I blink and she's gone. "Well, that didn't last long," Corina says with a giggle as she slams back the rest of her drink before replacing it with Rylie's abandoned one. "Then again, I'm not surprised. She never comes to these kinds of places. It's not really her style."
My eyes settle on Corina. "What do you mean by that?"
She sips at her new drink and shrugs. "Oh, nothing really." Her gaze trails away and I have the distinct feeling that she's lying.
I set my own drink on the counter with a scowl. “I’m not here to have a good time,” I state. “I’m just here to find those assholes and get some answers.”
Corina looks up at me and smiles, her lips still sealed around the straw in her glass. “Well, don’t look now,” she says around it, “but I think I’ve found them for you.” She nods towards a place on the upper floors just behind me and I find myself turning and following her gaze. And she’s right. There they are.
The two fuckboys I’d first had a run in with are sitting on either side of their King, laughing like hyenas as they let girls climb all over them. It’s startling to see how friendly they are and then how empty the area surrounding him is. I can’t say I don’t like it.
“Don’t wait up,” I say absently as I leave the drink and Corina behind, making my way to a darkened staircase just beneath where they sit. Hopefully, it’ll lead me straight to them.
I take the stairs two at a time and when I come up to the top, a familiar, broad-shouldered bozo steps in my path. I grin. “Well, hey there,” I say, eyeing him up and down. “Long time no see.”
The guy’s eyes widen when he realizes who I am and I feel a sense of accomplishment when he subtly moves his lower body back a step. Smart move. “Let her through, Eli.” Dean’s voice echoes back to us. The behemoth looks at me once more, scanning me from head to toe as if he’s expecting me to be decked out in weapons, and when he sees there’s obviously nothing here but little, ol’ me, he finally steps to the side.
“Thanks … Eli,” I say, patting the guy on the shoulder as I walk past. “Do me a favor and keep everyone else out for a hot minute, yeah?”
“He doesn’t follow your orders, little girl,” Dean says as I move forward. My eyes clash with his as I move onto the balcony. Though there’s obviously other people on the second floor, as I glance around, I see they have this section roped off for their exclusive use. Perks of being the owner’s son, I suppose. Corina did say that this was his family’s club.
“I’m not little,” I say as I step around a low table and come to stand right in front of him.
Those obscure eyes of his look up at me through long, equally dark lashes. Then he stands, towering over me enough that I have to tip my head back to look at him. “Want to correct that statement?” he asks.
“Nope.” My hands settle on my hips and I smile, slow and evil as his eyes track their movements. “And you should be careful—just because you’re taller doesn’t exactly mean I’m little. Remember, I’m closer to hell and there’s a whole lot of fury packed inside this tight body.”
I choose my words carefully, specifically, and when his eyes widen a fraction, I know I’ve made the right decision. They dart down to the rest of me before coming back up to my face. He scowls. “What do you want?” he demands.
Without missing a beat, I take a small step back and sit down. Right on the surface of the table in front of the lounge. Smart choice too because just as I sink down, I see the realization that crosses his mind as I’m left eye level with his crotch. My head tilts back and my smile widens.
Dark eyes glare at me before he lifts his head. “Get out,” he barks to the girls grinding on both Abel’s and Brax’s laps. Abel’s responding groan of disappointment reaches my ears, but I don’t dare tear my eyes away from the man in front of me. We’ve got a score to settle and it is by no means even yet.
They must have the girls well trained because I don’t even hear a single peep from them as they slide off their prospective partners for the night and disappear down the stairs. Dean takes that moment to lift his eyes from mine. “Make sure no one else comes up or crosses over,” he orders. If Eli answers, I don’t hear. I simply wait for him to meet my gaze again. And when he does, it’s like wildfire rippling through my system.
Sometimes, it’s hard to see what’s going on inside that controlling mind of his, but right now, I know. He’s pissed.
“Well, are we going to get this over with or what?” Abel snaps when several more minutes go by without either one of us speaking. “I wanna get laid sometime tonight.”
I arch a brow. “That’s up to your boss,” I reply. “What do you say, D-man, wanna get this over with?”
He sighs and takes a step back, removing his pants-covered cock from my face as he sinks back into his seat. “What the fuck do you want?”
What do I want? I want a lot of things. I want people to leave me the fuck alone. I want to be able to crawl into any ol’ bed and sleep like a fucking log without thinking about what I could be waking up to. I want fucking freedom. But I settle for less because there’s no other option.
“The truth,” I state plainly.
He arches a brow, and for the first time since I came up here, I cut a glance side to side to see the others’ reactions. Just like Dean, their faces are wiped clean of anything useful. No emotion. It’s like they’ve trained to appear as the indomitable assholes that they portray. They probably are.
“What truth is that?” Dean asks.
My eyes meet his from beneath my lashes. “Don’t act stupid now, Mr. Carter,” I say. “If you’re the one sitting in that middle seat,” I nod towards him, “then, we both know you’re not. I want to know why there’s a rumor going around that I’m your property.”
He doesn’t hesitate. “Because you are.”
My hands curl into fists and I have to will away the desire to punch him in his cruelly handsome face. You know, it’s honestly not fair for pricks like him to look the way they do. “Well, look at that,” I say, keeping my voice purposefully light and unassuming. “Not two minutes after I tell you that you aren’t dumb, you prove me wrong. Good for you.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. Turning my head, I watch as Brax leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he stares at me. He meets my gaze and reaches back with one hand, removing a cigarette pack from his back pocket. He slaps it against the palm of his hand once, twice, three times before ripping the plastic wrapping off and tossing it on the end of the table I’m currently sitting on. Sticking the end of one between full, masculine lips, he lights it.
A hand grasps my chin and Dean pulls me back around to meet his gaze. “You may not like it, little girl,” he says, “but you’re the reason we had to make it happen like this.”
I narrow my eyes on his. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He doesn’t smile. In fact, he looks more like he’d rather choke me out than put any sort of claim on me. “You refuse to fall in line,” he says. “You don’t follow our rules. You want the truth, baby? The truth is we don’t trust you.”