EMILEE
I STAND AT the bar waiting for the bartender to look my way for me to order another drink. I know I’m not an eye-catching woman, but hello, over here, douche!
I have my tits out. What else do I need to do to get a fucking drink? Remove my shirt and throw it in his face? Stand on the bar and shake my ass?
The guy at the end of the bar has seemed to notice me. He keeps staring at me, and I’ve made it a point to avoid eye contact.
I’ve only been here for thirty minutes, and already, I’m tired of it. This week has been a week from hell, and I needed a moment to myself to clear my mind. At least that’s what I told myself. But it was just a lie. That house feels so much like a prison, and I needed out. I needed to get drunk and just get fresh air.
I’m getting neither of those.
My life has been decided for me. Well, at least until I can get away from George. And I’m not sure I can live it.
Not like this.
Not under his control.
In the past week, George has come to me one other time since the night I came home drunk and found out he fired my mother’s nurses. And that is two times too many. The only thing about it, is that he can’t last more than two minutes. And other than the first time, the other one I had plenty of notice, so I made sure to down a few bottles of whatever I could find. Afterward, I sit in my shower crying, hoping that he will drop dead and die like my father did. So far, luck is not on my side.
I pound my fist on the bar. “Hey, asshole. I need a drink …”
He nods at me, and I almost smile. “What can I get you?” he asks.
“A shot of vodka.” I’m not playing tonight. “Actually, make that three.” Who knows how long it’ll be until he returns?
He sets out to make my drinks, and I pull out my debit card.
Setting it in front of me, I slide my card across the bar. I down the first one as he runs my card. I’m setting the glass down when he comes back. “Your card was declined.”
“What?” I frown. “Can you run it again? There must be some mistake.”
He shakes his head. “I ran it three times, ma’am. Insufficient funds,” he states as another guy hollers at him. “I’ll be back.” He walks away to help the other customer, and I slump against the bar.
Has George shut off my card? No. He can’t have that kind of access. Can he? I dig my cell out and send him a text.
Me: Did you turn off my card?
I’m tapping my heel on the floor as my phone vibrates with a response.
Motherfucker: All accounts have been frozen for the time being.
Me: What the fuck does that mean?
He reads it immediately, but this time, he chooses not to respond. No. No, this can’t be happening. Why would they freeze his accounts? Is the IRS investigating him? Is it some kind of protocol? Was my father in trouble with the law? A million questions run through my mind.
I run a hand through my hair and then start digging through my clutch. I find fifty dollars. Shit! What am I going to do for money? I thought I had time. There was fifteen thousand dollars in that account.
“All I’m saying is I would totally win,” a man says as he shoves his way through the crowd and comes to stand next to me.
I look up at him, and he’s every bit of six feet to my five feet six. With heels on, he still towers over me. He places his hands flat on the bar, and it causes the sleeves to his leather jacket to ride up. And I see black ink cover his skin, wrapping around his wrist like a second sleeve. His fingers drum the bar top, and I see a silver ring that has a skull on it with crossbones.
I’ve seen that before …
“I wouldn’t bet on you,” another guy says, coming to stand on the other side of him.
That voice sounded familiar …
The man next to me gasps. “I’m offended. You know, if we were in high school playing dodge ball, I would pick you to be on my team. Why do I feel like you wouldn’t choose me?” He pushes his bottom lip out that has a silver hoop in it.
“’Cause I wouldn’t.” The friend snorts. “You’re short and too slow.” Then he lets out a whistle, and the bartender looks up at him. “Usual,” he calls out.
“Unbelievable,” I mutter to myself, glaring at the other guy. He’s taller and broader, but the guy standing next to me doesn’t allow me the best view of his face. He reaches into his back pocket and removes his wallet, pulling out a couple of hundred-dollar bills. I notice he too wears the same ring on his right hand. My heart starts to pick up.
He’s not wearing a jacket, so my eyes run up his ink covered muscular arm. His tattoos peek out from underneath his shirt, and a set of black wings wraps around his throat, crawling up the sides of his head where his hair is shaved close to the scalp. My eyes meet his and widen.
Holy shit!
My heart now skips a beat.
It can’t be.
His eyes slide my way. He looks away, but they slam back to me, and I see recognition dawn on his face. His blue eyes stare at mine with a look of annoyance. The same way he did in college.
