Chapter 8 #2
“You know why I’m here,” Raul bit out.
“Ah! Was there a problem with the delivery of Ji-Su’s belongings? I’m not responsible for any damages that happened in transit.” Cedric spread his hands wide and shrugged. “Everyone knows how careless those delivery men are.”
Raul didn’t have patience for this shit. He gripped the edge of the table and flipped it out of his way, sending glasses and champagne bottles flying. At the sudden violent disruption, Cedric’s entourage and the club goers in the vicinity screamed and backed up.
“I don’t know who you’re used to dealing with but I’m not here to waste my time listening to you spouting off nonsense.
” Boots crunching on the broken glass, Raul strode forward to stand directly in front of the vampire who was trying to look as if he wasn’t scared shitless.
“Stand the fuck up or take this beating where you sit.”
Cedric didn’t stand. Instead, he cringed back into the booth.
“You can’t assault me in the middle of a club! I’ll have you arrested.”
“I can do whatever I want. I can beat you bloody and be back home sipping a bourbon by the time the police arrive. And they know better than to interfere with my business so I wouldn’t count too much on help from that corner.”
“I’m sorry,” Cedric suddenly said in a rush. “I wanted to fuck with him but I know now I went too far.”
Cedric still hadn’t stood, so Raul grabbed him by the front of his Versace print shirt and yanked him to his feet. “That apology is too little too late.” He pulled his fist back.
“No, don’t!”
Raul ignored Cedric’s plea and punched him in the mouth.
His lip split in several places, smearing blood all over Raul’s fist. Raul punched him again, breaking his nose, then again in his left eye.
He thought of Ji-Su clearly trying not to cry because this bastard had broken and pissed all over the things that were most important to him.
Anger pulsed raw and hot and he clipped Cedric under the chin with a brutal upper cut.
Cedric’s head flew back and a tooth popped out of his mouth.
He kept a tight control over his fury as he dished out the well-deserved payback.
But the urge to do serious, permanent damage was there—a dark shadow of violence that he had to forcibly keep from escaping him.
Cedric tried to fight back, but even with one hand occupied holding him up by his shirt, Raul easily managed to block the pathetic punches.
He was aware that Cedric had come there with guards and that one of them might try to step in to stop the one-sided fight and save their employer.
But he didn’t worry about any of them, trusting his own men to have his back.
It didn’t take long for his fist to turn Cedric’s face into a swollen bloody mess of cuts and bruises.
Raul stopped when Cedric’s head lolled bonelessly on his neck.
“Petty, worthless, piece of shit,” Raul sneered.
He let Cedric drop to the ground in a crumpled heap. The other vampire tried to raise himself up on his elbows. Raul stopped him by putting a boot on his throat. He pressed down until Cedric’s non-swollen eye went wide and he started clawing and tugging at the boot cutting off his air.
Raul watched him suffer with cool dispassion. “You get to keep your life tonight out of my respect for the LaMonte family. However. If you even think about hurting Ji-Su again in any fucking way, if you so much as look at him sideways, next time I won’t be so nice. Do you understand, pendejo?”
Cedric nodded.
“I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes!” Cedric wheezed as loud as he could.
Satisfied he’d made his point, he removed his foot from Cedric’s neck and backed up. Cedric rolled over, violently coughing, clutching his throat as he gasped for breath. Raul watched him for a moment before he turned his back on the weak excuse for a vampire.
“Juan, give management Burke’s info so that he can take care of the damages.”
His guard nodded and passed a business card to the manager, who was staring at the wrecked VIP lounge in disbelief.
“Let’s go,” he said to his guards.
Once that was handled, Raul and his guards left the Snake’s Den behind. Cedric had been taught a lesson. The beatdown didn’t erase the hurt he’d caused Ji-Su, but now he knew that if he messed with Ji-Su, Raul would be there to make him regret it.
THE SKY WAS DARK WITH the barest hint of gray on the eastern horizon when their trio of vehicles pulled up in front of the mansion.
Raul thanked the guards for their help before he went inside the main house.
Gloria opened the door even though the day butler should have been on duty by now.
When he saw the first-aid supplies she carried in a small basket, he understood why she was there. Burke came out from the great room.
“Where’s Ji-Su?” Raul asked quietly.
“He went up to his room about an hour ago,” Gloria answered.
“Good. There’s no need for him to know what happened tonight.”
“Understood,” Burke said.
Gloria nodded before clucking her tongue at him. “Do I need to call the doctor?”
“No. I barely had to put any effort in giving Cedric his payback.”
“Of course you didn’t. But you did bust up your knuckles on his face.”
Raul looked down at his right hand. The knuckles were split and bloody.
Raul shrugged but accepted a lemon-scented hand wipe to clean the blood away and let her spritz him with the anti-septic spray.
The sting was minimal and the cuts would be completely healed over in a couple of days. “Thanks, Gloria.”
“You’re welcome. Good night, sir.”
She disappeared down the hall, leaving Raul and Burke there in the foyer.
“Feel better?” Burke asked.
Raul flexed his fist, flashing back to the satisfying thud of it slamming into Cedric’s face. “Mildly. But as long as Cedric stays away from Ji-Su I’m happy.”
Burke affectionately slapped him on the shoulder.
“I’m sure that ass-whupping you gave him let him know that Ji-Su is not to be fucked with.”
Raul snorted a laugh at that. “Hopefully. Expect a call from the Snake’s Den. They’ll need to be compensated for the damages from the fight.”
“Of course.”
Ready for sleep, Raul said goodnight to Burke and went upstairs.
As he passed Ji-Su’s room, he heard the human’s steady, calm heartbeat, and the soft rustle of blankets.
Good, he was asleep. Or he would be soon.
He continued on to his own room. As he undressed to shower, thunder began to rumble.
The storm that had been threatening for hours had finally arrived.
Raul turned on the shower. He rolled his head on his neck, loosening the last of the tension from the fight before he stepped under the hot spray.
Giving Cedric that beatdown had satisfied his need for revenge.
Now, he needed to make sure that Ji-Su was okay.
He’d had a rough time of it the past few days.
First, the initial incident with Cedric and now tonight his belongings sent to him defiled and destroyed.
All of that had to have taken a toll on him.
Raul moved the soapy mesh sponge over his body, scrubbing himself clean of spilled champagne and Cedric’s blood.
He decided to give Ji-Su time to recover before he started to drink from him.
Although the desire to bite Ji-Su and taste the sweetness of his blood grew stronger every night—he was going to wait.
The last thing he wanted to do was attempt to bite Ji-Su and end up triggering him into a panic attack or sending him back into the dazed state he’d been in on the highway.
It would be best if he gave his new little blood pet a few weeks to heal and find his footing there on the ranch first.
If he needed to feed before Ji-Su was ready, there was always packaged blood. He didn’t care for them, but he could deal with their empty taste for a month or so. Especially since he’d eventually be rewarded with the sweet taste of Ji-Su’s blood.
The night he’d brought Ji-Su to the ranch, the rich, warm scent of the spilled blood on his neck had teased his nose, making his fangs tingle.
He would hold the memory of that lovely scent within him until the night he sank his fangs into the golden skin of Ji-Su’s throat and let his exquisite blood spill over his tongue.
But for now, he would wait. Raul rinsed the soap suds away and shut off the shower.
He would tell Ji-Su of his decision in the evening.