Chapter Ten Blake
Chapter Ten
Blake
It wasn’t fair.
That was the first thought that crossed my mind as soon as I opened the door. There were no guards outside. None in the hallway, but I knew. I just knew he’d be behind this door. I hated and loved this beacon I had for him. Like the man himself, who still looked like a pretty boy.
He was still hot. I’d had a brief stint away from him, and seeing him again, having that time away, he washed over me. I hadn’t been ready for this, how my body wanted to go to him, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
His face was sharper, if that was possible, but it was sharper in a more chiseled cheekbone sort of way.
Fuck. He could be in one of those elite magazines.
His jawline was more pronounced somehow.
His black hair was short on the sides with a little extra on top for him to run a hand through.
And those gray eyes of his. They were usually bland, looking dead, but not today.
Today they were pinned on me, and I could see the intense satisfaction in them.
It wasn’t fair that he could look like that, like a preppy college student, like a fraternity brother, like an Instagram model, and yet have the mind that was rivaling two other Mafia heads in this city.
He was a fucking chameleon, and he shouldn’t have been graced with those blessings. Not him. Of everyone, not him.
I stepped inside, a bolt of electricity going through me because being this close to Creighton always made me feel everything.
Good or bad. Everything was intensified to the umpteenth.
That was part of him too. Creighton was a magnifier for those around him.
He brought out whatever was hidden underneath.
If someone was trying to shove something below the surface, it would always rise to the top.
I’d watched so many people not understand why they were having the feelings they were having.
I didn’t understand it, but I’d seen it enough to know it happened.
And Creighton would watch it all and be amused by it.
It pissed me off.
Lassiter made a choking sound from the side. I swung my gaze over, taking him in too. It had been him downstairs. His head swung between Creighton and me, but I didn’t have time for him. My eyes returned to Creighton as Lassiter half-laughed, “Hey, Blak—”
“Out,” I growled.
Creighton moved to lean on the edge of his desk.
He raised his eyebrows as Lassiter left the room without protest. I followed to lock the door behind him.
As soon as it was just him and me, the tension ramped up.
The anger was there, swimming in me in waves.
It doubled. There were other emotions underneath, ones I wasn’t ready to acknowledge.
I didn’t take a step toward him. It felt safer to stay across the room, and I adopted a similar stance to his, except I leaned back against the wall beside the door. “What are you doing here, Creight?”
His eyes dimmed a little. He cocked his head to the side. “Prefer the other name you have for me.”
Fuck. I felt that disappointment in me.
I bristled.
I gritted my teeth, ignoring the warring emotions in me. “Yeah, well, I don’t give a fuck right now.” I wanted to push off from the wall, stalk toward him, but I held myself in place. As far away from him as possible right now. “We made a deal—”
“Yes, we did.” He shoved off his desk.
I held my breath, but he only took one step toward me before stopping.
I ached. I wanted him to come all the way, and I bent my head because why did I want that? I had a stupid crush on him growing up, but it was just that. A schoolgirl crush, one that I never should’ve had. Creighton was six years older. He didn’t look at me like that.
He never had. Obsessed, yes. Just not in that way.
I didn’t think. Right?
God. I was so confused.
My heart pounded in a frenzied staccato, and I lifted my gaze again.
He was watching me intently, his own head bent a little as if to see me better. His hands were shoved in his pockets. He spoke softly, “The deal was to stay away from you. If I did, you wouldn’t run again, but I’m allowed to have someone watch you. It’s the only way I know you’re safe.”
That wasn’t true. The thought was in the back of my mind. We could feel each other. He always had been able to, but it felt more now.
Why?
Why now?
I tore my gaze away, my thoughts getting cloudy. I needed to think clearly again. What had he been saying? “This is your place?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
I was nodding to myself, putting together the pieces.
It was a new club. Not far from campus.
My gut sank.
It made perfect sense, a new club that college students would want to check out. That Palma would want to check out.
“You set a trap for me. You renovated this nightclub into a place that you knew college students would want to hang out in. You knew it would eventually bring me here.”
He drew closer. “I don’t see the problem here. I don’t have stipulations about where you can go, remember? I want to see you.”
A shiver went down my spine.
I could feel his heat. He touched underneath my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his own. And as it did, he moved in. His hand fell away as his head inclined over me. “What’s the problem here, Blake?”
I ignored the tingle where he’d touched me. “The problem is you.” I placed my hand to his chest and shoved him back. “You don’t want me to run again?” I moved to him. “Stop. Fucking. Killing. People.”
A storm brewed in his gaze. Those dead eyes that looked anything but right now. They were ominous. Lethal. “I will always protect you—”
“No!” I shoved him again, my control snapping.
“I told you—I told you—no one innocent. No one good.” I shoved at him again, moving with him.
My body was heated. “I’m sick of worrying about guys who simply talk to me, if you’re going to have them killed.
I’m sick of being responsible for your lunacy. ”
He was done being pushed.