Weston Mathews is standing next to me. I used to date … well, date isn’t the right word. I used to fuck his best friend. There was a group of four of them known as Kings. The Dark Kings—Bones, Titan, Cross, and Grave. Each one darker, more enticing. Titan, Cross, and Bones were all two years older than me. But Grave, Bones’s little brother, was only one year older than me.
The bartender walks up to them and hands him two shots of dark liquid. I’m not sure what it is, and he removes his eyes from mine.
I finally take in a shaky breath and drink my second shot.
I gotta get out of here. If Titan is here, then Bones isn’t far behind, and I can’t be around him. Not after what happened between us. I’ve heard stories about what kind of men they are today, and none of them are good.
He says something else to the bartender, and he looks at me and then nods. I swallow nervously and down the third, before digging the fifty out of my clutch and dropping it on the bar. I spin around to leave but run into someone. The guy I have successfully avoided who was standing at the end of the bar is now right here. In my space. Staring down at me.
“Hey, baby.” Dark blue eyes meet mine, and the stranger places his hands on my hips. I shove him back, but he doesn’t budge. Dick!
I go to walk around him, but he grabs my upper arm and pulls me to a stop. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
I yank my arm out of his hold, surprised that he let go, and the momentum has me falling back. Right into the side of Grave. Just my luck.
“What’s going on here?” Grave demands. His hands grip my hips, steadying me. Once he helps me to stand, he doesn’t let go.
I close my eyes and pray that I can get out of here before he recognizes me too. Please, God. I need luck on my side.
“Nothing,” the stranger answers. He’s half Grave’s size. Grave will murder him. He was a fighter in high school. He did it for sport. The douche’s eyes land on mine, and he winks at me.
I pull my lips back in disgust.
“I just wanted to know why you’ve been ignoring me,” the man asks.
I place my fingers behind my ear and lean my head forward like I didn’t hear what he has to say. Being the bitch that I can be. Too bad their music isn’t louder. At least then I’d have a legitimate excuse for ignoring the fucker.
His friend taps him on the shoulder. “Oh man, she’s deaf.” They laugh.
“Run along,” Grave announces to the guy and his friends, still holding my hips. He hasn’t seen my face yet. He has no idea who I am.
“You can have her, man. A deaf bitch is useless. No fun when they can’t take orders.” The man laughs at me.
I open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but Grave pushes me to the side, my side hitting the bar. Then I see Titan walk up to stand next to Grave. Neither one of them looks at me as they advance on the man and his friends.
“What did you say?” Titan asks.
A shiver of fear runs up my spine. I almost forgot what his voice sounded like. Powerful is an understatement. The Kings ruled everything they touched. If their words didn’t get the job done, then their fists did.
“You know what I mean, man.” Mr. Blue Eyes laughs, and his friends follow.
“Enlighten me.” Titan lifts his chin.
“How is a man supposed to be in charge if a woman can’t hear our commands.” He spells it out.
“That’s what I thought you meant.” Titan speaks and looks at Grave. He starts laughing, and Grave follows suit.
Then without warning, the laughter stops, and Titan clocks Blue Eyes in the face, knocking him back into the other three guys he walked over here with. Like dominos.
Shit!
Then they’re dragging him through the crowd of people and to a back door that reads exit above it. I turn to face the bar, and the bartender places a shot in front of me. “I didn’t order that.”
“Titan did. And don’t worry, he paid your bill.” He slides the cash I put down back toward me.
Just fucking great!
I pick it up as he walks away and inspect it. Never drink anything given to you by a stranger. My mom’s words remind me. Titan isn’t a stranger, but that also doesn’t make it any safer. The guy could have poured acid in it for all I know. They were mean in high school, and college wasn’t any different.
Pure. Fucking. Evil.
The older they got, the more power they wielded.
The Kings ran the school, and the staff and their parents had their backs no matter what. They threw their weight around like fucking bulls in a china shop. Titan, Bones, and Cross all played baseball for the school. The staff kissed their asses because they could hit a fucking ball. The school wanted recognition, so they let them have their way. It always went badly.
And as for my mother? What does she know?
She left my dad, and for all I know, it was for his sleazy best friend and business partner.
“What the hell.” I throw back the shot and slam the glass down on the bar. “Thanks,” I mumble as he takes it away.
I pull my cell out of my pocket and check my messages. I have one from George. But he totally avoided my last message.
Motherfucker: Meet me in my office when you get home.
