Kenzo doesn’t even look up. “Hiding from you.”
“Why?” Ryder questions, seeming confused. Roxy doesn’t seem like the type to hide…
“She was snooping upstairs earlier when I caught her.” He shrugs, tapping on his screen.
Ryder sighs and looks over at me. “I’m going to wash today’s stink off, I’ve instructed Diesel to…have a talk with some of the other businesses to ensure they don’t think they have to pay as well.”
I nod as he heads upstairs and to his room. Deciding I could go for a shower myself, I head to my room, kicking my door closed and pressing my back against it as I suck in a deep breath.
But with it comes a scent, an unmistakable scent. Like whiskey and sex.
She’s been in here.
Fury pounds through me. I snarl as I rip off my shirt and storm to my bag, throwing some punches and getting all my aggression out. How dare she. This is my room! My space! The only place I’m safe and now—now it smells like her!
Not that my body cares, the stupid bastard is hot and heavy, the fragrance wrapping around me and jerking my cock awake in my jeans. Of course the only woman it’s reacted to since that cunt would be the one we’re keeping prisoner. I don’t need another woman, I don’t need another fucking complication.
But my cock doesn’t care, it twitches in my jeans, pressing uncomfortably against my zipper, so I yank them off and head to the shower, a cold one. But as the freezing spray pounds down on my back, it doesn’t even dent the desire surging through me.
Glancing down, I spot the bead of pre-cum at my cock’s tip, my vein throbbing on the side. Fuck. It’s been way too long, but all of my need was taken away that night. I didn’t know if it was because every time I’d even thought about fucking someone that night flashes through my head, dampening my need, or if my cock was just broken.
I didn’t care…much.
But now, of all the fucking time, now it’s decided to wake up and with a fury. Desire streams through me at every hour of the day. I swear I’ve fucked my hand more often this last twenty-four hours than I did even as a teenager. Last night, when I went to lie down to sleep, all I could see were those flashing, angry eyes. Her body spinning as she tried to attack me.
I imagined a different ending though, me throwing her over the bar, ripping up those tiny shorts, and pounding into her tight little cunt until she stopped fighting and started screaming.
Shit.
Reaching down, I can’t help but squeeze my cock as I imagine her on her knees before me. Those dark eyes blinking up at me, those red lips wrapped around my cock. She would be angry, her nails digging into my skin, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Fuck. Leaning against the wall, I stroke my length as I imagine it, visualising how beautiful she would look naked and tied up, unable to do anything but suck me down. That silver hair soaking and stuck to her head from my hands as I slam into her mouth. Again and again.
With a grunt, my hips stutter as my release crashes through me, spraying across my stomach and the wall. Sighing, I turn the heat up in the shower and wash myself off, disgusted with where my mind is taking me. She’s no one, she’s just another gold-digging bitch. So what if she had no choice? She will be exactly like the others.
I’ve learned my lesson, no, Roxy is a distraction. One we need to get rid of before she destroys everything we have worked so hard to save.
Just then a yell comes from down the hall. Turning off the water, I grab a towel, wrap it around my waist, and head into my room, wrenching open the door. Frowning, I watch a scared-looking Roxy race down the hall right towards me. She doesn’t even look where she’s going, just slams into my wet chest. I peer down at her in confusion, and she glares back. We stare each other down.
Her chest is heaving as she glances over her shoulder, so I do the same, spotting Ryder coming out of his room holding scraps of material in his hand. His eyes are deadly as they lock on to the little woman pressed against me.
She yelps and slips past me, pressing to my back as if I’ll protect her. I don’t know why, but that makes me puff up, and I glare at Ryder as I slam the door. Crossing my arms, I turn around and look down at the woman in my room. Right where I didn’t want her.
Shit, she’s our enemy’s daughter. A fucking debt. Nothing else…so why does my heart pound as her eyes run across my destroyed chest? Why do I look away in disgust? She must feel sick looking at me.
