
In response he yawned, hoisted up his pants, and plopped onto the sofa. He promptly began picking at his teeth.
Asswipe.
Also… urgh. Filthy habit.
And then my mind turned away from Mr. Disgusting to the important shit.
Ryker left. He goddamn went and left.
He’d always had more than his fair share of arrogance. Even as a teenager, he’d exuded power, control, dominance. It was one of the many things that first brought him to my attention, morphed him from my brother’s best friend to the man who invaded my every thought, ingraining himself so deeply in the very fiber of my being, nothing could scrape him out.
Wanting Ryker was the very reason I found myself here in Japan. Taking a job in this club hadn’t been part of the plan—I’d find a way to pay Hiroto back for giving me no choice—but after all those years mooning after Ryker and getting nowhere, I’d needed to get away. My obsession with him had poisoned me from the inside out, turning me into a petulant, bitter, jealous woman I barely recognized. I tried forgetting him, but it was like he’d put a hex on me. That was why I’d left the US, gone traveling, and for six months it had worked—kind of—until he’d walked into that damned club.
Why me? I’d been a sweetish kid. Worked hard at school, showed respect to my parents, looked up to my big brother. Hadn’t I earned a dose of normal teenage hormones instead of these mutants with an inbuilt homing beacon that led me to him?
Ryker ‘Jackass’ Stone.
I tried to ignore my obsession, to date other guys, but when they put their lips, their hands on me, revulsion always knocked me sideways. Nature had played a terrible trick, and I was the hapless victim. I’d been hard-wired to open my heart—and my legs—for only one man.
The one I couldn’t have.
Teed off with Ryker, I stomped across the living room and opened the first door I came to. Good. A spare room. After using the bathroom, I scraped the thick makeup off my face as best I could without proper cleanser. How long did Ryker plan to be? Where had he gone? I glanced at my watch. One in the morning. What could he be doing at this time of night?
Or rather, who.
Jealousy roared through me, setting fire to my chest, and my fingers and toes prickled as poison filled my veins. Simply the idea of Ryker with another woman was enough to make me want to give myself a frontal lobotomy so I wouldn’t have to deal with this pain any longer. The thought that, right this second, his hands were possibly on her smooth skin, touching her intimately, pushing his cock inside her…
Nope. Not going there.
I pulled back the covers and climbed into bed. Turning on my side, I tucked my hand beneath the pillow and tried not to think about the one time I’d caught Ryker off guard enough to give me what I wanted, what I craved, but tonight, it seemed, the memories wouldn’t abate.
I’d been seventeen
, Ryker twenty-one. ROGUES had just been created, the six college friends fast coming to the realization that their lives were about to change in a monumental way. They’d gone out drinking, celebrating their newfound riches, testosterone-fueled, believing they could conquer the world.
I sat for hours staring out of my bedroom window that faced the front yard, waiting for them to come home, dying to lay eyes on Ryker, certain he’d return to our house. Growing up, he’d spent more time at our place than at home with his mother. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his mother. He did—fiercely—but as a single parent, she’d held down three jobs to make ends meet and, therefore, my mom became a surrogate parent. And he and Elliot were as close as brothers. Closer probably, because they chose to spend time with one another.
I’d tried to wait up, but in the end, sleep had claimed me. Scuffles and the loud whispers of drunk men who thought they were being quiet brought me back to consciousness. I’d opened my bedroom door a crack, hoping it didn’t squeak, and caught a glimpse of Elliot going into his room, and Ryker stumbling into the guest bedroom. He bashed his shoulder against the doorjamb, expelled a loud curse, then hushed himself. I giggled at his silliness, my young heart so full of adoration for this boy-turned-man who I’d effectively grown up with.
His door closed and cut off my view. I held my breath and waited for a few minutes, making sure the rest of the house was quiet. Filled with the burgeoning confidence of a girl on the precipice of womanhood, I tiptoed down the hallway. I gripped the door handle and pushed down. It opened silently.
I sneaked inside, closing the door behind me without making a sound, and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark, barely able to make out Ryker’s sleeping form. I quickly undressed and turned down the covers then slipped into his bed. The tips of my fingers danced over the smooth skin of his back, touching, memorizing, exploring.
Snuggling closer, I snaked my hand around his waist, settling my palm on his hard, flat abs. Ryker made a contented sound low in his throat. Encouraged, I kissed his shoulder, and a thrill like no other tore through me. I was in bed. With Ryker. Touching him, kissing him.
Entranced (The ROGUES Billionaire Series Book 1) Page 2