His office? He’s taken over everything. Including my life. My freedom. He’s going to use me for as long as my mother is alive.
I went to an attorney a couple of days ago, and he told me I needed twenty thousand for him to even look at my case. A retainer he had said. And I think George knows that I can’t afford legal help at the moment. He has me cornered in every situation. Now I’ve got fucking nothing since my card doesn’t work.
A girl bumps into my shoulder, and I delete the messages and put my cell away. I make my way back to the bathroom. I was gonna leave when I saw Titan and Grave were here, but now that they left, I might as well stay. Knowing what’s waiting for me at home, I can’t return unless I’m drunk. The fifty dollars I have in my purse should do the trick. I use the restroom and dry my hands off and then pull out my cell when it vibrates in my pocket. I’m expecting it to be another text from George, but it’s not.
Jasmine: Not gonna make it. Something came up. Find a stranger and let him fuck you raw.
I sigh at my friend’s message, then put my phone away and exit the bathroom. The blinding lights and music are giving me a headache, so I walk past the bar and out the exit. I’ll go somewhere else. A hole in the wall where no one knows me. Making my way to the back of the parking lot I come to a stop when I see my front tire is flat.
Looking up at the dark sky, I silently curse this fucking planet for my string of bad luck lately.
“You know if you get hurt, Bones is gonna kill you.”
I tense at the mention of Bones. I whip around to see Titan and Grave walking in the parking lot.
What did they do with those guys?
“Hey, Titan. It’s that girl over there.” I hear Grave call out, and I’m thankful he didn’t recognize me.
I never hung out at Bones’s father’s house. He came to mine to fuck me, and that was that. We didn’t date. We were both very aware of our situation. He wanted to get his dick sucked, and I fell to my knees every chance we had. The kids feared him. High school and college. He never showed any emotion over anything. His only love was baseball. He was gonna go pro until he didn’t. That day was a very bad day. For the both of us.
Titan says nothing. Why isn’t he calling me out?
“What’s she just doing standing there?” Grave asks him. “Let’s go find out.” He removes his hands from his pocket and lifts them up in the air, walking up to me.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Titan asks, sounding irritated.
“I’m showing her I have no weapons,” Grave says. “Don’t want her to think I’m gonna attack her or anything.”
Oh, Dear Lord! He really thinks I’m deaf.
Titan stops before me and looks at me expectantly. He knows I can hear, but he’s not gonna say it. He’s waiting to see how long I can play this game.
I narrow my eyes on him and cross my arms over my chest.
I go to open my mouth, but Grave speaks. “Fuck, her tire is flat!”
Titan looks at me. “Have a spare?” he asks me.
Like he would fix it anyway. I shake my head.
Grave smiles. “She can read lips.”
Titan snorts.
“She could ride with us,” Grave offers.
I go to open my mouth to say hell no, but the words die on my lips when an evil smile spreads across Titan’s face.
He looks the same as he did in college but also different. His blue eyes darker, his jaw even more defined. The black wing tattoo around his neck moves as he swallows. He wears a black V-neck shirt, and a pair of black Aviators hang off the collar. He runs his tongue over his perfectly white teeth as his eyes look me up and down like he wants to eat me alive.
He and I never got along in school. He treated women like they were disposable. He went through them like most girls go through underwear. And his senior year in high school, their English teacher got fired. The rumor was he fucked her in the back seat of her car on school property, and her husband caught them. Of course she was the only one that was punished for their sexual activities.
“Yeah.” He finally speaks and gives me a nod as he rubs his finger over his bottom lip. “We’ll give her a ride.”
The way his deep voice says ride, I think he means the kind that involves me naked and him on top of me. My heart begins to pound in my chest, and I take a step back from them.
Grave rolls his eyes. “You’re scaring her.”
Titan stares down at me, his arms still crossed over his chest and that snake of a smile on his face. “Am I scaring you?”
I narrow my eyes on his.
“I’ll go get the car. You stay here with her,” Grave announces and then walks away.
Titan steps up to me.
“Don’t …”
“Look who found her voice,” he muses.
“Shut up, Titan.” I snap, pulling my cell out of my pocket and dial Jasmine’s number. It rings once, twice. Three times. I pull it from my ear, and he snatches it from my hand. “Hey …”
His smile just widens. “So you do remember me.”
Like I could forget. “Give me my phone back.” I order reaching out for it.