Why do I care?
I don’t.
“What did you do?” I snap.
She smiles sweetly at me, but it looks wrong on her face. I prefer the scowl, the anger…the heat. “Nothing.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. I’ll throw you back out there to deal with his wrath,” I snarl.
She sighs, losing the innocent fa?ade. Her eyes darken as her hands prop on her hips, her lips curling up in a sneer. “Nothing he didn’t deserve.”
“And what makes you think I’ll save you?” I snap.
Her eyes drag across my chest again, and I stop myself from shrinking away. Fuck her and her opinions. “What happened to your chest?”
I growl, grabbing her throat and slamming her into the wall next to the door. Not cutting off her air supply, just applying pressure, but it’s so hard not to squeeze. Especially when her eyes change to those blue mocking ones, her hair turning blonde and long, her lips thinning out. Shaking my head, I push back the vision, my chest heaving as I struggle to stay in the present. To not kill Roxy.
It’s not her.
I repeat it over and over.
Roxy swallows against my grip, but doesn’t fight me, just hangs there, her eyes watching me closely. I lean down and get right in her face, no doubt mine is transformed into a snarl. “I will not save you, little girl, if anything, I will be your death. Ryder might get annoyed and have it ordered, Kenzo might even help. Fuck, even Diesel would be kinder, he’d make sure you enjoyed it…me? I will make it hurt. I will make you suffer, because you mean nothing to me. I won’t even care when you beg. You. Are. Nothing. Just another fucking debt. Another fucking whore through those doors.”
She tips her head back, her eyes flashing. “Is that so? Then do it. Kill me. I’m tired of the uncertainty, just fucking do it. Stop threatening, just kill me,” she taunts.
I snarl and slam her back again, she oomphs as the wind is knocked out of her, but still laughs, even though I can feel the rapid beat of her pulse against my hand, betraying her. She’s scared of me. It’s what brings me back. “Fucking do it! I’m sick of the threats, of waiting for it to happen! Just kill me and get it over with, it’s better than this not knowing!” she screams right in my face.
I was so lost, I didn’t even hear the door open until a hand touches my arm. Jerking my head around with a snarl, I look right into Ryder’s calm eyes. “Garrett, it’s not her. Look, see? It’s not her. It’s Roxxane. Let her go.”
Breathing heavily, I swing around to look at the woman held in my arms. My heart stutters, fuck. Releasing her, I stumble back—fuck, fuck, fuck. Horror washes through me. Is this really what I have turned into? My hand shakes as I stare at Roxy, who falls to her knees, gasping for air. Ryder tries to help her up, but she smacks his hands away and gets to her feet, her angry eyes locked on me.
She looks between us then, so fucking angry. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it. I’m sick of this shit. Sick of looking over my shoulder, of being scared to sleep. I know I’m nothing to you, just another debt, but I didn’t ask for this. I’m asking you now, kill me. Make it quick.”
Ryder narrows his eyes as she stands there and waits, so brave, this little one. “We won’t, and you do not order us, Roxxane.”
“Then fuck you!” she yells, lashing out in fear. I know because I do the same thing. I see it in her gaze, the same ghosts that haunt me. “You think I’m going to sit here like another one of your fucking-fucking women? I am a person! I have a life.” She looks to Ryder then, staring straight into his eyes. “You will regret the day you took me, I guarantee it. I’m going to destroy you.” She strides right up to me, despite the fact I almost just killed her, and goes chest to chest with me.
“And you? You touch me again, and I will slit your throat in your sleep. Den of vipers or not, even if it means I won’t make it out alive.” She pulls back her fist, I see it coming, habit of a fighter, but I don’t try to block it as it connects with my face. I hear my nose crack a little, pain flaring through me. But I’m used to it, I live in that pain.
Live for it, the only time I feel alive, feel normal. Not this scarred up monster hiding behind gloves and suits.