Stupid. Stupid. Stupid, I think to myself and turn the knob and open the door.
My heart plummets to the pit of my stomach when the door slams shut, stopping me from escaping. His breath is hot on the back of my neck, his cologne etching itself in my mind. My pulse quickens, and I swear I can feel the blood as it rushes through my veins.
I heard once that your life flashes before your eyes right as you’re about to die. I never understood that concept or believed the ideology, but it’s true. My graduation, prom, and the kids I’ll never get to have, play on a loop in my head.
He sweeps my hair to the side, his finger dragging along my skin in the process. I squeeze my eyes shut, silently mouthing a prayer while I wait for the inevitable.
He’s going to kill me.
“What are you doing here, amore?” Easton asks while caging me in with his front pressed to my back.
Chapter Two
Easton
Her skin erupts with goosebumps as the question leaves my mouth. I’m not sure if it’s from my touch, my voice, or the sheer panic she’s feeling, but regardless, it does something to me.
“Are you going to answer?” I ask, waiting for a reply to my first question. I’m hoping she’ll respond the way every woman does to me. Submissive. Respectful. But the instance from this morning tells me I’m a fool to think that.
She releases a shaky breath and faces me slowly, keeping her eyes pointed to the ground. “I was coming to apologize for my behavior this morning, but I can see you’re busy, so I’ll come back another time,” she says, her words slightly jumbled.
She heads for the door again and tries to open it, but my palm is still planted on it firmly. She tries over and over and I chuckle at her attempts. “You know I can’t let you do that, but I admire the fight in you.”
Her head falls, and her hand slips from the handle. A sad sigh leaves her lips and she shifts in my direction, but this time, her eyes catch mine. “Please don’t kill me,” she begs.
“Kill you?” I scoff, and she nods, her gray eyes growing glassy. “I’m not the one who turns to murder first thing. Jude, on the other hand…” I trail off and point over my shoulder. Just like clockwork, I can hear the weight of his steps when he exits the back room.
“Fucking hell, Easton. How many times have I told you it isn’t a good idea to bring pussy here? It never ends well. They get attached, then come back at the most inconvenient times—like now,” he booms behind me.
My brother doesn’t take well to curveballs—the unexpected. It throws him off his game, boils his blood, makes him uncomfortable. A combination that doesn’t end well for those involved.
“For once, this isn’t one of my conquests.” I shrug, pulling the girl further into the store. “She works down the street.” I tilt my head to observe her further. “She’s a sassy little thing.” I smirk. “Chewed my ass for parking in her spot this morning. But she’s come to apologize for said ass-chewing. How sweet is that?” I smile, showing all of my teeth.
“Please,” she starts again. “I didn’t see anything. I won’t tell a soul.”
Jude scoffs with a fake smile. “Then you wouldn’t know to keep your mouth shut, now would you?” He pauses but continues when she remains silent. “Lovely. So, what’s the next move, E? Kill her and have to explain to Dad why we needed to call our friends at the crematory? Or let her go and risk her flapping her fucking tongue?”
I weigh my options carefully. This can go one of many ways, but I want the best outcome. I trace my eyes over her again. She’s scared, and she should be. I don’t know how long she lurked behind the door, but she definitely witnessed things no one should have. Her long brown hair falls in soft waves around her face, doing its best to shield her features, but I still see the terror shining in her eyes.
I squeeze her small biceps in my hand and tug her closer to me. The smell of her shampoo infiltrates my nose and sends a pleasant tingle down my spine, but I will it away. “We aren’t going to kill her, Jude.”
“We can’t afford a fuck-up, and you know it.” When I look at him, his dark eyes level with mine. Jude pulls his knife from its sheath on the waist of his pants.
I hold up my hand with my spine zipped straight. “I’ll handle it.”
He shakes his head slowly then glances between the girl and me. “Dad won’t like this,” he warns.
“Yeah? And Dad can choke on my dick. I said I’ve got this, which includes dealing with him. So, fuck off.”
Jude steps forward, and the girl pushes into my side, the subtle act setting the dominant sadist inside me on fire. She fears him, but then most people do—he’s big and angry-looking. I watch the side of her face, some twisted part of me loving how feeble she’s become. What a gullible woman she must be. A surprise, really, considering this isn’t the side of her I met earlier today. Right now, Jude is the villain to her, and that changes things for her, but what she doesn’t know is I’m worse than him.
“There is more than one solution to problems than killing people, Jude.”
He shakes his head with a chuckle. “You take the fun out of everything. Fucking killjoy, Easton.”
I squint my eyes at him. “Killjoy? No, you fucking idiot. I’m trying to find the best way to go about this shit. Murder isn’t the answer to everything, psycho.”
He shrugs and slips his knife back into its leather spot on the waist of his jeans. “It depends on who you ask.”
“Just go handle Iman, and I’ll deal with her,” I wave him off and I turn back to the girl. “What’s your name?”
She swallows hard. “Arloe.”
“Arloe,” I test her name on my tongue, seeing how it feels and how easily it rolls off. “First, let me explain—”
“Oh no.” She cuts me off, holding up her hands. “There is no need to explain. I’m just going to leave, and we can act like I was never here.”
I try to hide the grin that’s begging to escape. She thinks I’m crazy, and a smile at a time like this would only add to that theory, but something about Arloe intrigues me. I want to get inside her head. I want to tame her.
“Go on a date with me,” I say calmly, ignoring her previous statement.
She tips her head and looks around the now empty store like she’s trying to find someone else I could be talking to. “What?”
I cross my wrists in front of me. “You heard me. Have dinner with me.”
“I—date—” She shakes her head. “Is this a joke?” Her eyes widen while she waits for my response.
“No. If you want to walk out of here alive, then go out with me.”
“And if I say no?” she asks gingerly.
“No one ever tells me no, Arloe. I’m a powerful man and have ways of getting what I want.”
Her eyebrows knit together, and her eyes bounce between me and the entrance of the store. I glance behind me to look out the glass. Darkness blankets the town, and the streets are bare. If she were to make a run for it, it would be easy to catch her, but it’s still not a risk I’m willing to take.