I started to shove him once more, my hands rising, but I saw the flash of death and stopped.
My hands fell back to my side as his words cut into me.
“You insult me. You think I kill senselessly? That I have no boundaries?” He moved into me, his chest grazing against mine.
His breath was hot on my neck, and I couldn’t suppress the tremor that passed through my body.
“You are my boundary, Blake. You. I don’t kill anyone good, anyone innocent.
Only bad. Your words, your rules. I adhere to only you, and you accuse me otherwise. ”
I angled my head back to see him again. “But the two guys three years ago—”
“One tried to drug you. The second was making plans to fuck you with his friends.”
God. His eyes pierced me.
He gave an inch, moving back from me. “I have never broken your rules.”
I trembled slightly, feeling as if we’d gone a thousand rounds instead of just one, but this was how it was with Creighton.
I whispered, “Eight.” I broke first.
He softened. His hand lifted to cup the side of my face, his thumb brushing over my cheek before he let me go once again. “You can date, Blake. But if he or she is going to hurt you, then . . .”
Right. Then.
He’d do what he did.
My throat swelled. A lump formed there. “Promise me.”
He frowned. “Promise.”
His eyes were fierce again. I knew he’d follow his promise.
I jerked my chin up, abrupt and awkward. “Okay.” I could take a deep breath now. “Okay.” I felt better. Lighter.
Creighton moved in again, and his thumb swept over my cheek before he went back to his desk. “Your roommate. Nogoskeski.”
I frowned. “I don’t know their last names.”
“Ah. The boy. Blond. Tattoos.”
“Heath.” I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever was coming next.
“He’s from North Fairmount.”
“Wait. What?” No. That couldn’t be. Then . . . Oh, shit. North Fairmount was a tough neighborhood. He was from Cincinnati. And that meant—he knew me. If he was from where Creighton said he was from, then he definitely knew Creighton.
“He has two brothers who are mine.”
Creighton meant that they’d joined his army.
I hated them, his soldiers. They were more like Creighton’s followers.
Once they vowed to follow him, their sense of loyalty became like a cult.
No one understood how it happened. They thought there was brainwashing or blackmail.
There wasn’t. In the beginning it was just money.
As soon as someone made an oath to Creighton, they began earning fast. That was one thing about Creighton.
He didn’t care about money like most might’ve.
It wasn’t the reason he did what he did.
I knew he had money. He had a lot of it, but he only took a small percentage of it.
The rest was shared with his army. The longer someone was loyal to Creighton, the higher their percentage grew, and that type of money ensured loyalty. A lot of loyalty.
I was dazed that Heath knew me. “But Heath’s not? Not one of yours.”
“No. The file I have on him said he’s mostly estranged from his brothers. He barely talks to his mother. He left for college and has not been back since. He spends his holidays with the male roommate that came with him tonight.”
A belated thought crossed my mind. What an odd way to refer to Marshall. “Uh. Yeah. That makes sense. They seem close.”
Creighton’s phone began ringing, but he ignored it. His attention, like all the time, was centered only on me. It used to make me feel like the most important girl in the world. I don’t know if that was where my crush originated from, but I’m sure it helped fan that flame.
My throat swelled again.
Creighton saw me.
He always saw me.
I felt myself melting. It was innate. It just happened when I was in his presence because that was just how it was with Creighton.
He had a part of my heart, and I’d long ago accepted that I’d have to be okay not ever getting that chunk back.
It was his. His alone. Whether he knew that, though, was a different story.
For how ruthless he was, I—no. I couldn’t finish that thought.
It wasn’t right.
“You seem to be enjoying your new place.”
My gut flared. “You got me in there, didn’t you? It’s the only explanation for how an undergrad got placed in one of the best graduate residences.”
He didn’t reply at first, then when he did, he spoke slowly, as if cautiously, “You ran from me, Blake. I never want to experience that again. And how I found you—I never want to experience that either. You want me to be a certain type of man, but I am not. I am not a good man. I’ve always known that about myself.
I am who I am. I’d rather you hate me and be alive than be a nice guy and you be dead. ” He didn’t blink.
His phone began ringing again. He ignored it again.
I cursed and crossed to where it was on his desk.
I answered swiftly, mocking, “Felonious Creighton Lane’s phone.
One moment please. I’ll transfer you to his current location in his demonic lair line.
There might be some screaming in the background, but pay no attention.
Beeeeeeeeeeee—aahhhhhhhh—noooooooo—don’tkillme—eeeeep.
Here you go.” I shoved it at his chest as I reached for the door.
He stopped me just as I opened it. “Blake.”
I was still boiling, but I waited.
“You remember our agreement.”
I was confused. “Wha—” I remembered.
Our agreement was that he would stay away until I went to him. After that, it was considered null and void. I’d agreed in that moment because I hadn’t considered he would trick me like this, but Creighton didn’t adhere to “that’s not fair” or “you tricked me.”
The facts were that I came to him.
Lead filled me.
The agreement was done.
“That means I can come to you.”