The mother fucking asshole couldn’t have even picked the women up from somewhere else, he had to do it right in the open for the guys to see.
That was just one thing. The next was seeing him making out with Maria, the waitress, in that same car at lunch time. He’d driven off with her too.
Again I’d watched. All I could do was hope his fucking dick either fell off or someone chopped it off.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket cutting into my thoughts. I pulled it out to answer it, frowning deeply when I saw it was Giovanni.
“Yes boss?” I answered, not bothering to hide the disdain in my tone.
“Smart ass. I can hear the rudeness in your voice. Stupid prick,” he answered in his gruff voice that rose an octave supposedly to show me who was boss.
I had to try extra hard to hold my tongue and stop myself from putting this asshole in his place.
“What can I do for you boss?” I decided to say instead.
“There’s trouble by the roulette table in section six. Jia is there, go check it out. If it looks like something that won’t ease off, get security. I just want someone to check first.”
“Sure.”
“Xander, make sure that’s the only thing you check out. Don’t let me have to remind you to stay away from my daughter.”
“Yes, Sir,” I answered rolling my eyes and hung up before he could say another word.
Yes, I’d received the fucking message loud and clear. Stay away from Jia.
I was.
I got to section six and saw the commotion.
She was there trying her best to stop these two guys from arguing. They were two marine type guys who I could tell straightaway were drunk.
They seemed to be arguing over a woman.
“Fucking asshole. It was your fault she left me,” the tallest one shouted. “You had to go and tell her I slept with her sister.”
“But you did,” the other guy snapped back.
The tall one threw a punch and hit him. I didn’t care about the guys. Who I cared about was Jia.
The guy stumbled right back into her and the force knocked her over, sending her crashing into the table nearby.
I went to her but pressed the button for security.
The two guys started to fight. Throwing punches. The tall one really gave everything he had.
I just focused on keeping Jia away from them.
Security came like a swat team tending to a bomb threat. Three tough, bulky guys who looked like me and the other knights swooped in and removed the men from the floor.
I looked to Jia who was trying to get away from me, but my eyes landed to a cut on her arm.
“Jia, you okay?” I asked.
“Fine. Thanks for coming.” She shuffled to stand and frowned when she saw the cut.
I noticed how she avoided eye contact and rushed away.
As every other time when this woman got away from me, I chased.
I chased after her falling in step with her down the carpeted path.
“There’s a cut on your arm. Let me take a look at it,” I offered.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll just put a Band Aid on it.” Again she didn’t look at me.
“It’s bleeding.” I reached for her arm and she pulled away.
“I’m fine Xander. Please, stop making a fuss.”
It wasn’t that I was making a fuss. I just couldn’t leave well enough alone.
She proceeded to her little office on the first floor and much to her dismay I followed her right inside.
When she got in she continued to ignore me and reached for her first aid box.
Fuck, she really was good at pretending I didn’t exist.
She winced when she placed a cotton pad to her arm.
I walked over and took over. I just took the pad from her because that wasn’t what you were supposed to do first.
She looked up at me making direct eye contact for the first time and gave in, allowing me to tend to her wound.
I set the cotton pad down and got a cleansing wipe to clean away the blood. It wasn’t a cut that would be deemed that big of a deal, but it was a big deal for me.
If tonight was a success, and I got the prints, this might be it. This might be the last time I saw her properly and the last time I touched her like this.
This would be goodbye.
“First aid. They teach you that as part of your work? My father doesn’t offer that here. I couldn’t even tend to myself.” She stated, voice heavy with angst.
“It’s just something I picked up,” I answered.
“Where?”
“Afghanistan.”
Her beautiful blue eyes clung to mine. “I didn’t know you served in Afghanistan. But then I didn’t ask. It fits.”
“What fits?”
“All of it. Makes sense. Marine and whatever it is you are now, it follows a pattern. Not bad. Not a bad person. You working here didn’t make sense. Ex-marine, man of honor who served his country joins the crew of a notorious mobster?” She gave me that laugh again with no humor behind it.
“Jia…”
“Don’t worry. Shouldn’t have mentioned it, it was foolish of me. I forgot nothing happened.”
“But something did. You can’t forget that.”
“I want to. I have to. So...” She shrugged her arm out of my grasp as I placed a Band Aid on her cut. “You can stop pretending to care.”
“I wasn’t pretending.” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Please, just don’t. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter anymore. None of it matters.”
“Jia, it matters to me…” There I went once again, venturing down that path that was forbidden to me. She was forbidden to me and yet I thought I should go down this road I knew had no hope.
I reached out and touched her face. A tear ran down her cheek and she shook her head.
“Please don’t touch me. I can’t bear it. I can’t have you touch me and know I can’t have you.”
Can’t have.
Shouldn’t have.
Mustn’t have.
Rules.
Fucking rules keeping me away from what I wanted.
Since when did I start playing by the rules? And, who placed them on me? I wanted her. I wanted her badly. I ached to touch her the way I wanted. I ached to be inside her.
She tried to back away from me but I caught her. The resistance stopped there.
I pulled her back to me, cupped her face and went straight to her delicious lips.
She didn’t resist me. She didn’t fight. She just gave in the same way I did, pushing aside everything to have this moment.
I’d shared several moments with this woman I shouldn’t have had. This was another. And damn, I never knew I could feel this way from one kiss.
Desire shot like a lance straight to my groin, igniting fire in me to take her. Just rip her clothes from her body and give in to the beast inside me that wanted to let loose. It came from the restraint I’d placed on my inner desires. The want, the need. The greed.
Yes I was greedy and selfish when it came to her.
That part of me didn’t want to understand the reasons why I couldn’t have her. That part of me didn’t want to accept them.
It was bullshit to me, all of it.
As a breathy moan tore from her lips I knew what I was going to do before I did it and it wasn’t to turn back or say no, or do the right thing by everyone else.