He places it in the front pocket of his jeans. “Drop to your knees.”
“Excuse me?” I blink.
His dark blue eyes look me up and down, and the corners of his lips turn up like he knows a secret. And he does. Several of them about me. “Drop to your knees and I’ll give it back to you.”
My blood boils at his words. “Fuck you!”
He steps into me, pressing my back into my door, and I gasp in surprise. I thought he was big, but his hard chest presses into mine, and I have to tilt my head back to look him in the eyes. Even with my heels on, this man towers over me. I always liked that about him. He’s the tallest of all the Kings.
The scent of his cologne hits my nose, and I hate how much I like it. It brings back old memories that I want to drown in, but I make myself stay here in the present. The light pole I parked under casts a shadow over his chiseled face, making it glow like a ghost from my past.
“We came close that one time.” His eyes go to my chest, and I know he can feel my heart pound against his. He reaches up and runs his knuckles over my neck. His skull ring burns the skin, making me shiver. “So fucking close. It was the only time I could actually tolerate you.”
“Titan.” I swallow, trying to calm my nerves.
“Yeah, Em?” he asks as his eyes roam my face.
A fucking whimper comes out when he calls me by my old nickname. Then my breath quickens when he places his hands on my face, caging me in.
TITAN
Emilee York!
Who the fuck would have guessed I’d see her tonight?
It’s been, what? I haven’t seen her since my senior year in college, and she was only a sophomore. That was four years ago.
My best friend used to fuck her. I always wanted to ram my cock down her throat, so I didn’t have to listen to her. She was a fucking bitch in every way possible.
My body presses into hers, and her wide blue eyes look up at me. I reach up and run my hands through her dark hair. I wonder what it would look like sprawled out on my bed. Or twisted in my hands while her mouth was full of my cock. I wrap the long, curly strands around my tatted fingers.
“Please don’t.” She’s panting. Her words shaking. Little Queen Bitch isn’t as tough as she used to be. But then again, she never was around me. When I got close, she was a different person.
I smile. “Afraid of me, Em?”
“Just leave me alone.” She places her hands on my chest to push me away.
I don’t budge. “Now why would I do that?” I lean down and place my lips by her ear. She hitches in a breath, and her hands dig into my shirt. I’m not sure if she’s trying to push me back or pull me in at this point. “Remember the last time I had you like this?” I ask her. I still dream about that night.
“I told you no then.” She growls. “Just like I’m telling you now.”
“But that’s not what you meant.”
She shoves her fists into my chest and growls through her pretty teeth. “No means no, Titan.”
Even though she was a total bitch, it was kinda sexy. We had a love-hate kind of friendship. If you could even call us friends. I think that’s why she held my attention so much. All the other girls were annoying and clingy, but she wasn’t. Then again, she wasn’t mine, either. “But you were so wet for me. Are you now?”
She lets out a growl of frustration, and I chuckle.
“Does Bones know you’re back in town?” I ask her. With the news of her dad’s passing, he hasn’t mentioned her once.
Her body goes rigid against mine. Things haven’t changed much since college. The guys and I still run this fucking town. After she graduated, she left and never looked back. Only Bones knows why she split, but he never shared that information with any of us. Yet now here she is, looking better than ever.
“I’ll take that as a no.” I smile down at her.
Her plump lips part, and she licks them. “I don’t want any trouble,” she whispers.
I slide my right hand into her soft hair and tilt her head back. She doesn’t try to fight me. Why would she? She knows she can’t beat me. “I’m not sure I believe that.” She was always trouble. My friend fucked her, and I secretly wanted a piece of her. The one where she spread her legs and let me fuck the bitch out of her.
“Titan.” She breathes my name, and it sends a jolt straight to my cock.
“Yeah, baby?”
Her blue eyes narrow up at mine, and her lips thin. “Give me back my phone,” she demands.
“Come get it, sweetheart.” I pull away and turn, giving her my back.
“Titan?” she calls out.
“You know where I’m at,” I answer, keeping my back to her.
I make my way over to the car to see Grave sitting in the driver’s seat, wondering why he never came over to pick us up. I open the passenger side door and get in. He’s on his phone.
“I think we’ve waited long enough,” Bones snaps through the Bluetooth, letting out a growl.
Grave looks over at me and then in the back seat. “Where’s the girl?” he asks me.
“What girl?” Bones snaps.
I smile to myself. “She’ll be around.”
