“We’re done here. You need to get dressed and get out of my room.”
I take a deep breath. There’s no point arguing with him, he never backs down and how can I explain to him that I have nowhere to go? I sit up and straighten up, my bra and panties are still on, he didn’t even bother to take them off of me. Moments ago that felt sexy, like he couldn’t wait to have me.
Now I know he just wanted to get me out quicker.
“Not going to say a fucking word to me?”
I scoff at him and shove my legs into the denim shorts. God, they’re so skimpy. Walking out of this place and having to walk past his biker brothers… every single one of them is going to know.
I’m fucking disgraceful.
“There’s nothing to say. We’re done here.” I’m proud that my voice doesn’t break. I refuse to look at him until my eyes clear a little. I pull his shirt back over my head, not wanting to wait around long enough to grab another one out of my bag.
Shit.
Okay, my bag is on the floor. It’s fine, zipped up still, nothing has been touched. I grab it and sling it over my shoulder.
He hasn’t moved, still splayed out and naked, his skin flushed and sweaty. He looks like a freaking cover model, especially with that smirk across his lips. Of course he’s smirking. He’s fucked the frigid bitch stripper, the one they’ve all tried to get, and now he’ll have some fucking trophy.
How could I be this freaking stupid?
“Do you need me to call you a cab? I’d drop you home but you’re too stuck up to tell me where the fuck you live.”
I shake my head. If I can survive Paul, I can survive tonight out on the street without my car. “Don’t concern yourself. You might even find time to go out to party and pick up some other girl to blow a load in.”
His eyes narrow.
His lip curls.
I walk out and shut the door quietly before he can say anything else. I don’t want to hear any of it.
The walk out of the bar is as bad as I thought it would be but there’s something about Tomi’s shirt on my back that keeps anyone from actually grabbing me. Rue frowns at me from across the room but I duck my head and keep going, the crowd slowing him down enough that I can make it out without having to fucking talk to any of them.
I don’t see Speck.
Thank fuck.
There’s so many people at the party that the parking lot is packed as well, none of them taking notice of some stripper with tears running down her face. Goddammit, why am I crying again?
I get across the street to the garage there, my Chevy still up on the jack from where Poe’s been working on it, and I duck down the side of the building to stay hidden while I try for a cab.
It’s too late to get one.
Or too early, I guess.
Fuck.
There’s no way I’m walking back into that fucking building, no way I’m going to risk one of those men touching me while I hunt around for Speck. The new phone doesn’t have his number in it anymore, or Poe’s, and they’re the only two people I can think of that would help me.
So I slump down on the front step of the garage, my bag between my legs with the strap wrapped around them too so no one can grab it without waking me and I let my eyes drift shut.
I don’t even really notice myself slipping into sleep.
“Are you high?”
I startle and scramble to my feet, one hand clutching at my pepper spray in a panic and the other tightening around my bag like it’s a shield.
“Ah, oh God, no. No, I’m not high. I was just… fuck, I was just sleeping. I’m sorry.”
He looks at me like I’m highly suspicious, and my mouth just keeps running. “I know Poe and she has my car here. That’s why I stopped here. Oh God, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
He frowns at me, his eyes shifting back up to my car, clearly visible through the dusty window. “I mean, it’s a beauty. A good old classic but I’m not sure it’s worth guarding overnight. This place is secure enough to keep anyone out and I’m usually a ‘shoot first’ kind of guy.”
Fuck.
I need to think fast. “I got kicked out of my apartment. There’s a few days in-between me moving out and being able to move into my new place. I just had a fight with my… well, with a guy and he kicked me out of his place. I was, uhh, I was staying with him for the week.”
The frown deepens a little. “Is there no one else you can go to? There’s a hotel down the street, you know.”
I stayed there once and the bellboy tried to break into my room. Never again. “I didn’t want to wake any of my friends up and worry them. It’s only one night, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to sleep here. I’m so sorry, I should have realized it was trespassing. I’ll go.”
His arm comes out and I flinch back but he doesn’t try to touch me, he’s just turning the lights on so he can get a better look at me.
His face hardens at the flinch. “This guy of yours hitting you?”
I shake my head. “Not… not this one. Look, please don’t call the police. I swear I didn’t try to get in. I just sat on the step and I’ll never come here after hours again. I swear it.”
He shakes his head. “You look like a child. Posey said she met you out at The Boulevard. Are you old enough to be dancing there?”
My spine snaps straight. “Yes, sir. I am. I’m just… tonight isn’t a great night for me.”
He nods again slowly and grabs out his phone. My stomach drops and tears fill my eyes again. Dammit, I’ll need my fake IDs to stand up against a full police check. Fuck, I should have just walked into town or something.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to wake you either but I have a little girl here at my garage who needs a bed for the night and a friend. Poe knows her, she’s been working on her car… yeah, that would be her. Come pick her up and get her something to eat, she looks exhausted… yeah, sure.”
He hangs up and I try to pick my jaw up off of the ground. “That was my grandson, Briar. He and Poe live further out in the suburbs, only a few streets over from here. He’s a cop, he’s not going to hurt you but my guess is he’ll wake Poe and they’ll both come to get you.”
I blink away the tears. “I really… I can’t thank you enough, sir.”
He scoffs but it’s a gentle sound. “My name is Alby but you can call me Pops. You seem like a good girl. You need to stay away from that guy who kicked you out, no decent man ever does that to a woman.”
I nod. “I’m trying to, sir- I mean, uhh, Pops. I just keep making dumb choices.”
Chapter Twenty
Tomi
You know what’s worse than fucking flinching?
I’m not. I’m really not yours.
Fuck, I was this fucking close to opening the fuck up and telling her about everything. Telling her about the curse, about the way she fucking owns me, the ways that hearing her voice down that phone all thready and terrified had me ready to fucking spill blood in her name for the rest of my goddamned life.
I’m fucked.
And she laid there, panting and sweaty and fucking stunning, and as good as told me she didn’t fucking want me beyond a good fuck.