“Maybe we are.” I grin. “I’m not fussy, if it gives me an orgasm I’ll take it, you know what I mean?”
Shakira gasps and Esmerelda mutters something.
“You’re trash. I don’t know why they let you come back in here.”
“How’s the eyebrows? Whoever tattooed those babies on didn’t do a great job. You look like the female version of Eugene Levy.”
Esmerelda wheezes, trying to stop herself from laughing. She wasn’t at the beach house, so she got away with her eyebrows intact.
The fact is, Shakira’s brows look fantastic, you’d never know they were shaved off, but I’m not about to tell her that. No, it’s way too entertaining watching her face go a dark shade of red. She steps forward and just tips her glass of red wine over me. I gasp, leaping backward, horrified.
“You’re a fucking bitch,” she seethes.
I stare down at my gorgeous white dress. I got this myself for the event, I paid good money for it, I worked hard and saved to have something nice, and this bitch just went ahead and ruined it. She can go buy another dress, a million eyebrows and a thousand things, I can’t. I take pride in what I own. I’m done, done with her walking all over me.
I see red.
I lose it so hard.
I take a step toward her, my hand going up to her hair where I take a solid handful. She screams and I pull, I pull with all of my might, forcing her to follow me as I drag her down toward the water. She’s smaller than me, but I have that fantastic athletic build that makes me stronger than most. Because I’ve got a fistful of her hair, she has no choice but to move when I do.
I lead her right to the lake, she’s screaming and yelling, clawing at my arm. Everyone has stopped to watch in horror as I get nearer to the water. When I reach it, I let her go. She is standing with her back to the lake, facing me. Her hair is a mess and her face is red. “What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with you? You fucking bitch. I’m going to ...”
I shove her chest.
Just one little shove.
Her eyes widen, her mouth opens, and her arms flail as she falls backward, right into the water. She lands with a splash and comes up with a scream so loud two men come rushing down to fish her out. I stand and watch with a sardonic smile as her perfect hair, her made up face, and her expensive dress is all ruined. She’s screeching as she is put on her feet and her eyes zone in on me. “You’ll pay for this. You’ll pay.”
“Can’t wait. Enjoy your afternoon.” I give her a grin and then turn and walk back up to Star.
Everyone is staring at me.
Every single person.
I just keep my smile and push Star back up toward the building.
That’ll teach her for messing with me.
I don’t go down without a fight.
20
“I can’t believe you did that,” Delilah says, handing me a spare dress to put on. “That was, without a doubt, the most intense thing I’ve ever seen. How the hell did you drag her like that? It looked like she weighed nothing.”
I shrug. “She wasn’t going to let me ruin her hair, so she kind of just ran along when I pulled her.”
“The way you pushed her into that water.” Delilah giggles. “I have never seen anything so funny in all my life.”
“Delilah.”
We look over to see her mother and father standing at the entrance to the room we came into to clean up. They look pissed off, her mother, dressed up so very perfectly, glares at me. Her father just watches me, his eyes narrowed, scanning over my face. I don’t like the way he looks at me, it brings a chill right down my spine.
“Mother,” Delilah says, “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want to hear it. Shakira started that and has been tormenting Maggie ever since she got here.”
“A word in private.”
Delilah sighs and stands. “I’ll be right back.”
She disappears with her mother outside and it’s only then that I realize I’m alone with her father. He walks in, hands behind his back, watching me. My heart races, and I’m suddenly very, very aware that I’m alone with a man who could potentially be very dangerous.
“That was quite the scene you created out there,” he murmurs, walking past Star in her stroller and looking down at her like he’s embarrassed they’re related.
“I’m not going to apologize, if that’s what you’re after. She had it coming.”
“That wasn’t what I was after,” he says, stopping in front of me. “You’re a very strong-willed person, Maggie. It is of some concern.”
“In regard to what,” I challenge. “I’m not sure how you think you know me.”
“You’re with those bikers now, yes?”
I blink. “What has that got to do with anything?”
“I can offer you assistance, in return for information. A girl like you, I could make your life very worthwhile. Money, a house, you name it.”
Oh wow.
This man has balls.
“First of all, I want nothing from you. My morals far outweigh anything you could offer me.”
“I’m not certain they would. I have billions of dollars, Maggie. I could spare one million of that for you to disappear and take your club with you. There is nothing of interest for you here.”
A million dollars.
While lifechanging, I could never sleep again at night knowing those girls are being hurt and more are going to be taken. No way in hell.
“There is plenty of interest for me here, and I don’t need money.”
He stares at me, long and hard. “I’m not the kind of person you want to mess around with, Maggie. I promise you that.”
“I could say the same about myself.”
He gives me a low, sardonic smile. “I can make it seem like you never even existed. Do you hold such power?”
“Maybe not, but I can make everything crash down around you. Believe me, I might be only one person, but I’m stronger than you think.”
He keeps the grin.
Delilah and her mother walk back in.
Delilah stares at me, then at her father. “Is everything okay here?”
“Peachy.” I smile. “Your dad was just telling me what an incredible man he is.”
He gives me a long look, then glances at Delilah. “Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
She nods.
He looks to me. “My offer is always on the table, Maggie. Be smart.”
A threat.
A beautifully presented threat, but one all the same.
When they leave, Delilah turns to me. “What did he say to you?”
I’m not going to tell her. Not because I don’t trust her, but because she is too close to it, and I don’t want her or Star to come to any danger.
“He was just offering for me to work for you full time, I guess he really doesn’t like Hugh.”
“Ugh,” Delilah says. “He is always trying to make me get Hugh out of Star’s life. It’ll never happen.”
Phew.
She fell for it.
Thank god.
“I FOUND THIS HAT,” I say, hanging onto a man’s hat I literally had to swipe off someone who had placed it down at a table. “It belongs to someone named Bassel, do you know who that is so I can return it?”